MyLife Class Action Alleges Site Displays False Background Reports

A MyLife background report class action lawsuit claims the company attempts to extort money by portraying people as criminals.

Plaintiff Brion Finlay says he was an executive at a small engineering firm and is currently looking for a new position. He states that potential employers will probably be performing internet searches for his name.

Finlay states that a quick search for his name on the internet comes up with a result from the defendant’s website that says, “Brion Finlay (C), 42- Minneapolis, MN Has Court or Arrest Records…”

The MyLife background report class action lawsuit maintains that when one clicks on the link, a page appears which states “Brion DOES have Arrest or Criminal Records.” In addition, the company mentions that Finlay is a sex offender, which he claims not to be. 

Finlay goes on to say that MyLife.com claims to be in the business of tracking reputations for the purpose of “keeping yourself safe” from “home service providers.”

However, in actuality, the plaintiff claims that MyLife’s true business seems to be a classic cyber extortion scheme whereby the company posts negative information online hoping that individuals will “claim” their page by enrolling in a monthly plan which costs between $13.95 and $16.95 per month.

In addition, once the user pays for their page in an attempt to improve their “reputation,” the company attempts to get the individual to purchase additional levels of control for the pages that the background report company produces, the MyLife report scam class action lawsuit states.

“MyLife markets reputation and consumer report repair services directly to the same individuals about whom the company posts negative and defamatory information,” the plaintiff maintains.

In order to draw in unwitting individuals, MyLife places advertisements on their pages that claim a poor reputation score could cost someone a job, the MyLife background report class action says. 

After an individual clicks into one of the defendant’s pages, which contains a basic template of information, MyLife then searches public records as well as less reliable sources to obtain information on the individual, Finlay explains.

The MyLife class action lawsuit says the report page does not contain the aggregated information in the same way that it was gathered from third-party resources. Instead, Finlay notes that the defendant adds to the information, giving its own spin on the information that it has gathered.

“Plaintiff alleges that Defendant intentionally posts this false information in an effort to cause maximum reputational harm (or the perception thereof) in an effort to extort payment from individuals,” the MyLife background report scam says.

In addition, the plaintiff notes that there have been nearly 30,000 complaints to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Better Business Bureau (BBB) related to the actions of the defendant. To be sure, 6,800 of the 30,000 complaints were received by the BBB in an 11 month span from 2018-2019, the MyLife report scam lawsuit alleges.

The plaintiff argues that MyLife actively and knowingly engages in defamation and false reporting that criminal records exist, hoping to get payment from individuals.

Finlay says that MyLife allows individuals in business capacities to look at reports even if they refuse to sign a certification that they are not using the reports for business purposes.

“Defendant, as part of its core business process, publicly displays consumer report information, including that of Mr. Finlay, to various individuals who do not have a permissible purpose for receiving such information,” the MyLife report scam goes on to say.

In an article on CityPages.com, Finlay claims that he doesn’t have anything serious on his record but a few traffic tickets, which are not considered criminal offenses in Minnesota, where the lawsuit was brought.

This is not the first MyLife report scam class action lawsuit filed against MyLife. In September 2019, a class action lawsuit was filed against the company by an individual who claims that MyLife sends mass solicitation emails saying that “someone” is searching for them online and then charges a fee to look at the reports.

The plaintiff states that possible Class Members in the MyLife background report class action lawsuit include countless young adults who have lost their jobs due to the recent coronavirus pandemic.

Prospective Class Members include: “All individuals whose consumer reports maintained by Defendant have been disclosed to persons without a permissible purpose as defined by 15 U.S.C § 1681b.”

Did you search for your name online and see a MyLife link about you? Leave a message in the comments section below.

The plaintiff is represented by David J.S. Madgett of Madgett & Klein PLLC.

The MyLife Report Scam Class Action Lawsuit is Brion Finlay v. MyLife.com Inc., Case No. 0:20-cv-01105-SRN-DTS, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota.

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