Intelius review: intelius - beware it's a rip-off! 79

It is a number one fraudulent company. In the name of providing background checks, it basically takes advantage of one's fears. I had done a person check to look for an address of an old friend. They somehow with out my consent started billing me for some kind of ID protection services which I never asked for. They never even sent me emails that they were charging me for that every month.

No good. I paid about $5 for an email address that didn't work. I really wanted to find this person. If they advertise the materials for a heavy price, they should at least check to see if it's up to date information. Don't use Intelius; it's a waste of money.

DO NOT USE THIS OR ANY OTHER SO CALLED "PEOPLE FINDER" SITE!

I paid $30 for a 24 hour pass to track a couple family members I lost contact with. The info started to look odd so I looked myself up and a couple people whose current information I knew for certain. The information listed as MY current "confirmed" address and phone number hadn't been valid for over 10 years and my other info (previous address, etc) was completly bogus.

I called and sat on hold for 15 minutes and asked for a refund, to have someone tell me that the info is based on "public record" and might not be current and basiclly I was SOL becasue this is stated in fine print on the website somewhere. While holding, I found the comments about this so-called service on this website so I clearly stated "do not share any of my information or bill me for anything further - cancel everything". We'll see if some random charge shows up from these folks in a month and if I have to go for round 2 battling them to get money back. I was actually had better luck using the White Pages online... for FREE!

A couple of weeks after doing a simple People Search (for only "$1.95"), we got hit with a one-time $0.95 charge and a $19.95 subscription that we didn't authorize. Now, they're telling me that they cannot locate the account in order to process a refund for those amounts.

Doesn't anybody monitor these kind of companies.

Buyer beware...DO NOT USE!

Every time I use Intellius, there appears on my credit card an authorized charge for $15.99, which keeps appearing until I cancel the credit card. I don't know what it is for, but it is tied to logging on to Intellius. This time, my credit card company called me and asked me about it. I had to cancel the card again. I will never ever use Intellius again.

I just got ripped off by Intelius, too. When I called their customer support staff, I got no help at all. So I asked for a supervisor, and that person, one Barb Embree, told me that she can't put through a credit at all. So I asked for the name of the president of the company. She gave me the guys' name backwards--didn't even know his first from his last name!

Good luck to anyone foolish enough to do business with this unscrupulous (and apparently stupid) company.

Beware! They charged me $19.95 for a subscription I never asked for. They gave me my money back but I believe they do this very often expecting people not to look carefully at their credit card bills and hoping we never notice the charge. They should be fined heavily for unauthorized use of peoples credit cards. They are thieves.

I too fell for this scam. I paid for a simple phone look up and used my debit card. My bank account has been drafted for months now. They are drafting it under the name of ValueMax. I have seen the charge on my account...and I thought it was the local gas station I use. I finally cought it when I hadn't been to the gas station in a few days and the charge showed up again. Hopefully I will get my money back. Also...they say they offer you credit reports and other information as part of this program you signed up for (the ValuMax) charge. Funny because to send me a credit report...you would have to have my social security number...which I didn't give them.

A complete scam...and it is sad that so many prominant websites are allowing them to advertise on their sites. It gives you the illusion they are a secure and good site.

i too pd intelius to do a email reverse, i called for help several times, they refused, finally they said clean my cookies so i did that, then it was one excuse after another, i never found the person but they had no problem finding my account, i have not been w/ them long enough to recieve a aadditional bill but sounds like i will, this was a very important person i needed to locate and all they did was waste my time.

well ive been recieving charges from pmidentity.com for 19.95 a month and protect plus for 19.95 if intelius is behind this i will desroy their reputation to the fullest. Its not ok to charge someone without telling them and respecting their privacy.

Just got an email from this company saying I signed up with them and they are charging my credit card 49.95! I never even used there services and I wonder how they got my credit card number!
Yikes! This is outright robbery!

I just recently was scamed by them. I used them 2 separate times to look up 2 different cell phone numbers that would continiously call my cell phone. I paid 15 one time and the nest time I paid 5 bucks.

Well just recently I noticed a $19.95 charge in my bank account from PMIDENITY.COM. Turns out Intelius gave them my bank card information without my permission. They then went ahead and took the money out of my checking account. I am WICKED pissed off about this.

I closed my account and spoke with my bank and we are in the process of trying to get my money back.

Intelius had NO RIGHT to do this to me and when I tried to contact them I got no answer.

Another person said they got an email from them with an attachment. They opened up the attachment and it was a steaming pile of poop. NO JOKE and actually picture of a steaming pile of poop.

DO NOT USE THEM THEY ARE A SCAM AND WILL CHARGE YOU FOR THINGS YOU DID NOT SIGN UP FOR AND GIVE OUR YOUR INFO TO OTHERS.

I need to know how to retrieve my money back from intellius.

Intelius are nothing but scammers. I used Intelius to reverse lookup a cellphone number ($4.95 charge), and then a few other $19.95 charges for APMIdentity.com or whatever showed up. Cancelled the credit card, filed a complaint with the BBB.

Complete garbage.

The Intelius, Inc. and Privacy Matters Group are nothing but a sophisticated scam company.
Do not use them for anything.

Thanks to some of you for helping expose these companies.

Due to your suggestions, I have closed the credit card account I have so that they can no longer charge my account.

They charged my credit card account twice both times in the amount of $19.95.

My advise NEVER TO BUSINESS WITH THEM.

They are a big company, with strong government connections, so that means that they can do whatever they want. It's just business.

And you can opt out. All you have to do is buy an account, so you can send them a copy of every page you want opted out, like if they have you listed several ways.

You'll stay opted out until the next time you buy something, etc, but if you keep paying them the money they want, they will keep opting you out over again, or at least they say they will.

If somebody finds you, it is not like you will be able to prove it was them who told anybody where to find you.

If you want protection bad enough, you come up with the money to pay for it and take your chances with them, or you take your chances with your family's safety.

I feel i am another dope who just got duped! I also agreed to a$2.95 payment to locate my fathers address in florida and all i got was name and a very outdated address .Not only did they take out their $2.95 but they also charged me $19.95 for nothing because i left their site when i realized i had gotten nothing for my $2.95 to my family this is gas in my husbands car or milk for my children.I got charged money my family cannot afford! just because i trusted in a world of untrust and injustice.And all of this just because i wanted to find my father and let him know his youngest daughter was very very ill. Just a quick note to John M. i started my research by looking in the white pages web site and there is where i found my link to (PMIDENT-A-THIEF).

Just for anyone that might not know, you can do your searches for free! reverse phone number look up and addresses! just check out the White pages web sight! No catches, no costs, no scams! I have used it for years!

I just bit the dust too it said the nams and address was available on the search so i payed and it said all of that info was unavailable. I got scammed. So how do we get this online scammers to get off the net? Whos job is that? They should have been stopped a long time ago...

I used their people find ervices and then I got billed 19.95 for their Intelius Identity Protect plan WITHOUT MY consent or permission

I immediately disputed the charge with my credit card company and I canceled my credit card so that no future charges without my knowledge, consent, or permission would be charged.

Intelius are an INTERNET SCAMMERS, and these criminals will commit credit card fraud on unsuspecting consumers.

I've been sent to the intellis site several times by using the reverse phone lookup websites that the search pulls up. I never subscribed to intellus nor did I give them my info. I just checked my account yesterday and I have two charges for $1.00. I disputed the charges but now I wonder... how did they get my info.?

I to used intellius. Received obsolete info and thenPMidentiy.com also b illed me 19.95 Not doubt this is a scam and should be looked in to by the authorities.

I too was ripped off!

AP9*PMIDENTITY.COM-V(Other) 19.95 charged to my credit card and my credit card company won't let me dispute it.

This is criminal! The fact that so many people searches lead right to INTELIUS is even more ridiculous.

Something HAS to be done to stop this.

i want a refund i only wanted 295 to be taken off my credit card

Do not use this site. I have a charge of $19.95 on my account that was not authorized. The original charge was a $2.95 name look up. This was supposed to be the only charge.

I to was charged by protect for $19.95 last month. This month they charged me $19.95 for AP9*PMIDENTITY.COM-V. Which is the same company just a different service they offer. I'm tired of this cpmpany charging my credit card. this month we where on a VERY tight budget and it just alittle tighter.

Its a SCAM! Beware DO NOT USE !

I agree. Intellius give some old information and they are number one ripoffs. Theay also did unautorized charges on my credt card with an item like this

AP9*PMIDENTITY.COM-V $19.95.

I never asked for this service. I called thePMIdntity company and they cancelled my membership and i asked for a refund and they said it will be don ein 2 business days. Don't know whether they will refund.

PMidenty and Intellius are SCAM artists and stay away from them. Yahoo is the one who is supporting this. Their people serach servive direct you to this stupid company called Intellius.

Both of these companies operate fraudulently. I have already sent in complaints about both companies to the Better Business Bureau, and I strongly urge others to do the same. I also got taken by these two companies (INTELIUS and Privacymatters Identity). Don't put up with it, complain and shut them down.

I used Intellius for $2.95 to track an address/email (which was 4 years old) and 4 days later, they charged me another unauthorized $19.95 for nothing! I had to file a dispute with my bank, etc. These guys are conducting a major fraudulent business. DO NOT USE!

I recently used Intelius to provide a cellular phone lookup through their website and provided my credit card info for the service. A few days later they notified me that they could not provide this information and would not charge me.

Then 3 months later I noticed a $14.95 monthly charge on my account for the prior 3 months, so I called this company I had no knowledge about "Privacy Matters" who I supposedly subscribed to for some theft identity program. These Privacy Matters people told me the charges originated with a transaction made with Intelius.

I told them to cancel it and then I had to go to my bank and file a dispute to get my money back.

I was not aware that I even had this service till I recieved my credit card bill. I do not recall subscibing to this service when I checked this site out. Anything I thought I subscribed to, I thought I deleted but apparrently I didn't so I called the number on my bill and canceled. be careful of free offers that charge you later if you do not cancel with in so many days. I must have errored and it cost me $25.00 to learn a lesson!

What actually happens here is that once you have used Intelius, they send you an e-mail which usually goes straight into everyone's spam folder, since it reads as spam. The e-mail itself is an opt-out for the 14.95 monthly recurring fee for People Protect or AP9*PMIDENTITY.COM-V (the charge which showed up on my statement) or any number of the umbrella sites they use to 'protect' you from identity theft. Since the spam filter catches it, most people never even see the thing, and since you have to respond to the e-mail to opt-out, you are now getting charged monthly fees for a service you did not sign up for.

My solution was to cancel my credit card, alert my bank, and call both Intelius and People Protect or whatever their name was, and have them refund my money. I was extremely angry when I got through to both companies, and the funny thing was that the operator at 24 Protect Plus was not fazed in the slightest when I told her that she was working for a company that is literally stealing from people. She just gave a resigned sigh and told me that I would see my money refunded within two business days. I have a feeling they hear this constantly.

What is interesting is that if you google AP9*PMIDENTITY.COM-V, the first site that comes up is one for a class action lawsuit against them. I strongly urge everyone who has been ripped off by this company--they own many other sites, including dating services and all sorts of online junk--to add their names to the list. Even the charge on your bank statement doesn't show up as having come through the above site, I would still check it out.

This is internet fraud plain and simple, but if you work at it you will get your money back. Good luck to all of you.

Not only that but they continue to charge you for services not rendered. I paid them once for a people lookup ($7.95) in October and they just charged me again for $14.95. I haven't even visited the site since then and I am, quite frankly, furious.

Although I didn't use this company, I used CIS and same song and dance. The information they give is an absolute joke and you can retrieve the same for free by taking time and doing your own research. These companies should be illegal!

From my experience Intelius is a scam simply because it seems their primary function is to get your Credit Card #. After purchasing the service via credit card I received no information but was given a link to a site that offered to give me the requested information. This site qave me no information but requested I fill out yet another form to set up "My Account". The form solicits your phone #, home address & more detailed information about your credit card. Once completed promises are made that you will get your info.
My summation is that they sell your credit card # & likely give you some rudimentary information that you can obtain yourself with a some diligent searching. However, at this point I'm guessing because I did not set up "My Account". Once bitten was enough.

Sites like intelius only make it one step easier for Identity thief. I know, I've stolen identities before with the help of sites like this(The people asked me to, to prove it is much easier then believed, and no information is needed other then a name, even then its possible to steal someones identity at random by finding a random name and using a site like this to find other information).

There need to be legal action taken against any and all sites giving out "Public" information to the masses without any kind of check (other then the one you write to give them your money). < Not a joke Legally and morally, there is just something wrong with a website that has no government ties to be able to hand out MY/YOUR info for a fee, to anyone willing to pay. Thats profiting on our loss of privacy, which is something i doubt any American (no offense to other countries/ethnicities) would stand for, I know I'm not.

There are good and better sites for finding information on people, but they usually only handle a small area or a few states, to ensure the records are up-to date and accurate. Also these sites require their users agree to Code Of Conduct and other various legalities as well as make the customer prove they have their own licenses(rights) in order to access(legally) this kind of information(credit/medical/genealogy/etc). I know I've been using these sites for years, and will not say them here, if you truly needed them, you'd have them.

Most any large city should have its own public records website, If not, suggest one to your local officials.

Illegal immigrants, without any official records of their names, are usually the hardest to find info on(If any can be found.).

In short, With the help of the internet, (almost) Anyone's identity can be stolen within minutes.

You put a story on the first page of your site entitled "Complaints on "Intelius People Search" and three inches above the title your are allowing Intellius.com to advertise on your site!

Made by the people for the people?! I think not! What a bunch of hypocrites!

Don't get involve with, it's a ripped off. They provide you livery little information and 3-5 years late records.

Watch them, don't even try.