Broker profile

BeenVerified

One of the largest US people-search and background-check brands, operated by The Lifetime Value Co. (LTVCO) out of New York and founded in 2007 by Josh Levy (CEO) and Ross Cohen (COO). LTVCO runs a portfolio of nine consumer brands - BeenVerified, PeopleLooker, PeopleSmart, NeighborWho, Ownerly, NumberGuru, ReversePhone, Bumper, and MoneyBot5000 - on one shared data and matching backbone, and raised $150M from Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital in December 2020. Each brand keeps its own opt-out, so removing your BeenVerified listing does not clear the sister sites.

Manual removal guideVisit beenverified.com
BeenVerified homepage screenshot

BeenVerified overview

At a glance

Quick facts
Privacy Risk
LimitedModerateSubstantialExtensive
Data published
Extensive
Re-listing frequency
Recurring
Complaint record
Pattern of complaints
Opt-out friction
Moderate
Operator opacity
Fully disclosed
Prior data incidents
None documented

Each broker is scored 1 to 4 across the six dimensions above; higher means more exposure, and the overall gauge is their average.

What each dimension means
  • Data published: how much and how sensitive the personal data they put out.
  • Re-listing frequency: how quickly you reappear after opting out.
  • Complaint record: volume and pattern of complaints across BBB, Trustpilot, and Sitejabber; no findable review presence counts against the broker.
  • Opt-out friction: how hard the removal process is to complete.
  • Operator opacity: how hidden the operating company and its principals are.
  • Prior data incidents: history of breaches or leaks of the data they hold.
Category

People-search & background reports

Parent company

The Lifetime Value Co.

LTVCO founded

2007

BeenVerified started

July 25, 2008

CEO

Joshua Levy

Headquarters

New York, NY

BBB rating

B+

Opt-out available

Yes

FCRA covered?

No

Background

Background

Company history

BeenVerified is the flagship consumer brand of The Lifetime Value Co. (LTVCO), founded by Josh Levy and Ross Cohen in 2007 in New York. The company operates a single underlying data and matching pipeline that powers nine separate consumer brands targeting different use cases - people search, reverse phone lookup, property data, vehicle history, unclaimed-money search, and background reports.

LTVCO founded

2007

Founders

Josh Levy, Ross Cohen

BeenVerified, LLC formed

Jul 25, 2008

Funding raised

$150M (Dec 2020)

Lead investor

Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital

Consumer brands

9

BeenVerified's reports include a person's full names, current and previous addresses, phones, email addresses, ages, likely relatives and associates, court and arrest records, marriage and divorce filings, property records, and (depending on the report tier) social-media accounts linked to the subject.

Operationally, the company has tried to navigate a careful line on FCRA compliance. BeenVerified explicitly states in its terms that its reports are not consumer reports under the FCRA and may not be used for employment, tenant, or credit decisions. The FTC has been clear that this self-disclaimer alone does not insulate a service that is, in practice, used for those purposes.

Subscription billing complaints. The BBB profile for BeenVerified, LLC carries a "Pattern of Complaints" alert specifically about unexpected recurring subscription charges after consumers expected a one-time payment. The company holds a B+ rating but is NOT BBB accredited. If you run the opt-out flow and end up entering payment details, watch the billing carefully.

Data Published

Data types

10 categories

Sensitive: elevated identity-theft, doxxing, or safety riskStandard public-record field

  • Full name & aliases
  • Current & previous addressesSensitive
  • Phone numbers
  • Age & date of birthSensitive
  • Email addresses
  • Relatives & associatesSensitive
  • Marriage & divorce filings
  • Property records
  • Linked social-media profiles
  • Criminal, court & arrest recordsSensitive

Cross-brand data flow: the same underlying dataset feeds BeenVerified, PeopleLooker, PeopleSmart, NeighborWho, Ownerly, NumberGuru, ReversePhone, Bumper, and MoneyBot5000. A record removed on one of these properties is not necessarily removed on the others - LTVCO maintains separate opt-out flows per brand, with one exception: ReversePhone's removal link points at this portal, so its process runs through BeenVerified. See the Network section below for the full list.

FCRA disclaimer is on the customer side, not yours. BeenVerified's terms tell buyers they cannot use the reports for employment, tenant, or credit decisions. The disclaimer doesn't change what's published about you - or limit how third-party buyers actually use the reports once they pay.

Contact

Contacts & links

BeenVerified, LLC
Operating company

BeenVerified, LLC

Parent company

The Lifetime Value Co. (LTVCO)

Headquarters

48 W 38th Street, Floor 8 New York, NY 10018-0043 United States

Customer phone

+1 (866) 885-6480 · +1 (888) 579-5910

Fax

+1 (212) 813-3276

Key links

Homepagebeenverified.comOpt-out pagebeenverified.com/app/optout/searchPrivacy policybeenverified.com/faq/privacyTerms of servicebeenverified.com/faq/terms-conditionsBBB profilebbb.org - B+ ratingParent: LTVCOltvco.comLTVCO LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ltvco

Opt-out routes through BeenVerified's own search, not a contact form. Removing yourself on BeenVerified.com does not automatically suppress your record on the sister LTVCO brands - each has its own opt-out flow. See the step-by-step removal guide for the full procedure.

Network

Sister brands

8 sibling brands

The Lifetime Value Co. operates nine consumer brands on a shared data backbone - the eight below plus BeenVerified itself. Each has its own opt-out flow - suppression on BeenVerified does not propagate.

Related broker network: Lifetime Value Co. (LTVCO) network

BeenVerified is one of nine consumer brands on a shared LTVCO data backbone (founded 2007 by Josh Levy and Ross Cohen). Each brand has its own opt-out flow; one removal does NOT propagate to the others. Opting out of BeenVerified does not automatically remove you from the sister brands listed below; each requires its own opt-out request.

If you opt out of BeenVerified, do PeopleLooker and PeopleSmart next. They run on the same data and most aggressively duplicate BeenVerified's people-search listings under different branding. NeighborWho and Ownerly publish your property history; if you own a home, those need separate suppression too.

Owned or operated by The Lifetime Value Co.16 entities in this network · 9-brand data backboneExplore the full map
peoplelooker.compeoplesmart.comneighborwho.comownerly.comnumberguru.comreversephone.combumper.commoneybot5000.com

Reputation

Trust signals

Mostly negative

BeenVerified has high review volume across all three major consumer review platforms. Trustpilot rates the service at 2.5 / 5 ("Poor"), Sitejabber leans even more negative at 2.4 / 5, and the BBB carries the most damning signal: a formal Pattern of Complaints alert citing 520 complaints over 3 years, with the company flagged for failing to resolve underlying causes.

Trustpilotbeenverified.com · 130+ pages of reviews2.5 / 5As of 2026-05View reviews ↗
Better Business BureauBeenVerified, LLC (NY) · not accredited · 520 complaints in 3yrB+ ratingAs of 2026-05View profile ↗
SmartCustomer (formerly Sitejabber)309 reviews · ranks low among People-Search sites2.4 / 5As of 2026-05View reviews ↗

  • Free / $1 trial converts silently to recurring monthly billing

  • Cancellation difficulties; refund requests denied

  • Personal data published without consent; slow opt-out

  • Data accuracy complaints - wrong relatives, wrong addresses, no way to dispute

  • Misleading "FREE reverse phone lookup" marketing where the lookup is gated behind a paid subscription

BBB Pattern of Complaints alert is live. The BBB has issued and maintained a formal Pattern of Complaints designation against BeenVerified, explicitly citing "Business has failed to resolve underlying cause(s) of a pattern of complaints." The pattern concerns two issues, namely (1) information being published without consent and slow opt-out turnaround, and (2) misleading "free / low-cost trial" flows that convert to recurring subscriptions consumers can't cancel.

All three sources agree: Trustpilot 2.5 / 5, Sitejabber 2.4 / 5, and BBB's active Pattern of Complaints alert. The BBB letter grade (B+) is the outlier - BBB grades weight complaint responsiveness rather than satisfaction, so a company that engages with the BBB dispute process can sustain a B+ even while drawing a Pattern of Complaints designation. Read the Pattern of Complaints note, not the letter grade.

Litigation

Litigation history

1 notable case + 1 complaint

BeenVerified has been a named defendant in privacy class actions, but unlike the Confi-Chek and Whitepages families, the most-cited Illinois Right of Publicity case was dismissed early on standing grounds rather than ending in a multi-million-dollar settlement.

Dobrowolski v. BeenVerified, Inc.

Dismissed

N.D. Ill. · Illinois Right of Publicity Act · Filed 2017

Docket

1:17-cv-01447

Court

N.D. Illinois

Plaintiffs

Anna Dobrowolski, Nicole Vinci

Plaintiffs' counsel

Edelson P.C.

Theory

Illinois Right of Publicity Act

Outcome

Dismissed Aug 2017

Plaintiffs alleged that BeenVerified used their names in dynamic keyword-insertion ads ("We found [name]") to advertise paid subscriptions, in violation of the Illinois Right of Publicity Act. Judge Robert M. Dow dismissed the case in August 2017, ruling that "name alone" is not necessarily sufficient to identify a specific individual under IRPA - because many people share the same name, the ads did not point to these Anna Dobrowolski and Nicole Vinci specifically. A parallel case against Intelius (1:17-cv-01406) was dismissed on the same theory.

Abine v. BeenVerified (FTC complaint)

Enforcement action

FTC complaint · 2012 · Opt-out fairness

Privacy services company Abine filed an FTC complaint against BeenVerified in 2012 alleging that consumers who had used BeenVerified's own opt-out flow were finding their information re-published on the site afterward. The complaint did not result in a public FTC enforcement action against BeenVerified, but it is an early documented account of the "opt-out doesn't actually keep you off" pattern that has since become a focus of CCPA / Delete Act enforcement.

We have not found a Federal Trade Commission enforcement action, state Attorney General consent decree, or California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) Delete Act settlement against BeenVerified or LTVCO directly as of the last-updated date below.

FAQ

Q & A

Common questions
Is BeenVerified a data broker?

Yes. BeenVerified is one of the largest US people-search and background-report brands. It publishes paid reports including names, addresses, phones, emails, ages, relatives, court records, arrest records, marriage and divorce filings, property records, and linked social media profiles. The flagship consumer brand of The Lifetime Value Co. (LTVCO) since 2008.

Who owns BeenVerified?

BeenVerified, LLC is owned by The Lifetime Value Co. (LTVCO), founded in 2007 by Josh Levy and Ross Cohen in New York. Levy is CEO and Cohen is COO. The company raised $150 million from Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital in December 2020. LTVCO runs nine consumer brands on a shared data backbone. They're BeenVerified, PeopleLooker, PeopleSmart, NeighborWho, Ownerly, NumberGuru, ReversePhone, Bumper, and MoneyBot5000.

What information does BeenVerified publish?

The ten categories BeenVerified publishes are full names with aliases and prior names, current and previous street-level addresses, landline and mobile phone numbers, approximate age and date of birth, email addresses, names of likely relatives and associates, marriage and divorce filings, property records, linked social-media profiles, and criminal history including court and arrest records.

Can I remove myself from BeenVerified?

Yes. The self-service opt-out is at beenverified.com/app/optout/search. It routes through BeenVerified's own search rather than a contact form. Critically, removal does NOT propagate to sister LTVCO brands like PeopleLooker, PeopleSmart, NeighborWho, Ownerly, NumberGuru, Bumper, and MoneyBot5000 - each runs its own opt-out flow. The exception is ReversePhone, whose footer removal link lands on this same portal - BeenVerified runs that site's removal process. See our BeenVerified removal guide for step-by-step instructions.

How long does BeenVerified take to remove information?

BeenVerified does not publish a specific SLA. The BBB carries an active Pattern of Complaints alert citing 520 complaints over three years, with slow opt-out turnaround as one of the two named issues. Removal timing in user reports varies from days to weeks, with profiles sometimes reappearing afterward.

Is BeenVerified covered by FCRA?

No. BeenVerified explicitly states in its terms that its reports are NOT consumer reports under FCRA and may not be used for employment, tenant, or credit decisions. The FTC has been clear that this self-disclaimer alone does not insulate a service used in practice for those purposes, but BeenVerified is not a Consumer Reporting Agency.

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Last updated:

May 19, 2026