Broker profile

Intelius

A US people-search and background-report service operated by PeopleConnect, Inc. out of San Diego, California. Founded 2003 in Bellevue, WA by Naveen Jain and five other ex-Infospace executives. Acquired by private equity firm H.I.G. Capital in 2015 (~$100M+), folded into the PeopleConnect portfolio alongside TruthFinder, Instant Checkmate, US Search, and Classmates.com. BBB-accredited since 2021 with an A rating. Notable for a 2010 Washington AG settlement over deceptive post-transaction marketing and ongoing right-of-publicity class actions consolidated under Fischer v. Instant Checkmate. An opt-out reaches only the Intelius-backed DBAs.

Manual removal guideVisit intelius.com
Intelius homepage screenshot

Intelius overview

At a glance

Quick facts
Privacy Risk
LimitedModerateSubstantialExtensive
Data published
Extensive
Re-listing frequency
Recurring
Complaint record
Mixed
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

Operating entity

PeopleConnect, Inc.

Founded

2003

Founder

Naveen Jain

Owner since 2015

H.I.G. Capital (PE)

Headquarters

San Diego, CA

BBB rating

A

PeopleConnect brands

5

FCRA covered?

No

Background

Background

Company history

Intelius was founded in January 2003 in Bellevue, Washington by Naveen Jain along with five former colleagues from Infospace, namely Kevin Marcus, Niraj Shah, Ed Petersen, Chandan Chauhan, and John Arnold. Jain set up Intelius across the street from his old Infospace office. The company grew into one of the early consumer-facing people-search services and remained Bellevue-based for over a decade.

Founded

Jan 17, 2003

Original location

Bellevue, WA

Founder

Naveen Jain

Co-founders

Marcus, Shah, Petersen, Chauhan, Arnold

2015 acquisition

H.I.G. Capital · $100M+

Current HQ

San Diego, CA

In 2015, Intelius and its Bellevue-based parent Inome Inc. were sold to private-equity firm H.I.G. Capital in a deal reportedly valued at over $100 million. Naveen Jain left the company to launch a health-tech startup (Viome). After the H.I.G. acquisition, Intelius was rolled into the broader PeopleConnect, Inc. portfolio - which now includes TruthFinder, Instant Checkmate, US Search, and Classmates.com - and the operational base moved from Bellevue to PeopleConnect's San Diego headquarters.

Intelius is BBB-accredited (since July 2021) under the legal name Intelius.com with PeopleConnect, Inc. as the operating entity. The BBB profile lists eight alternate brand names / DBAs including US Search, PublicRecords.com, Peoplelookup.com, and Lookupanyone.com - all consumer-facing brands that share the PeopleConnect backend data and customer-support infrastructure.

Founder controversy. Naveen Jain has been the subject of significant pre-Intelius and post-Intelius controversy. TechCrunch published a series of pieces in 2008-2009 challenging Intelius's pre-IPO revenue practices; the Washington AG settlement in 2010 (see Litigation) addressed billing practices that overlapped Jain's tenure. Jain departed in 2015 at the H.I.G. acquisition.

Data Published

Data types

10 categories

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

  • Full names, including aliases and prior names
  • Current and previous home addresses (street-level)Sensitive
  • Phone numbers (landline and mobile)
  • Email addresses
  • Approximate age and date of birthSensitive
  • Names of likely relatives, household members, and known associatesSensitive
  • Court and criminal-record summaries (when matched in public records)Sensitive
  • Bankruptcies, liens, and judgments
  • Property ownership and address-history data
  • Linked social-media profiles when discoverable

Data sources: US public records (voter rolls, property, court), commercial data aggregators, and indexed social profiles. Records are not verified against the actual subject and may be stale, mismatched, or attributable to the wrong person.

Intelius explicitly disclaims FCRA scope. Per the terms of service, the service is not a consumer reporting agency and reports may not be used for employment, tenant, credit, or insurance decisions.

Contact

Contacts & links

PeopleConnect, Inc.
Operating entity

PeopleConnect, Inc. (BBB filing: Intelius.com)

Headquarters address

375 Camino de la Reina, Suite 400 San Diego, CA 92108-3083 United States

Customer service phone

+1 (888) 245-1655

Privacy / opt-out email

privacy@intelius.com

PeopleConnect privacy email

privacy@peopleconnect.us

Website

https://www.intelius.com/

CA Data Broker registry

Intelius, LLC (dba Intelius, US Search, US Search Pro) files one registration covering 22 domains · 2024: 32,339 requests to delete - 30,959 complied in whole, 1,380 denied, 1-day median - cppa.ca.gov/data_broker_registry/

Opt-out / suppression page

intelius.com/opt-out/

BBB profile

San Diego, CA · A rating · accredited since Jul 2021 · 388 complaints / 3yr

Network

Sister brands

4 sibling brands + 4 DBAs

PeopleConnect, Inc. operates a portfolio of consumer-facing brands on a shared backend. The sibling brands have their own consumer pages and their own opt-out flows; the DBAs share the Intelius backend more directly.

Related broker network: PeopleConnect network

Intelius is one of several brands operated under PeopleConnect, Inc. (San Diego, CA) - an Intelius opt-out generally propagates across the Intelius-backed DBAs but does NOT remove you from the sibling consumer brands. Opting out of Intelius does not automatically remove you from the sister brands listed below; each requires its own opt-out request.

Opt-out propagation is partial, not full. An Intelius opt-out generally suppresses your record across the Intelius-backed DBAs (US Search, Peoplelookup, Lookupanyone, PublicRecords) but does not automatically remove you from TruthFinder, Instant Checkmate, or Classmates.com - those have their own suppression flows even though they share the PeopleConnect parent.

Owned or operated by Intelius, LLC38 entities in this network · H.I.G. Capital (Private equity) at the topExplore the full map
truthfinder.cominstantcheckmate.comussearch.comclassmates.compublicrecords.compeoplelookup.comlookupanyone.com

Reputation

Trust signals

BBB A · consumer reviews negative

Intelius shows the typical gap between BBB engagement-driven ratings and unfiltered consumer reviews. BBB carries Intelius at A (accredited since July 2021) because PeopleConnect actively responds to complaints in BBB's process. Trustpilot lands in the "Average" range at 3.5 /5, while Sitejabber leans more negative at 2.6 - billing complaints dominate both.

Trustpilotintelius.com3.5 / 5As of 2026-05View reviews ↗
Better Business BureauSan Diego, CA · accredited Jul 2021 · 388 complaints / 3yrA ratingAs of 2026-05View profile ↗
SmartCustomer (formerly Sitejabber)intelius.com · 108 reviews2.6 / 5As of 2026-05View reviews ↗

  • Recurring monthly subscription charges after a low-cost trial

  • Charges for searches that return no results or generic data

  • Difficulty cancelling subscriptions; refund disputes

  • Background-check results that turn out to be incomplete or unverified

Common complaint themes:

Litigation

Litigation history

Multiple settled + active class actions

Intelius and PeopleConnect have a substantial enforcement and class-action history, starting with a 2010 Washington AG settlement targeting post-transaction marketing, and the ongoing Fischer v. Instant Checkmate / Intelius / TruthFinder / USSearch right-of-publicity consolidation that reaches Intelius as one of the four named PeopleConnect brands.

Washington v. Intelius, Inc.

Enforcement action

Washington State AG · Settled Aug 2010 · Consumer-protection / post-transaction marketing

Settled

Aug 2010

Civil penalty

$1.3 million

Theory

Deceptive credit-card charges / post-transaction marketing

Plaintiff

WA Attorney General

The Washington Attorney General alleged Intelius enrolled consumers in third-party marketing programs and recurring subscriptions without clear consent during the checkout process. The $1.3 million settlement covered restitution and required changes to Intelius's checkout flow. The case is significant as one of the earlier post-transaction-marketing enforcement actions against a people-search broker - a regulatory theory later picked up by the FTC in the 2021 MyLife case.

Fischer v. Instant Checkmate / Intelius / TruthFinder / USSearch

Settled

Multi-state right-of-publicity class action · Settled · Defendants: Instant Checkmate, TruthFinder, Intelius, PeopleConnect, The Control Group Media

Theory

Right of Publicity (AL, CA, IL, IN, NV, OH, SD)

Class-eligible sites

InstantCheckmate / Intelius / TruthFinder / USSearch

Class period

Per state statutes

Settlement site

peopleconnectrightofpublicity.com

Plaintiffs alleged that Defendants used class members' names, ages, contact information, residence locations, lists of possible relatives, photographs, and other identifying information to advertise their paid subscriptions - without consent - in violation of seven different state right-of-publicity statutes. The settlement created a multi-state claim fund administered via the dedicated peopleconnectrightofpublicity.com site.

Kupiec v. PeopleConnect, Inc.

Parent-company litigation

N.D. Ill. · 1:21-cv-00968 · Illinois Right of Publicity Act

A separate Illinois Right of Publicity Act putative class action against PeopleConnect over the use of plaintiffs' names in advertising for its people-search subscriptions. Survived an early motion to dismiss; remains in active litigation alongside the broader Fischer consolidation.

Naveen Jain (Intelius's founder, 2003-2015) was the subject of a notable 2008-2009 TechCrunch series questioning Intelius's pre-IPO revenue practices. The 2010 Washington AG settlement is the principal state-level consumer-protection action against the company.

FAQ

Q & A

Common questions
Is Intelius a data broker?

Yes. Intelius is a US people-search and background-report service founded in January 2003 in Bellevue, Washington by Naveen Jain and five ex-Infospace colleagues. It is one of the longest-running consumer-facing people-search brands and remains BBB-accredited since July 2021 under PeopleConnect, Inc. with an A rating.

Who owns Intelius?

Intelius is operated by PeopleConnect, Inc. out of San Diego, California. Naveen Jain founded the company in 2003 and ran it until 2015, when private-equity firm H.I.G. Capital acquired Intelius and parent Inome, Inc. for over $100 million and folded it into PeopleConnect alongside TruthFinder, Instant Checkmate, US Search, and Classmates.com.

What information does Intelius publish?

Intelius publishes full names and aliases, current and previous street-level addresses, landline and mobile phone numbers, email addresses, approximate age and date of birth, likely relatives and associates, court and criminal-record summaries, bankruptcies, liens and judgments, property ownership and address-history data, and linked social-media profiles when discoverable.

Can I remove myself from Intelius?

Yes. Intelius offers a suppression form at intelius.com/opt-out/ and a privacy contact at privacy@intelius.com. An Intelius opt-out generally propagates across the Intelius-backed DBAs (US Search, Peoplelookup, Lookupanyone, PublicRecords) but does not automatically remove you from sibling brands TruthFinder, Instant Checkmate, or Classmates.com. See our Intelius removal guide for step-by-step instructions.

How long does Intelius take to remove information?

Intelius does not publish a specific SLA on its opt-out page. Suppression is generally processed within a few business days based on the form submission, but BBB complaints describe both delays and records reappearing later. Submit the form and follow up via privacy@intelius.com if your record persists.

Is Intelius covered by FCRA?

No. Intelius explicitly disclaims FCRA scope in its terms of service. It is not a Consumer Reporting Agency and its reports may not be used for employment, tenant, credit, or insurance decisions. The 2010 Washington AG settlement reinforced this posture, and the FCRA disclaim is a longstanding feature of the PeopleConnect-brand terms.

Has Intelius had a data breach?

None documented. The only incident on record in the PeopleConnect family is a backup from April 2019 that surfaced on a hacking forum in February 2023. The company's own notices, posted on TruthFinder and Instant Checkmate, name only those two brands' customers, about 20.2 million accounts by BleepingComputer's count. That backup was taken nine months before those two brands merged into PeopleConnect in January 2020, so Intelius customer accounts weren't in it. Have I Been Pwned lists nothing for intelius.com or ussearch.com. We checked on September 4, 2026 and will revise this if an incident is confirmed.

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Last updated:

September 4, 2026