Spokeo Review - How Detailed Is It?
7 min. read
Published on
Share this article
Improve this guide
Read our disclosure page to find out how can you help MSPoweruser sustain the editorial team Read more
This Spokeo review will tell you all you need to know about the service.
The online personal information and background check service was founded in 2006 as a social network aggregator. Since then, it evolved into a social search engine that serves 20 million+ users monthly.
Spokeo has collected over 12 billion records since its inception, providing detailed personal information from thousands of sources including social media, government records, and legal archives.
In this detailed Spokeo review, you’ll find out the features of the platform, pricing, and every other necessary information.
Legal Disclaimer – Spokeo isn’t a Consumer Reporting Agency (CRA) as defined by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The site can’t be used for employment, credit, tenant screening, or related purposes.
Features
When you initiate a search on Spokeo, you’ll get a long list of people who fit your search terms. Clicking on any of the listed profiles then reveals more information.
This includes their location or address, phone number, email address, social media accounts, employment, and education history.
Most importantly, it reveals accessible court records detailing the person’s criminal history.
1. Reverse Phone Lookup
Spokeo has a tool that can help you research any phone number to discover who is on the other end of the line.
Just by inputting the phone number in the search box, the platform can provide you with the necessary information about the caller.
That includes the caller’s name, location, or address, and the route through which the call was placed.
Also, it tells you if the call was made with an actual phone number or a virtual one. This tool helps to identify potentially harmful callers and spammers so you can avoid them.
2. Address Search
Spokeo allows you to retrieve information about a person’s address, both past and present.
Also, it provides you with the name, current contact information, and history of criminal involvements and activities for residents.
In addition, it makes it possible to have background information about an area, especially if you’re looking to rent or buy a property.
Moreover, you’re able to narrow your search to your immediate environment for people with criminal records and sex offenders.
3. Spokeo People Search
This Spokeo people search feature allows you to search for anyone in any location with just their name. This will interest anyone who’s hoping to reconnect with their long-lost friends, families, or lovers.
Still, this is limited only to the United States.
Providing the platform with your person of interest’s last known location will help you narrow the search.
Spokeo grants you information about their previous locations, phone numbers, their social media accounts, and email addresses.
4. Free Searches
Spokeo allows free basic searches.
The platform doesn’t in any way coerce users to pay as you can do whatever you want with the basic information.
In simple terms, you get information about a person’s family members, location or address history as well as whether they have a criminal history.
5. Credit or Wealth Information
Spokeo has a tool that shares wealth data or credit information which is rather uncommon.
By inputting a person’s name, you get information about their income and revenue as well as their investments.
6. Spokeo Email Search
Its email search feature allows you to discover the identity of the sender.
With a quick search, you can access data such as the sender’s name, social media accounts, and other available contact information.
This way, you’re able to have control over the emails you receive and potentially block those that have been flagged as spam or scammers.
7. Reveal Criminal History
Spokeo has access to a bunch of government records and legal archives.
It tells you the crime location, the type of offense, and the date it was committed.
However, this feature comes at an additional fee as it’s not accessible with the free plan.
8. Customizable Personal Information
Users can search for information about themselves and evaluate the information available for everyone to see.
This is called a self-check. It allows individuals to have an insight into how they’re generally perceived.
Hence, if there’s any incorrect information, you can contact Spokeo to take it off the internet.
Ease of Use
Spokeo has a beginner-friendly interface which makes it possible for anyone to use the platform.
The search bar is easy to locate and all you have to do is input the required information to get started.
When I searched for a random name, it took me through a few steps where I had to enter the person’s last known location.
Then I was prompted to specify the information I wanted in the results.
After the search was complete, I had to enter my email address and then wait while the site built a comprehensive report about my query.
In the end, I was prompted to pay $0.95 to get access to the full report.
Pricing
Spokeo offers only one paid subscription plan alongside free and trial options:
- Free plan – Offers access to basic information like city, state, age, and contact details.
- 7-day trial ($0.95) – Full access to Spokeo’s tools to test if it’s the right service for you.
- Monthly membership ($24.95) – Offers full access to all of Spokeo’s features, including full reports about any search query. This includes criminal records, credit background, and lots more.
However, with Spokeo’s monthly subscription, there’s a cap on the number of searches. Unfortunately, there’s no information on how many searches and reports you can run every month and how much it costs to upgrade the limit.
You may also be interested in:
Spokeo Review – Verdict
While testing for this Spokeo review, I discovered that Spokeo is an organized and impressive personal information and background check service. It provides the necessary search results whether you’re using the name, location, or email address in the search bar.
In comparison with other popular people search platforms, Spokeo’s free searches can come in handy, especially for reverse phone lookups and email searches.
However, the only downside to this platform is the monthly limit on the number of searches and reports. Also, the lack of information about how to remove the limits makes it underwhelming.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can someone tell if you look them up on Spokeo?
No, no one can tell if you looked them up on Spokeo or other background information services.
However, since Spokeo has the Wealth Data feature and it gives a report about a person’s income, it may notify them of a probe into their credit history.
What can Spokeo tell you?
Spokeo can tell you about a person’s name, contact address, phone number, email address, wealth (income and credit history), education and work history, criminal records, and so on.
Can you remove yourself from Spokeo?
Yes, you can remove yourself from Spokeo:
- Search for your data on the website.
- Find your listing and click on it to reveal your profile.
- Copy the URL of your profile by clicking on “copy link address” from the drop-down menu.
- Proceed to Spokeo’s opt-out page and paste the copied URL.
- Enter an email and perform the CAPTCHA to prove you’re human.
- Click on the verification link sent to your email. This will redirect you to a final confirmation page.
- Check your email for the confirmation email sent and click on the link at the bottom.
Is Spokeo Com legit?
Yes, Spokeo is a legitimate background information service. The platform uses algorithms to gather public information about a person. It then compiles this information into a profile where it can be easily accessed by anyone who asks for it.
Is Spokeo Com secure?
Yes, Spokeo is secure. It treats its users’ data with care and optimum confidentiality.
