Privacy Policy

Last updated: 20 October 2026

The Scam Exposed ("The Scam Exposed," "we," "our," or "us") is an independent scam awareness platform dedicated to helping individuals, families, older adults, and businesses recognize and avoid fraud. We provide free educational tools that allow users to check suspicious phone numbers, email addresses, websites, and scam messages, as well as submit scam reports that may help protect others.

This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, how we protect it, and the choices available to you when using our services.

Information We Collect

Depending on how you use our website, we may collect the following information.

• Search Information. Phone numbers, email addresses, website addresses, or other information you voluntarily submit when using our search tools.
• Scam Reports. Information you choose to provide when reporting a suspected scam, including descriptions, screenshots, URLs, phone numbers, email addresses, and any other supporting details.
• Account Information. If you create a Family Alerts account, we collect your email address and a securely hashed password. We never store passwords in plain text.
• Technical Information. Limited technical information such as your IP address, browser type, device information, operating system, and approximate location based on IP may be collected for security, fraud prevention, performance monitoring, and analytics.
• Accessibility Preferences. We may store your accessibility settings, such as text size or high contrast mode, to improve your experience on future visits.

How We Use Your Information

We use collected information only for legitimate business and security purposes, including:

• Providing search results for phone numbers, email addresses, and websites.
• Reviewing submitted scam reports before adding appropriate information to our database.
• Operating and securing Family Alerts accounts.
• Preventing spam, abuse, fraud, automated attacks, and unauthorized access.
• Improving our website, search tools, accessibility, and user experience.
• Responding to user inquiries and support requests.
• Complying with applicable legal obligations.

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information. We do not use your search history for advertising or behavioral marketing.

Reports You Share Through Comments and Social Media

When you tell us about a scam through our comments or our Facebook, Instagram or Reddit pages, we store the details of the scam (the phone number, website or email involved, the date, and what happened) so we can cross-check it against FTC complaint records and warn others.

We never publish your name, username, contact details or the text of your conversation without your permission. If we use your experience on a public page, we describe it in our own words and remove anything that could identify you, unless you have asked us to credit you.

You can ask us to delete your report at any time through our contact page.

Cookies and Local Storage

Our website uses cookies and local browser storage to provide essential functionality and improve your experience. These technologies may be used to keep you signed in, remember accessibility preferences, protect against abuse, and understand how visitors use our website. Analytics cookies are used only if you agree to them in our cookie banner. We use Google Analytics and Microsoft Clarity. See our Cookie Policy for details.

You can control or delete cookies through your browser settings. Disabling certain cookies may affect some website features.

How We Share Information

We do not disclose personal information except in the following circumstances:

• With trusted service providers who assist us with hosting, security, analytics, or website operations under appropriate confidentiality obligations.
• When required to comply with applicable laws, regulations, legal processes, or lawful government requests.
• To protect the rights, safety, property, or security of our users, the public, or The Scam Exposed.
• With your consent or at your direction.

Data Retention

We keep personal information only as long as we need it for the purpose it was collected, and then delete it or keep it only in a form that no longer identifies you.

• Messages sent through our Contact page: up to 12 months after we reply.
• Name and email given with a scam report: up to 24 months. The scam details you report may stay on the site in a form that does not identify you.
• Family Alerts accounts: until you close the account, then deleted within 30 days.
• Visitor statistics: up to 13 months. IP addresses in our visitor statistics are stored in shortened form, with the last part removed.
• Security logs: at least 12 months, because Indian rules require logs that help detect and investigate data breaches.

Before we delete personal data because it is no longer needed, we will tell you at least 48 hours in advance where the law requires it, unless you contact us again in that time.

Data Security

We implement reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards designed to protect personal information from unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. While we work to protect your information, no method of transmitting or storing electronic data can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

Your Privacy Rights

You can ask us to:

• See a summary of the personal data we hold about you and how we use it.
• Correct or update personal data that is wrong or incomplete.
• Delete your personal data, unless we must keep it by law.
• Withdraw your consent at any time. For cookies, use the Cookie Settings link at the bottom of any page. Withdrawing consent does not affect anything done before you withdrew it.
• Name someone to use these rights for you if you are unable to.

To use any of these rights, email [email protected] or use our Contact page and choose "Privacy request". We aim to respond within 30 days, and always within 90 days. We may ask you to confirm your identity before acting on a request.

If Your Phone Number or Email Is Listed

Our lookup pages show phone numbers, email addresses and websites that people have reported. Caller ID can be faked, so a listed number may not belong to the person who made the call. If your number or email is listed and you believe it is wrong, use our Contact page and choose "Remove my phone number or email from a listing". We review every request within 7 days, free of charge, and will remove the page or add your response where the reports cannot be verified.

Grievance Officer

The Scam Exposed is run from India, so the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and the Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025 apply to how we handle personal data. For questions or complaints about your personal data, contact our Grievance Officer:

Nitesh Kumar Gupta, Founder and Editor
Email: [email protected]

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may complain to the Data Protection Board of India.

If There Is a Data Breach

If a security incident affects your personal data, we will tell you without delay, explain what happened, what it may mean for you, and what you can do. We will also report it to the Data Protection Board of India as the law requires.

Children's Privacy

Our services are intended for a general audience and are not directed toward children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If we become aware that personal information has been collected from a child, we will take reasonable steps to remove it.

Third Party Services

We may use trusted third party providers for services including website hosting, analytics, email delivery, security monitoring, and infrastructure. These providers receive only the information necessary to perform their services on our behalf.

YouTube API Services

We use YouTube API Services to upload our own videos to our own YouTube channel through an internal scheduling tool. This tool is used only by our team. We do not use YouTube API Services to collect, store, or share data about visitors to this website or about other YouTube users.

When our team connects our YouTube channel, the tool stores an access token and basic channel details (channel name and ID) so it can publish our videos. This information is stored on our own server and is not sold or shared.

By using any feature that relies on YouTube, you are also bound by the YouTube Terms of Service. YouTube is operated by Google, and Google's handling of data is described in the Google Privacy Policy.

Access granted to our tool can be revoked at any time through the Google security settings page. When access is revoked, or on request through our Contact page, we delete the stored token and channel details within 7 days.

International Users

If you access our website from outside the United States, your information may be processed and stored in countries where our service providers operate. By using our services, you acknowledge that your information may be transferred and processed in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Policy Updates

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal requirements, or operational practices. When changes are made, the "Last updated" date at the top of this page will be revised.

Important Disclaimer

The Scam Exposed is an independent educational platform. We are not a government agency, law enforcement organization, consumer protection authority, or official fraud reporting service. Information available through this website is provided for educational and informational purposes only and should not be considered legal, financial, or investigative advice.

Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or would like to exercise your privacy rights, please contact us at [email protected].