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Catfishing is the term that describes the creation of fake social media profiles or online dating profiles to swindle individuals looking to form emotional bonds – and hopefully a relationship – with other persons on the internet.
Socialcatfish.com is an online identity verification website for users of social media and online dating sites. By compiling publicly available information and making this information available on a proprietary database, Socialcatfish helps interested persons find lost connections and verify online relationships. Clients also use this service for self-evaluation of their social image.
Using Socialcatish begins with a name, phone, email, alias, or image search that displays publicly available information on the person you have met online or wish to connect with. Behind the scenes, the service performs in-depth checks using proprietary online tools to verify images, social profiles, phone numbers, emails, jobs, marital status, and criminal background checks before presenting them to you. So, if John Hancock claims to be an active-duty military officer, you can use Socialcatfish to verify that the real person is actually a handyman living in Los Angeles.
It is important to know that Socialcatfish collects information on its proprietary database from the world wide web, public and government databases, record custodians, database affiliates, and brokers. The database sorts and indexes related information linked to a particular person and makes it into a comprehensive report. However, the information gotten from Socialcatfish is not compliant with Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) standards regardless of whether the content confirms or contradicts what you know.
Socialcatfish is not FCRA-compliant because of how it gets the information on its website. To meet FCRA standards, the company must guarantee the accuracy of the information on its database. Furthermore, the company must inform the owner of their information on the database and let them refute the accuracy among other provisions of the FCRA. The searcher will also need permission to perform the search. Since the prime feature of Socialcatfish is the anonymity of a search, FCRA compliance is not feasible under current circumstances.
Thus, this non-compliance means the information obtained from Socialcatfish may only satisfy general curiosity, and users may only perform a non-FCRA background search. Consequently, searchers cannot act solely on the information gotten from Socialcatfish for legal purposes such as vetting tenants or employment screening. For any of these, you must confirm the authenticity of the information from public records in the custody of government sources or independent service providers perform FCRA-compliant checks.
Clients who choose Socialcatfish prefer fast and inexpensive access to publicly available records on the person they have met online and the flexibility of payment. Socialcatfish offers one-time billing packages for persons looking for reports on one person at any time. For broader access, interested persons may sign up for upgradeable membership billed monthly.
But while using Socialcatfish services, the website collects direct and indirect information from clients, including:
- Personal information and identifiers: Socialcatfish collects this information from clients during sign-up. These include, but are not limited to, personal information and financial information such as name, alias, physical address, email address, social security number, insurance policy number, card details, and other financial information. The company may also share the information collected with third-party vendors who help facilitate transactions. There is no way to bypass providing this information if Socialcatfish requires it to provide access to its services. However, you may cancel your membership at any time and use a data removal tool or intermediary to delete information Socialcatfish has collected on you.
- Information collected from users’ internet or network activity: These include, but are not limited to, browser and search history, interaction with the website, application, or featured advertisement. Socialcatfish collects this information by sending and storing cookies on the user’s browser. A user concerned about his/her privacy may use a virtual private network to hide network activity. In-built browser features also help delete or reject third-party cookies. Socialcatfish does not respond to the do not track signals from browsers.
- Information collected indirectly from third parties: Socialcatfish indirectly collects user information from third-party analytical software and vendors. Some of the sources of this information include Google Analytics, cookies, clickstream, and web beacons. The information collected includes, but is not limited to, personal information, financial information, demographic information, employment-related information, and socio-economic status. Using a privacy-focused browser or browser add-ons helps clients bypass tracking and monitoring activities that collect these data.
How to Opt-Out of Socialcatfish
Persons whose data appear on Socialcatfish may request removal of all instances of the listing, and current users of Socialcatfish may cancel membership at any time.
- Individuals who wish to delete their data from Socialcatfish:
- Perform a name, phone number, alias, email, image, and address search
- Copy out the URL in the address bar
- Visit the opt-out page
- Fill the form and enter the URL of the search result
- Complete the Captcha challenge
- Submit the request
You may also send an email to CCPARequest@socialcatfish.com, introducing yourself and requesting that Socialcatfish delist your information from its database. Ensure to include the URLs of all instances where your information appeared in a search. Either way, Socialcatfish may require a valid ID to confirm your identity and process the opt-out request. Note that an opt-out request takes up to one week to process.
- Existing clients who wish to remove their data
A person may cancel his/her membership at any time by visiting the Plan Details section on their dashboard. Then, he/she may contact Socialcatfish for account deletion and data removal or use a third-party service.
SocialCatfish LLC,
39252 Winchester Rd, STE 107 #228
Murrieta, CA 92563
Phone : (844)422-8347
Email: welcome@socialcatfish.com
What Difficulties Exist when Opting Out of Socialcatfish
Despite the available ways to avoid tracking, request data removal, and stop the sharing or monetization of your information, concerned persons still face difficulties when opting out viz-a-viz:
Reindexing of public records: Although Socialcatfish will complete your data removal request, your personal information and publicly available records may reappear on the website later because Socialcatfish continually indexes data from publicly available records.
Availability on other databases: Removing your information from Socialcatfish does not mean it will not appear on other websites and search engines directly or indirectly affiliated with Socialcatfish. Furthermore, publicly available records such as court records, criminal records, inmate records, and property records will remain with the primary custodian unless you submit a request to seal the record. To solve this, you may contract third-party services to carry out data removal from similar databases.
Data availability pending removal: Socialcatfish may take several days and even weeks to process the opt-out request depending on the backlog of delisting requests. Until then, your information on the website will be available to anyone who searches and pays for it. Thus, the earlier you submit a request for data removal, the sooner you protect your privacy. You may also use third-party tools and services to opt-out.