Who hasn't accepted the terms and conditions of a service without actually reading them? Unfortunately, it only takes a few of those to start getting unwanted marketing calls and emails; but fret not, Incogni is here to help. Launched in 2022, it's one of the newest services from the well-known cybersecurity company Surfshark. Incogni's main purpose is to make sure no data brokers collect and retain your personal information. The process is straightforward, allowing customers to rest assured that their personal data is being taken care of even while sleeping. Although creating an account at zero cost is possible, Incogni only starts working its magic after you subscribe. There are monthly and annual subscription plans, and you can use the 30-day money-back guarantee to try out the service risk-free.
Incogni’s main objective is to contact high-scale data brokers, such as marketing, financial, recruitment, risk mitigation, and health information brokers, and ask them to delete your personal information. It has more than 130 of these companies on its database, along with over 60 people search websites, and the service handles the full removal process. To do so, Incogni requires just a bit of your information – full name and address – and uses its own algorithm to pick which companies should be contacted. It’s important to mention that Incogni’s services are available internationally. In addition to the U.S., the company also covers the UK, the EU, and Canada.
The user-friendly dashboard places data brokers in four different categories: ‘Not Started’, ‘Completed’, ‘In Progress’, and ‘Rejected’. When your data has been removed, the data broker appears in the ‘Completed’ status (they will also appear here even when they didn’t have your information, to begin with), whereas the ones still waiting for a response fall under ‘In Progress’. The ‘Not Started’ category is for those cases where Incogni has yet to contact the broker. Finally, the companies that refused to delete your information are placed under ‘Rejected’, as the name implies. You don’t need to worry, though, as Incogni contacts the relevant data protection agencies to have the broker comply with the removal request.
It’s also possible to get a detailed view of your profile. Here, you can check some basic information, including the name and a short description of the data brokers supported, data category, and the level of data sensitivity (amusingly illustrated by a certain number of skulls).
It may seem that Incogni offers a one-shot service that asks brokers to remove your personal data, and then that’s it, but this isn’t necessarily true. By sticking with Incogni, the company will work as your guardian angel by regularly contacting the data brokers to ensure they don’t regain access to your information ever again.
Anyone who wants Incogni to safeguard their information can create an account for free. The platform prompts you to provide your full name and address and asks you to sign an authorization form. This last step may scare some people away, but the signature only gives Incogni the legal permission to contact data brokers on your behalf.
From there, you just need to sit down and wait. Incogni will start contacting all relevant data brokers for your case. You may receive some emails from these data brokers to confirm they’ve deleted your information or even refuse to do so. In this case, just make sure that Incogni is in cc, as the company will answer these emails for you. When Incogni is out of sight, you should respond to the data broker yourself, saying Incogni is dealing with the matter. Of course, you should also add Incogni in cc before hitting ‘send’.
It’s important to mention that Incogni doesn’t have a way to know whether the brokers genuinely removed your data, as it’s possible to say one thing and do another. Still, the hefty fines related to non-compliance with the GDPR and CCPA should be encouraging enough for them to comply with the removal request.
Incogni has five plans, and choosing yearly billing reduces the price by 50%.
The Standard plan starts at $7.99 per month and covers automated data removal from more than 420 broker sites. Unlimited starts at $14.99 per month and adds phone support and custom removal requests for more than 3,000 additional sites.
The group plans cover up to five people. Family starts at $15.99 per month, which works out to $3.20 per person, while Family Unlimited starts at $22.99 per month and includes custom removals.
Available only in the US, Protect starts at $20.74 per month and combines data removal with dark web monitoring, TransUnion credit alerts, and up to $1 million in identity theft insurance.
Creating an account is free, but you need a paid subscription to use the service.
Incogni accepts credit cards and PayPal, and every plan comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee. You can claim the guarantee when you first subscribe and again after resubscribing, provided at least six months have passed since your last refund.
Data brokers may take up to 45 days to respond, but Incogni will finish any open removal requests even if you cancel during the first month. To pay for the service, you can use a credit card or PayPal.
Incogni is pretty straightforward, and customers don’t need to worry about complex mumbo jumbo. The company has a helpful FAQ page on its website where it explains its services and shares vital information about data brokers and privacy regulations. Email is the only point of contact that Incogni provides. While responses are usually swift – taking around 24 hours to arrive in your inbox – we would have liked to see the option of live chat. Another way to reach Incogni is through Twitter. Although the account is small, the company is quite active in sharing knowledge about data privacy and replying to customers’ queries. Plus, subscribing to Incogni’s newsletter is well worth it, as the company shares tips on how to protect your privacy.
Overall, Incogni is a hassle-free service. You just need to set up your account and wait for Incogni to get in touch with all the data brokers that may have your personal information. The only thing you need to keep track of is whether the emails you get from these companies have cc’d Incogni – that’s it. Additionally, it’s reassuring to know that the service is from such a renowned cybersecurity company, meaning your data will be in good hands. Still, something that misses the mark is that there aren’t many ways to contact customer support. Having said that, with a price starting at $6.49 per month and a 30-day money-back guarantee, it’s an excellent service to regain ownership of your data from data brokers across the world.
The Best Reviews team researches and tests all products first-hand. We've been reviewing products and services since 2012 and are proud to only publish human-created content.
March 2023
March 2022
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