Mugshots.com

The Blabbermouth founder who mails arrestees to charge $200 for removal

Matt Creed started Blabbermouth in 2013, posting names, addresses, and mugshots of locally arrested people, then mailing each one a letter offering to remove the info for $200. This free-search-pay-to-remove model is how mugshots.com and arrest.org operate.

“he would post names and addresses and mugshots of local people who had already been arrested. Then he would mail them all letters and say, we have already been blabbing to the world about your release from jail, and we want to make you aware of our services as we kind of have a big mouth. And for $200, we will remove all the information from our website.”

Don't sell the search, sell the removal

Mugshot sites are legal because the photos are public record; the business is charging individuals to be scrubbed from the database. The model: aggregate public data into a search engine, then monetize the painful removal rather than the search itself.

“Where the gray area is, is that the websites that populate them, they put the mugshots on there and then they turn around like and charge individuals money to remove them.”

Steal thisAggregate embarrassing public-record data into a searchable site, then monetize by charging people to remove themselves.