Data brokers sell your personal info to scammers even without Facebook

“I don’t use Facebook. I don’t even have an email. How could scammers possibly know anything about me?”

That’s the question I hear from people over 60 all the time. If you assume that by staying off social media and avoiding the internet, you’re invisible to fraudsters, think again.

The truth is, even if you’ve never posted a single thing online, scammers can still know your age, home address, relatives’ names, property value, and even when you’ve suffered the loss of a loved one. How? Because the everyday details of your offline life are quietly being collected, digitized, and sold.

And scammers are taking full advantage.

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How scammers target seniors without social media

Here’s the uncomfortable reality: you don’t have to “put yourself out there” for your information to appear online. Much of it becomes public record automatically, thanks to the way our legal and government systems work.

Some of the biggest sources include:

• Obituaries: When a loved one passes away, obituaries often list family members, ages, locations, and relationships. To scammers, it’s a family tree of potential targets.
• Real estate records: Property purchases, sales, and even mortgage details are public. This can tell scammers whether you own your home outright, what it’s worth, and if you might be cash-rich.
• Probate filings: When estates go through probate, details about beneficiaries and assets are recorded. Scammers can identify heirs and target them with fraudulent “inheritance assistance.”
• Property tax documents: These are often searchable by anyone. They reveal not only your address but also your financial standing.
• Court filings: Divorce, bankruptcy, and civil disputes often contain personal details, which are public by law.

On their own, these may not seem dangerous. But combined, they create a shockingly detailed portrait of your life.

THE DATA BROKER OPT-OUT STEPS EVERY RETIREE SHOULD TAKE TODAY

Public records can provide a portrait of your life. (Barbara Eddowes via Getty Images)

Bereavement scams and emotional tricks scammers use

One of the cruelest scams I’ve seen lately is what I call the bereavement scam.

Here’s how it works:

A scammer scrapes local obituaries to see who’s recently lost a spouse or child. They then reach out, by phone, email, or even mail, pretending to be a funeral home, a grief counselor, or a charity. Because they reference real names, dates, and relationships, their outreach sounds painfully authentic.

• Example: “We saw you lost your husband on March 3rd. We’d like to offer you a free grief support service…”
• Or: “Your loved one’s final medical expenses may qualify for reimbursement. We just need your banking details to confirm.”

When you’re in mourning, your guard is down. Scammers know this, and they exploit grief to steal money and identities.

Other emotionally charged scams follow the same playbook

• Fake Medicare calls referencing your age and location.
• Phony financial advisors offering to “help” with retirement rollovers.
• Romance scams targeting widows and widowers who live alone.
• Fake agent scams trick victims into paying thousands of dollars through phone threats

The unifying factor is that these criminals don’t need Facebook to learn about you. They already have a dossier built from public and brokered data.

What’s even worse is that scammers can target your loved ones even years after your passing. They can call or text your close relatives claiming to offer free memorial services, annuities, or other common strategies when people are most vulnerable. Your exposed personal data fuels such morbid scams.

9 ONLINE PRIVACY RISKS YOU PROBABLY DON’T KNOW ABOUT

A man typing on his laptop (Kurt “Cyberguy” Knutsson)

The shocking sources of your personal data

Here’s the part most people don’t realize: scammers rarely dig through dusty courthouse files themselves. They don’t have to. That work has already been done by data brokers. Data brokers are companies whose entire business model is gathering and selling personal information. They collect from:

• Public records (like those obituaries and real estate filings)
• Consumer databases (credit headers, magazine subscriptions, surveys)
• “People search” websites (Spokeo, Whitepages, BeenVerified, and dozens more).

The result is a searchable profile that might include:

• Full name and aliases
• Current and past addresses
• Phone numbers and email addresses
• Relatives and their contact info
• Age, income range, home value
• Legal or financial history

Once a broker has your data, they sell it. And once it’s sold, it spreads. Even if you’ve never had a social media account, companies may build a ‘shadow profile’ of you from leaked data, online purchases, or details shared by others, leaving it ready to be abused.

How to protect yourself from scammers and data brokers

The good news is, you’re not powerless. While you can’t stop public records from existing, you can make it much harder for scammers to access and weaponize your data. Here’s how:

1) Reduce your digital footprint

• Request removal from people search sites and data brokers.
• This prevents your profile from being sold to scammers.
• Doing this manually can take hours and has to be repeated, but it works.

2) Stay alert for emotional manipulation

• If someone contacts you after a loss, assume caution.
• Verify charities and funeral services before engaging.
• Never share banking or personal details over the phone or email.

3) Automate data removal

• Instead of manually contacting hundreds of data brokers, you can use a service like Incogni.
• It sends and tracks removal requests across 420+ brokers, and keeps repeating the process so your data doesn’t resurface.
• With their Unlimited plan, you can request data removal from any other shady website and disappear from the internet.
• For seniors, this is often the safest and most practical solution.

While no service can guarantee the complete removal of your data from the internet, a data removal service is really a smart choice.  They aren’t cheap, and neither is your privacy.  These services do all the work for you by actively monitoring and systematically erasing your personal information from hundreds of websites.  It’s what gives me peace of mind and has proven to be the most effective way to erase your personal data from the internet. By limiting the information available, you reduce the risk of scammers cross-referencing data from breaches with information they might find on the dark web, making it harder for them to target you.

Check out my top picks for data removal services and get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web by visiting Cyberguy.com.

Get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web: Cyberguy.com.

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Kurt’s key takeaways

Not being on Facebook doesn’t mean you’re invisible. Scammers don’t need you to share your life online. Your offline life is already online without your consent. The obituary in the local paper, the deed to your home, the probate record of your loved one’s estate, these are all turned into data points, sold to brokers, and resold to whoever wants them. That’s why protecting your personal data isn’t about avoiding the internet. It’s about reducing what’s already out there. The less data scammers can find, the harder it is for them to fool you with realistic, emotionally charged attacks. And that’s a big step toward keeping your money, your identity, and your retirement safe.

Do you believe it’s time for the government and companies to step in and protect your data privacy?  Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com.

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