In theory, services like Nuwber can be extremely helpful. They’re great for tracking down distant relatives or people you’ve lost touch with over the years. Unfortunately, though, many people have less honorable intentions. Their goals are creepy at best and downright dangerous at worst. Nuwber’s website actually says that it can be used to check up on potential romantic partners, look up celebrities or influencers, or research the parents of your child’s friends.
In other words, anyone willing to pay a low monthly fee can find out your address, who lives with you, your phone number, your criminal history, and more. Nuwber forbids anyone from using this data to screen tenants, make employment decisions, or disqualify anyone from credit or insurance, but they’d never know if this happened and couldn’t stop it anyway.
On the plus side, it’s surprisingly easy to delete your Nuwber profile. You can do this yourself or use a tool to remove yourself from multiple people-search sites simultaneously, and this guide will show you how.
Our top personal data removal tool: Incogni
Incogni was created by Surfshark, a company best known for its no-logs VPN. It aims to simplify the process of data-removal by automatically contacting data brokers across the US, the UK, and Europe for you. It can even escalate complaints on your behalf if these organizations fail to abide by the law and remove your data. Best of all, this service is completely hands-off – you can either monitor each request diligently or just sign up and forget about it.
BEST PERSONAL DATA REMOVAL TOOL:Incogni takes the stress out of removing your data from Nuwber, Whitepages, Intelius, and more. It even comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can try it totally risk-free.
How to remove yourself from Nuwber and similar sites
Nuwber is, regrettably, the tip of the iceberg. Even after you delete your profile, people may be able to find your information on sites like Whitepages and Intelius. That’s why we recommend using a tool which can do all of the hard work for you.
Follow these steps to automatically delete your data from multiple people search sites including Nuwber:
- Begin by signing up for a personal data-removal service. We recommend Incogni, a novice-friendly tool from privacy giant Surfshark
- Choose a monthly or annual plan, then sign up as normal
- Incogni will now begin sending takedown requests on your behalf. You don’t have to do anything – it’ll let you know the process of each, and within a week, you should start to see requests being completed
How to delete your Nuwber data manually
Just want to get your data off of Nuwber as soon as possible? In that case, you can submit a removal request manually. Follow these steps and your profile will be taken down within 48 hours:
- Open Nuwber’s website
- Search for yourself, then click the VIEW DETAILS button
- Copy the URL from the address bar, then scroll down to the bottom of the page
- Click on Remove My Info
- Paste your link into the text box and click OPT OUT
- Your profile should be deleted in the next day or two. Note that Nuwber may reacquire your information in the future, in which case you will need to repeat the process.
Why should you care that your information is on Nuwber?
People often say things like “I have nothing to hide”, but it’s possible they’d change their tune if they realized all of the following information is available to anyone for less than $10 a month:
- Full name, aliases, and date of birth
- Your phone numbers and email addresses
- Past and current addresses, with street and aerial views, as well as directions
- The names of anyone you live with (who likely have Nuwber profiles of their own)
- Marital status, utility providers, and postal records
- Your occupation, net worth, and credit rating
- Details of any businesses you own or licenses you hold
- Details of any crimes you’ve been charged with
- Any liens, bankruptcies, or judgements on your file
This is an extremely large amount of information, and it allows anyone to dox, SWAT, or cyberstalk you with minimal effort. You’ll also notice that this is the type of information that’s often used to verify your identity if you forget one of your passwords. As such, having all of this data out there may also put you at risk of having your identity stolen.
See also: The best identity theft services
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it legal for Nuwber to make my personal information public?
Technically, Nuwber just collects data that’s already out there. You might not realize it, but all kinds of information, including criminal history, voter registration data, and property sales are actually a matter of public record. Normally, someone would have to be extremely determined to scrape data about you from dozens of different sources. Nuwber does this automatically, charging a fee for the convenience. It’s arguably unethical but completely legal.
How can I limit the amount of my personal data that’s on the internet?
Regaining control of your personal data can seem like an uphill battle but it’s actually getting slightly easier than in previous years. We now have affordable, tried-and-tested VPNs, free browser extensions designed to stop you from being tracked, and even privacy-first search engines.
Of course, the best defense is knowing what you’re up against. Why not check out our beginner-friendly guide to cybersecurity, learn how to avoid phishing, or find out where you can get free basic cyber-awareness training?
Why is the info on my Nuwber profile incorrect?
Nuwber (and really, every major people search site) has a fatal flaw: it has no idea if the data it puts out there is even accurate. The service’s own FAQ notes that it may pull outdated or incorrect information from public sources, may create multiple records for a single person, and may even re-add your data even after you’ve opted out. Even putting aside the huge privacy implications, the level of nonchalance on display here is concerning.
