If you’ve ever searched your name online and been shocked to find your home address, phone number, and relatives’ names publicly listed on a site called FastPeopleSearch, you are not alone. In 2026, the digital landscape is saturated with data brokers—companies that collect, package, and sell your personal information, often without your knowledge or consent. Fast People Search is one of the most prominent, offering detailed personal data to anyone with an internet connection, for free.
🥇 #1: Incogni — Best for Automation, Affordability & Compliance
Fully automated data removal from 150+ data brokers using GDPR and CCPA laws. Sends recurring removal requests so your info stays gone. Includes spam email filtering, phishing alerts, and identity monitoring. Family plan covers up to 5 people. Starts at just $6.49/month.
🥈 #2: DeleteMe — Best for Maximum Coverage & Human Oversight
Removes your personal data from over 750 people-finder sites and data broker sites — including obscure ones automated tools miss. Their team handles manual removal and custom removal requests for public records, social media accounts, and resistant sites. Includes detailed privacy reports and multi-user plans. $129/year.
FastPeopleSearch is a powerful people search engine and a classic example of a data broker. Its primary business is not serving you, the individual; it's aggregating your personal information and making it easily searchable. The platform compiles vast profiles on millions of Americans by collecting personal data from a wide array of sources.
Where does this information come from? FastPeopleSearch doesn't ask you for it. Instead, it uses automated tools to scrape and combine data from:
Public Records: This is the largest source, including property records, voter registration files, court filings, marriage licenses, and government records.
Third-Party Data Brokers: It buys and trades data with other big companies in the data aggregation industry.
Publicly Available Information: This includes data from phone directories, marketing databases, and information you might have shared on social media profiles or online forums.
A typical profile on Fast People Search can contain an alarming amount of personal details, including your full name and aliases, current and past addresses, every known phone number (landline and mobile), your age, and a list of known relatives and associates. Your information is listed simply because it's available in these data sources and profitable for the company to display.
FastPeopleSearch provides a free, manual opt-out process. The process requires precision, so follow these five steps carefully to ensure your removal request is processed correctly. Remember, if you have multiple listings (e.g., with slight name variations), you must complete this entire removal process for each one.
Step 1: Find Your FastPeopleSearch Listing
First, you need to locate the exact record you want to remove.
Navigate to the FastPeopleSearch.com website.
Use the main search box on the home page. Enter your full name and your city and state. You can also perform an address lookup or a reverse phone lookup if you have that information.
Carefully review the search results to find the profile that matches your personal details. It's common for people with similar names to appear, so double-check the age, past locations, and relatives to confirm you've found the correct one.
Step 2: Copy the Profile URL
Once you've identified your profile, click on it to open the full details page. The Uniform Resource Locator (URL) in your browser's address bar is a unique identifier for that specific record.
Click on the address bar at the top of your web browser.
Highlight the entire URL (it should start with https://www.fastpeoplesearch.com/).
Copy the URL to your clipboard (Ctrl+C on Windows or Cmd+C on a Mac).
This URL is essential for telling FastPeopleSearch exactly which record to remove.
Step 3: Submit a FastPeopleSearch Opt-Out Request
With your profile URL copied, you can now initiate the official removal request.
Go to the FastPeopleSearch Removal Page, which is found at https://www.fastpeoplesearch.com/removal.
You will see a form. Paste the profile URL you copied in the previous step into the designated field.
Enter a valid email address. You will need access to this inbox to complete the process. It's often wise to use a disposable or secondary email address to avoid linking your primary email to the data broker.
Check the captcha box to prove you are not a robot and click the "Begin Removal Process" button.
This action submits your formal opt-out requests to their system.
Step 4: Confirm Removal via Email
This step is critical and often missed. Your removal request will not be processed until you confirm it via email.
Immediately check the inbox of the email address you provided.
Look for an email from FastPeopleSearch. It might be in your spam or junk folder.
Open the email and click the unique confirmation link inside. It will typically say something like, "Click here to remove your record."
Clicking this link verifies your identity and finalizes your request. You should be taken to a confirmation page stating that the request has been received.
Step 5: Wait for Removal
After confirmation, the automated system will begin processing your request. The removal is not instantaneous.
Timeline: It typically takes 24 to 72 hours for your profile to be removed from the website.
Verification: After 72 hours, you should revisit the URL of your profile. It should now lead to an error or a "not found" page. You can also search for your name again to ensure it no longer appears.
Search Engine Cache: Note that while your profile is gone from FastPeopleSearch, it may still appear in search engine results (like Google) for a few more days or weeks. These search engines need time to recrawl the site and recognize that the page has been removed.
Given that your data can reappear, you have two primary strategies for managing your privacy on these sites: the manual approach or using an automated service.
Manual FastPeopleSearch Opt-Out
This is the method described above. It involves finding your record and submitting opt-out requests yourself.
Pros: It is completely free and effective for removing a single, specific listing.
Cons: It is time-consuming, the removal is not permanent, and you must personally monitor the site for reappearance. Crucially, this process must be repeated for the dozens of other data broker sites that exist.
Automated Data Removal Services
These subscription services act as your agent, handling the entire opt-out process for you across hundreds of data broker sites.
How They Work: You provide your information, and their automated systems scan data broker sites, submit opt-out requests on your behalf, and continuously monitor to ensure your records stay down, resubmitting requests as needed.
Benefits: This approach offers ongoing protection, saves dozens of hours of manual work, and addresses the root problem of data proliferation across the entire data broker ecosystem.
🥇 #1: Incogni — Best for Automation, Affordability & Compliance
Fully automated data removal from 150+ data brokers using GDPR and CCPA laws. Sends recurring removal requests so your info stays gone. Includes spam email filtering, phishing alerts, and identity monitoring. Family plan covers up to 5 people. Starts at just $6.49/month.
While you can't disappear from the internet completely, you can practice good digital hygiene to reduce your data footprint and make it harder for data brokers to profile you.
Limit Public Information on Social Media: Set your social media profiles to private and avoid listing your full birth date, phone number, or home address publicly.
Opt Out of Other Data Brokers: FastPeopleSearch is just one of many. Systematically remove yourself from other major people search sites.
Use a PO Box or Virtual Address: For non-essential mail or business registrations, use an address that isn't tied to your physical home.
Guard Your Phone Number: Avoid entering your primary cell phone number into online forms for contests, loyalty programs, or petitions. Use a secondary VoIP number (like Google Voice) instead.
Set Up Google Alerts: Create a free Google Alert for your name in quotation marks ("John Smith"). This will notify you by email if new search results containing your name appear online, helping you spot new data broker listings quickly.
It is critical to understand that FastPeopleSearch is just one node in a massive network. Removing your profile from this one site does not impact your listings on others like Whitepages, Spokeo, BeenVerified, or Intelius. Each data broker operates independently and has its own unique removal process.
Many of these sites offer similar features, such as reverse phone lookup or address lookup tools, and they often pull from the same pool of public records. This is why a comprehensive approach is necessary. Tackling them one by one can feel like a game of whack-a-mole, which is why automated services have become increasingly popular.
How do I remove myself from FastPeopleSearch for free?
You can remove yourself for free by following the manual opt-out process: find your record, copy the URL, and submit it on the official FastPeopleSearch removal page, making sure to confirm the request via email.
How long does FastPeopleSearch removal take?
After you click the confirmation link in the email, the removal typically takes 24 to 72 hours to be reflected on the website.
Does FastPeopleSearch permanently delete my data?
No. The opt-out process suppresses your current profile from public view. Because the site constantly refreshes its databases, a new or altered version of your profile can reappear later.
Why does my FastPeopleSearch listing keep coming back?
Your listing reappears because FastPeopleSearch has acquired new or updated public records or third-party data containing your personal information, which its system treats as a new record.
Is FastPeopleSearch safe to use?
While browsing the site itself is not inherently dangerous (it won't give you a virus), the information it displays creates significant safety and privacy risks for the people listed on it.
Can scammers use FastPeopleSearch?
Yes, absolutely. Scammers frequently use the detailed personal information found on sites like FastPeopleSearch to conduct more convincing phishing attacks, commit identity theft, and engage in social engineering.
Do I need to opt out every year?
It is highly recommended to check for your listing at least once or twice a year. Due to frequent database updates, you will likely need to opt out multiple times unless you use an automated service that monitors for you.
Yes, removing your information from FastPeopleSearch is absolutely worth the effort, but it should be viewed as a single battle in a larger war for digital privacy.
The manual opt-out process works, but it is a temporary fix for just one of many data broker sites. In 2026, protecting your personal information is not a one-time task but an ongoing practice. It requires either consistent manual effort to monitor and remove listings or the help of an automated service to manage the problem at scale.
If you value your privacy and security, starting with the Fast People Search removal process is a necessary and empowering first step. It is the beginning, not the end, of taking control of your digital footprint and keeping your personal data out of the public domain.