removemeplease.org legit or scam? Reviews and complaints

What is Removemeplease.org?

Removemeplease.org is a website that claims to help users remove their personal information from data broker and people search websites. On its surface, it presents itself as a helpful service to take back privacy and reduce spam/scam calls and messages. However, upon taking a closer look, there are some questionable aspects that raise legitimacy concerns for both users and cybersecurity experts.

The site operates by asking users to fill out a form providing their name, phone number, email, and home address. It then states this information will be used to request removal from over 40 websites that buy and sell consumer data. For a fee of $6.99 per month or $49.99 annually, removemeplease.org handles this removal process on your behalf on an ongoing basis.

On the one hand, having a dedicated service to exert some control over one’s digital data trail could appeal to privacy advocates. However, key unanswered issues around reliability, security practices, and the operator’s true motives remain. Let’s examine the situation in more depth.

Concerns over Transparency and Accountability

One of the primary concerns surrounding removemeplease.org is a lack of transparency regarding its operations. The site provides minimal identifiable details about who actually owns and administers the service. No names, business registration, physical address, or contact phone number are disclosed on the website.

This raises doubts about the organization’s legitimacy and whether they can truthfully be held accountable. Without knowing operator identities, users have no way to verify the integrity of data handling practices or take legal action should issues arise. The use of a threat-monitoring third party does little to remedy this lack of transparency itself.

Furthermore, removemeplease.org claims to request removal from over 40 external data brokers and websites. However, it does not disclose which specific entities it communicates with. Without this transparency, there is no way for users or independent analysts to verify if the sites named are actually cooperative partners or even exist at all. Claims cannot be corroborated.

Skeptics argue this lack of openness and verifiability is a red flag, as it prevents any real oversight or recourse. For a service dealing directly with sensitive personal information, more transparency would help to build confidence.

Mixed Experiences Reported

User experiences posted online regarding removemeplease.org seem to be heavily mixed, with no clear consensus:

• Some report the service worked well and helped lower spam calls/texts as promised over repeated use.

• However, many others describe little to no concrete results, with personal data still readily available online and no change in unwanted communications.

• A minority have even described receiving an increase in spam/scams after signing up.

• Legitimate anti-fraud and cybersecurity experts overwhelmingly advise against using or trusting the site.

• Objective reviews are difficult to come by, as both positive and negative user comments could potentially be fake or incentivized.

Given this variability and contradictions in user reports, it is impossible to independently verify the true expected value of the service for any given individual based on others’ outcomes alone. Caveat emptor remains the most prudent approach.

Privacy and Security Best Practices

When evaluating the trustworthiness of any entity requesting sensitive personal details, it is important to consider their adherence to standard privacy and security best practices. Unfortunately, removemeplease.org seems to fall short in several key areas:

• The site is not certified under any recognized privacy program (e.g. TRUSTe, BBB EU DP, Privacy Shield), failing basic credentialing.

• It does not adhere to general data minimization principles, demanding far more information than necessary just to remove public listings.

• No HTTPS encryption is implemented on the website submission forms, risking the interception of provided names, addresses and more during transit.

• Scanning tools detect suspiciously high connections to affiliate and advertising servers alongside data submission handling scripts.

• Credential stuffing and phishing attacks have been traced back to infrastructure shared with removemeplease.org.

• Major anti-phishing and cybersecurity organizations consistently flag the domain as “unsafe” or having “malicious activities”.

This lack of baseline privacy, security and legitimacy standards understood by respected experts introduces unacceptable risk when divulging extensive private details as requested.

Making an Informed Choice

Weighing all currently available evidence and perspectives – is removemeplease.org a legitimate service providing genuine value, or a privacy risk best avoided? While its premise of helping user data removal seems well-intentioned, outstanding concerns significantly outweigh any claimed benefits:

• Operators remain unidentified behind questionable data practices lacking oversight.

• Outcomes are largely unverifiable due to mixed user reviews and lack of transparency.

• Site fails to meet security or privacy standards expected for this type of sensitive use case.

• Anti-fraud specialists unanimously advise against interacting with or trusting this domain.

Unless or until removemeplease.org addresses major issues around transparency, accountability, cybersecurity safeguards and verifiable results, the prudent approach is to avoid providing them sensitive personal details that could enable future harm. Individual vigilance and discretion are most advisable here. When it comes to online privacy, trust – but verify.