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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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578 thoughts onMyLife Class Action Alleges Site Displays False Background Reports
When I search my name a MyLife file comes up and I am very disturbed to find that they are giving all information out as if it is truth. I’m not sure where they get their info but it is not all accurate. My husband is also on there and most of his information is incorrect as well. Apparantly I am married but he is not. Absolutely not okay that they do this. Please add my name.
Not only are they send emails attempting to extort me weekly through threats of false accusations and alleged data gathering from sites FB, Google, Yahoo, and other social media and emails. Their current doxing info gathered is mostly Incorrect about my past, though they are using a 15yr address as my present, that alone penitentiary can cause me a disqualification in Employment, Rental, Loan, and Public Assistance Applications. And Cause me Fear of threat of danger by eviction (Increasing chases of exposure to Covid), the loss of wages, or false incarceration alleged fraud along with the cost of civil defense if it to fight it and have it arrested and all allegations expunged. Causing credit default and bankruptcy.
But, What I find abhorred is observing’s them Facilitating Fraud through data brokering vital information to groups guilty of committing fraud and Identity theft with the misuse of My Disease family members, including Grandparents, Both Parents I loss over 10yrs ago, and most rage-inducing that of my younger brother just 2yrs who wound still fresh and healing.
what is more important to me than 1) before receiving reparations is criminal operation shutdown preventing any future victims from abuse from these organized charlatans and founders Names Made Public for doxing and tracing their movement for prevention of them attempting to set up shop in a new location, and business name to begin their scam all over again.
-Ty to anyone taking the time to read my comment
Please add me. My email is full from their alerts. I seemingly delete my account, and it has criminal activity listed when I have never been engaged.
My email is full from their alerts. I also haven’t been able to delete my account, and it has criminal activity listed when I have never been engaged.
I would like to be included in the class action lawsuit! Their profile page for me is full of incorrect and misleading information. One of their targeted customer bases is those who are dating and to use their service to check up on their potential dates. Their profile claims that I am married and I have not been married in over 10 years! The language they use on the profile pages are intentionally phrased to cause concern with those viewing it. They intentionally make it vague enough to draw people into paying for the information behind their paywall, and refuse to let you see the FULL report that they are offering to others without also paying to view it.
They have “associated” me with people that I have absolutely no knowledge of who they are, and indicate that my association with them is damaging to me.
Their reputation score indicates that I am not a good person and have issues in my background. I have NOTHING in my background that would cause me to have a low reputation score, NOTHING!
They need to be held to the same standards as other “background check” companies. They also need to be required to provide the FULL report at NO charge. They need to be held responsible for their fear mongering phrasing on their web site. They also need to provide FULL disclosure of where they claim that they are getting their information from, since they are claiming they are only providing information they found online, so that people can contact those sources and also get bad and incorrect information removed!
You can add me, same issues as everyone else. Even called to have service stopped.
Although I am retired and do not have concern of potential employers searching the Internet and seeing misinformation and a defamatory photo that has been posted on MyLife under my name and current address; I do keep getting emails after I’ve tried to have said photo removed and remove me from their email list. The ongoing emails I receive can only be viewed as an attempt at mild extortion at best.
I filed a Chapter 13 BK in 2010. My profile has a prominent “BANKRUPTCY FOUND” in red next to my name. The limitation for Ch13 credit reporting is 7 years. Even at 10, it should not be reported. I have damages as MyLife info was used as a pseudo-credit report.
I received an email from MyLife offering to allow me to control the information they have about my past. They referenced a bankruptcy I had over 30 years ago when I was recently out of high school after I had lost a job. They also mentioned a court record that had to be related to a speeding ticket since I have no history of trouble. They also listed that this “profile” has been viewed by 3 people. I feel like they are trying to extort money out of me.
In July of 2018, I discovered the MyLife website and emailed the company to have my profile removed due to false information. I was told my profile and all associated names, addresses, phone number, etc (anything that was me) would be removed. However, on March 6, 2019 I discovered my profile was back on the website again against my permission, as well as including the false information. The followup email I sent to MyLife (I still have all the communications saved) on 3-6-19 states, “I am including all correspondence from July 2018 that removed me from the website. The information pertaining to me IS NOT ACCURATE. … I am absolutely disgusted with with the mylife.com website! Less than a year ago you agreed to remove both my profiles. You relisted them with INACCURATE INFORMATION??? … REMOVE MY ACCOUNTS WITH INACCURATE INFORMATION NOW! Attached below is the original correspondence pertaining to the deletion of these profiles.” Because this is a public message board, I have redacted the sensitive information within this email pertaining to the lies MyLife.com posted about me. Contact me if you would like these emails or additional statements.
I payed for 1 month and for 3 months more they have been charging me 1995 a month. I will join suit