A killer built an assassination plan using addresses and family ties made available through online data broker sites, but you can eliminate this huge danger for you and your loved ones in less than five minutes.
The recently released Boelter Federal Affidavit details the way Vance Boelter “embarked on a planned campaign of stalking and violence, designed to inflict fear, injure and kill members of the Minnesota state legislature and their families.” Handwritten notes in his vehicle listed 11 data broker sites which he leveraged along with official campaign and legislative pages to plot and enact his murderous mayhem.
“It is no exaggeration to say that his crimes are the stuff of nightmares,” said acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson. “Boelter stalked his victims like prey.”
Today’s data broker networks aggregate home addresses, phone numbers, relatives, employment, browsing habits, political and religious affiliations, and even health data and make them available to anyone with a credit card - no vetting required.
Granular reports on each one of us
A few months ago, in the spirit of research for PrivacyMatters2u, I signed up for one such data broker site called PeopleLooker. I was shocked by the reports it had on me, my kids and especially my husband who had died over a decade ago.
In addition to a photo found on his LinkedIn page, PeopleLooker correctly listed every job my husband had ever had, every volunteer board he had sat on, every address he had lived in and two of the cars he had owned - with photos!
Even more disturbingly, his report directly connected to similar reports on me and all of our children.
Now fully curious and quite alarmed, I searched for friends, neighbors and acquaintances. I immediately stopped when I started finding out things I’d rather not know. Honestly? I wanted to throw up.
As a last research move before cancelling the monthly subscription, I looked for a legislator I had just chatted with at a party. Like my husband, his report not only detailed emails, phone numbers and addresses, but also his current and former jobs, speeding tickets, and links to the reports of his relatives, neighbors, and business associates.
Then, just a couple of weeks later, my daughter who is a TV actor had a stranger send a fan letter to her home address after she guest starred in "Bestie" on American Horror Stories. To a mama concerned about her child’s safety, that’s real life horror.
Delete, delete, delete your data
I went to Incogni, a personal data removal service, and initiated the request to delete the reports and opt out of hundreds of data broker sites for myself and my family. Removing the personal information of those I love from the web was the single most simple, most satisfying, most anxiety reducing task I’ve done yet when it comes to privacy.
The latest news illustrates how data broker information can be used for political violence; it also can be used for everyday threats like stalking, doxxing, spam, scams, identity theft, and discrimination. Signing up for Incogni was such an easy way to minimize those threats.
P.S. This showed up in my email inbox a couple of weeks after I stopped using PeopleLooker. How creepy is that?!
*The Incogni link is affiliate-backed. Using it provides you with the best discount and helps PrivacyMatters2u keep sharing privacy tips and tools without ever tracking or selling your data.
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Down the Rabbit Hole
Curious? Check out my references:
- Minnesota Shooting Suspect Allegedly Used Data Broker Sites to Find Targets’ Addresses, Lily Hay Newan, WIRED June 16, 2025.
- Boelter Federal Affidavit
- Surprise: Minnesota Killer Used Data Brokers To Target And Murder Politicians, Karl Bode, From the unsurprising-developments dept. TECH DIRT June 18th 2025
- Acting US Attorney: Vance Boelter ‘Stalked His Victims Like Prey’ Court TV
Disclaimer: The above is solely intended for informational purposes and in no way constitutes legal advice or specific recommendations.