Loyalty programs may save you money at checkout, but the real price is your data.

Consumer Reports found Kroger made $527M last year selling shopper data.

Your groceries aren’t all they’re tracking. Make sure you know the cost before you join a loyalty program.

🦃 From our team to your family:

Happy Thanksgiving!

We're grateful for the work we get to do every day: helping people take back control of their personal data and stay safe online.

Thank you for trusting us to protect what matters most.

Holiday scam season is coming for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Brand impersonation in the form of emails, fake sites, and spoofed accounts spikes every year.

If you're a company, now's the time to warn your customers:
📢 What’s real
🚩 What’s not
🛡️ How to stay safe

Silence puts them at risk.

Job scams tripled from 2020 to 2024.
AI makes scam emails sharing bad links look real.
Pressure makes them work.

Out of work? Protect yourself:

🛑 Opt out of data broker sites that share your email and phone number with scammers
🛡️ Verify the recruiter and company before you engage

Stay safe!

Still storing years of old employee and customer data?

You're putting yourself at risk of breaches and lawsuits.

The more data you keep, the more you may end up exposing.

Make regular deletion part of your security stack.

See how we're protecting our data: https://joindeleteme.com/security/

“Send us your info so we can protect you.” Spoiler: It’s a scam.

Digital forensics expert Heather Barnhart shares how it's being used to steal from older adults.

🎧 Listen here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/heather-barnhart-hunts-digital-ghosts/id1571482669?i=1000732778070

Your home address, phone number, and even your family details might be floating around on data broker sites right now.

DeleteMe finds and removes that info so you can finally relax, knowing your digital footprint is actually under control.

Learn more: 🛡️ joindeleteme.com

BoardEx collects “actionable people intelligence” without your permission.

That means your personal info could be in their database right now.

Want out? Our quick guide shows you how to opt out in three steps.
📍 https://joindeleteme.com/blog/boardex-opt-out-guide/

Seth Godin invented permission marketing, so you can guess what he thinks about spam.

He joined Beau Friedlander on "What the Hack?" to talk about the best and the worst ways to get attention online.

🎧 Listen now: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-the-hack/id1571482669

YouTube video by Shannon Morse Your Address Is Online… Here’s How to Fix That!

Your home address is probably online.
That’s a privacy and safety risk.

In her latest 30-Day Security Challenge video, Shannon Morse shows how to:
📬 Check for exposed info
📦 Set up a safer mailing address
📱 Use burner numbers

🎥 Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEXDruMq6dI

Public data is a national security blind spot.

Due to the exposure of property records and brokered personal info, government officials face rising threats like doxxing, harassment, and swatting.

Data removal is no longer a luxury.
It can help ensure safety.

Data brokers don’t just collect your info.
They dox you for profit.

Our CEO Rob Shavell told Cybernews how brokers scrape your data, build profiles, and sell them to anyone with zero accountability.

Learn how we’re responding.
🧾 https://joindeleteme.com/

Everyone’s focused on regulating AI models.
How about the data?

AI tools train on scraped, brokered, or user-submitted data.
DeleteMe found many can still share personal info in chats.

Without data regulation, AI safeguards will never work right.
Privacy must come first.

1.7% - that's how much eight months of phishing training improves recognition, according to researchers at Black Hat 2025.

Training has limits. Reducing employee data exposure online shrinks the attack surface and makes phishing campaigns far less effective.

Scammers now use fake CAPTCHAs to hide phishing sites.

Step 1: Get an urgent email or text.
Step 2: Click, solve a CAPTCHA.
Step 3: Get redirected to a fake site that steals your info.

These attacks often find you because your personal data is already exposed online. Opting out helps protect you.

Deepfakes don’t just hack systems. They hijack trust.
Rob Shavell of DeleteMe joined experts from Gartner and others in this Cybersecurity Law Report feature on how companies can fight back.

Read here:
🔗 https://www.cslawreport.com/21318271/how-to-create-a-program-to-combat-deepfakes.thtml

SpamGPT = a “CRM for cybercriminals.” It automates phishing, rotates servers to bypass filters, and uses AI to write convincing scams.

Protect yourself:
✔️ Enable MFA
✔️ Watch for urgent/pay-now emails
✔️ Keep software patched
✔️ Limit personal data online

Prop 211 could force nonprofits to disclose donor names, addresses, and employers creating a searchable database for malicious actors.

With personal info already exposed by data brokers, the risks to staff and donors are amplified. Protecting privacy is protecting safety.

💻 Every click, swipe, and search feeds data brokers. In a recent What the Hack? episode, Identity Theft Resource Center CEO Eva Casey-Velasquez breaks it down. Listen here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-data-grift-everyone-missed/id1571482669?i=1000728005549

Not all privacy services are the same. Some audit your data while others send risky blanket requests, called blind opt-outs.

The best data removal services confirm your info is exposed and make secure, targeted removals. Learn more: https://joindeleteme.com/blog/what-is-a-data-privacy-service/

Steppingblocks looks like a career exploration tool, but it also collects and shares detailed personal data. Learn how to remove yourself and reduce your exposure: https://joindeleteme.com/blog/steppingblocks-opt-out-guide/

A call from your "sister." Creepy texts from someone who knows too much.

Hackers recently targeted filmmaker Dan Sturman. It’s a reminder that protecting your data isn’t paranoia.

🎧 Full podcast episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-wrong-dan-sturman/id1571482669?i=1000727015351

📊 Gartner says 62% of organizations faced deepfake attacks in the past year. These scams work because attackers feed on employee data, using it to mimic leaders’ voices, faces, and emails. The less data available, the harder these attacks become.

This week on "What the Hack?" we explore sponsored ads placed by scammers offering to recover lost social media accounts, and what you need to know to stay safe.

A falling job market + AI layoffs = more desperation. That’s why job scams are exploding. Scammers use data broker info to pose as recruiters, trick applicants, and steal money or identities. This Cybersecurity Awareness Month, reduce your risk by limiting what data about you is available online.

Scams surge during government shutdowns, and this time, the Federal Trade Commission won’t be taking fraud complaints or helping block spam calls. That means fewer protections for consumers just as scammers ramp up fake job offers, benefit scams, and phishing attacks. Stay alert.

Companies always have reasons for why they "need" to collect your data or violate your privacy. We shouldn’t have to accept the trade-offs we’ve been told are normal. The goal should be stronger protection of your personal data. Start by checking your app settings and staying aware of your rights.

Government shutdowns don’t just stall agencies. They open the door for scammers. With access to data brokers that share email addresses and other sensitive data, threat actors can easily target federal workers and vulnerable families. Stay alert and protect your data by opting out wherever you can.

How to remove your personal info from Whitepages in 5 steps - and why you should If you've ever searched for yourself, you may have seen your name, address, or number on this site. Here's how to request removal.

ZDNET explains how to remove your info from Whitepages and why it matters.

They also named DeleteMe a top pick for handling removals so you don’t have to do it yourself.

Read more: https://www.zdnet.com/article/how-to-remove-your-personal-information-from-whitepages-in-5-steps-and-why-you-should/

TheWorkNumber Opt Out Guide - JoinDeleteMe Our step-by-step guide to opt out of TheWorkNumber.

TheWorkNumber holds over 670 million employment and income records. Owned by Equifax, it shares sensitive details with anyone willing to pay.

You can opt out. Here’s how: https://joindeleteme.com/blog/theworknumber-opt-out-guide/