Is Instant Checkmate a Scam? 

If you’re thinking of using Instant Checkmate, you need to know if it’s safe. Is Instant Checkmate a scam? 

Below, we explain whether Instant Checkmate is a scam and discuss some steps you can take to improve your safety when using this website. 

What Is Instant Checkmate?

Instant Checkmate is a people search site.

You can use this site to find out personal details about other people. 

For example, a typical Instant Checkmate report includes the following information about a person:

• Full name.
• Known aliases.
• Age.
• Employment history.
• Education history.
• Possible relatives. 
• Possible associates and relationships.
• Possible images. 
• Phone numbers.
• Email addresses.
• Current residence.
• Past residence.
• Place of work.
• Criminal and traffic records (if available).
• Sex offender information (if available).
• Social profiles (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube).
• Business profiles (including possible business affiliations, corporate filings, and trademarks).
• Licenses (e.g., professional licenses, hunting permits, weapons permits, etc.)
• Finances (e.g., bankruptcies, liens, civil judgements, etc.)
• Assets (e.g., properties and vehicles owned).

Instant Checkmate pulls this information from publicly available records, including federal, state, and county records, as well as any other publicly posted information, such as social media and public websites. 

You can search for someone by their name or phone number. 

Possible use cases for Instant Checkmate include reconnecting with old friends, finding your birth parents, and discovering if someone has a criminal past.

However, people search sites can also be used for more nefarious reasons, too, including doxxing, stalking, identity theft, and social engineering. 

Instant Checkmate is not free, i.e., you have to pay a monthly fee to access people’s reports. 

Instant Checkmate has an opt-out option for people who want to remove their personal data from the platform (see our step-by-step Instant Checkmate opt-out guide). 

Is Instant Checkmate a Scam?

No, Instant Checkmate is not a scam. It’s a legitimate people search site.

Third-party publications and review sites have reviewed Instant Checkmate favorably. 

For example, TechRadar reviewed Instant Checkmate and gave it a rating of 4.0 out of 5.0 stars. 

TechRadar’s verdict was the following: “Instant Checkmate aggregates a vast range of public data and provides relatively accurate results. The user interface can be annoying, but the search tool is good enough to overlook this.”

User reviews of Instant Checkmate are mixed:

• 1.8 out of 5.0 stars (from 432 reviews) on Trustpilot.
• 3.0 out of 5.0 stars (from 3,932 reviews) on ConsumerAffairs.
• 3.1 out of 5.0 stars (from 27 reviews) on Capterra. 
• 1.4 out of 5.0 stars (from 346 reviews) on Sitejabber.
• 1.8 out of 5.0 stars (from 159 reviews) on PissedConsumer. 
• 1.67 out of 5.0 stars (from 60 reviews) on Better Business Bureau.

Commentators praise fast, helpful, and polite customer service. 

Data quality is mixed, with some reviewers finding useful details quickly and others noting that the reports were incomplete or inaccurate.

In its terms of use, Instant Checkmate makes it clear that information in its reports is “AS IS and may not be thorough and accurate, (e.g., expunged records might appear). It warns users to independently verify the information before relying on it. 

A lot of people say they thought they were buying a one-time report, but ended up with a monthly subscription. 

According to its terms of use, Instant Checkmate memberships renew every 30 or 90 days until you cancel. 

Instant Checkmate is a Better Business Bureau (BBB) accredited business and holds an “A+” rating. (See our review of whether the BBB is a scam). It has received a total of 205 complaints on the BBB website over the last three years, with 49 of these complaints closed within the previous 12 months. 

Regulatory actions and lawsuits

In 2023, the FTC fined Instant Checkmate and TruthFinder (another people search site and Instant Checkmate’s sister service) $5.8 million for deceiving consumers about the accuracy of their background reports and violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act by marketing the reports for employment and tenant screening without ensuring their accuracy or complying with FCRA requirements.

Instant Checkmate has also been involved in several class action lawsuits, including:

• In 2023, Instant Checkmate was part of a class action settlement regarding the improper use of individuals’ personal information for advertising purposes. 
• In 2019, plaintiffs filed a California class action lawsuit against The Control Group Media, Instant Checkmate, and TruthFinders, alleging violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act for publishing inaccurate background reports that included expunged or sealed legal records.
• In 2014, Instant Checkmate faced a class action lawsuit alleging it used deceptive “bait and switch” tactics by advertising comprehensive background checks but withholding important information unless customers paid additional fees beyond the disclosed subscription costs.

Security

In its privacy policy, Instant Checkmate briefly mentions its security controls. 

It says it uses “reasonable security measures” to protect your information. It doesn’t go into detail as to what these measures are. 

In its help center, Instant Checkmate also says its website is secured with HTTPS. 

We could not find any other information about the security measures that Instant Checkmate has in place, except for the claim that they “take your cyber security very seriously.” 

In 2023, data from over 20 million Instant Checkmate and TruthFinder users was reportedly leaked on a hacking forum after PeopleConnect, the parent company of the two people search sites, experienced a data breach. 

The breach reportedly affected 11.9 million Instant Checkmate customers. Exposed information included names, email addresses, phone numbers, and encrypted passwords, as well as password reset tokens. 

Privacy 

Instant Checkmate outlines the information it collects, its intended purposes, and with whom it shares this information in its privacy policy.

It collects the following personal data:

• User information: Name, email, address, payment details, and demographics.
• Traffic data: IP address, browser type, device info, pages viewed, referring URLs, and cookies.
• Third-party data: From social media, credit agencies, financial institutions, public records, and data brokers.
• Inferred data: Assumptions made about you based on browsing or purchasing behavior.

It also uses government databases, public records, and commercial sources to collect publicly available information for reports. However, this data is not considered personal information under this policy.

Instant Checkmate uses your personal information to operate, maintain, and improve the website and services, as well as to process payments, verify identity, and provide requested reports. It also uses it for marketing purposes (including personalized ads and email campaigns), fraud prevention and security monitoring, and ensuring legal compliance. Additionally, it may use your data to enhance your user experience through personalized content.

The company may share your data with service providers (payment processors, data hosts, analytics, and AI tools), advertising partners (for targeted ads), affiliated companies and business partners, law enforcement (when legally required), and third parties during mergers, acquisitions, or asset sales.

It may share de-identified or aggregated data freely.

Instant Checkmate retains your personal information “for as long as necessary” for the purposes set out in its privacy policy. 

You can update or correct account information through your account settings and opt out of email marketing and targeted advertising. You can also deactivate your Instant Checkmate account, but some information may remain for legal purposes. 

Depending on where you reside (CA, CO, CT, DE, IA, MN, MT, NE, NH, NJ, OR, TN, TX, UT, VA), you may have certain privacy rights. For example, you may have the right to know and access the personal information Instant Checkmate has collected about them, as well as request that this information be deleted and opt out of the sale and certain sharing practices. 

Additionally, you may have the right to limit use of sensitive personal information, correct inaccurate information, and obtain additional details regarding Instant Checkmate’s information practices. 

Nevada residents can opt out of personal data sales via email, and Washington residents can request the removal of their phone numbers from services.

Certain individuals (e.g., judges, law enforcement officers) can request removal of sensitive public data.

Opting out of Instant Checkmate

Instant Checkmate has information on many people, including you.

This means that just like you can use Instant Checkmate to find someone’s personal details, someone else can do exactly the same to you. 

If you don’t want others to be able to find your personal data through Instant Checkmate, you need to opt out. 

Although people’s personal details available on Instant Checkmate can be used for legitimate reasons (such as finding old friends or looking up an unknown number), they can also be used for malicious purposes. 

For example, identity theft, harassment, stalking, doxxing, and social engineering attacks (we know from leaked criminal chat logs that they use people search sites to find out information about their targets). 

Learn more about data brokers and people search sites in our comprehensive data broker guide. 

Then, opt out of Instant Checkmate using our step-by-step Instant Checkmate opt-out guide. Or, subscribe to DeleteMe to have privacy professionals delete you from Instant Checkmate and other people search sites on your behalf – and do so continuously. 

Continuous removals are crucial because most people search sites republish your information when they find more of it, even if you previously opted out.

So, Should You Use Instant Checkmate?

Depends.

If you’re looking for generic information about individuals and understand that the data you receive may not be accurate or up-to-date, then it can be a reasonable option. 

Just remember that just like you can use Instant Checkmate to find out someone’s personal information, others can do the same to you. We recommend that you opt out of people search sites like Instant Checkmate (see our Instant Checkmate opt-out guide) or subscribe to a service that can do that on your behalf.

How to Use Instant Checkmate Safely and Privately 

• Verify the information within reports. Instant Checkmate itself states that it may not be accurate or up-to-date, so it should not be used for important decisions. 
• Sign up with a masked email. When registering with Intelius, use a masked or disposable email address (or create a new one specifically for this purpose) rather than your main email to protect your primary inbox from spam and reduce the likelihood of your identity being compromised in the event of a breach. 
• Don’t use Instant Checkmate for employment or tenant screening. Instant Checkmate is not FCRA-compliant. This means you can’t legally use it for purposes such as tenant screening, hiring, or credit checks. 
• Opt out of Instant Checkmate. If you don’t want your personal details to be findable through Instant Checkmate, opt out. See our Instant Checkmate opt-out guide for step-by-step instructions, or subscribe to a data broker removal service like DeleteMe to have our privacy experts remove you from Instant Checkmate and other people search sites on your behalf continuously. 
• Recheck Instant Checkmate periodically. Even when you opt out of people search sites, they usually repost your information when they find more of it. As a result, opt-outs are most effective when they are continuous. Data broker removal sites, such as DeleteMe, regularly recheck people search sites to ensure your information hasn’t been repopulated. If you decide to opt out manually, set a reminder to check Instant Checkmate (and other people search sites) once in a while for exposed information. 
• Opt out of other people search sites. Instant Checkmate is just one of many people search sites that expose your personal data. See our opt-out guides section for more information and step-by-step opt-out guides. 
• Be wary of social engineering scams. Scammers can use people search sites, such as Instant Checkmate, to target individuals in phishing attacks. If you get any unexpected emails, texts, or calls, don’t share sensitive data or click on any unusual links.
• Read the fine print. Instant Checkmate works on recurring subscriptions. If you only need one report, cancel right away.