How do Custom Scans work?

Background

By default Optery provides full initial scans and Exposure Reports for all new users, and then fresh scans and Exposure Reports to Free Basic users quarterly. For paying customers Optery provides automated scans and removals monthly, but does not send any subsequent Exposure Reports, and instead sends Removals Reports quarterly.

Reports Optery Provides by Default

For reference, this is what Optery plans provide by default:
Free Basic: Exposure Report typically within 1 hour of signing up, and then new Exposure Reports quarterly
Paying Customers: Exposure Report typically within 1 hour of signing up OR within 1 day of upgrading, and then Removals Reports quarterly

Why Purchase a Custom Scan?

Many Optery users wish to run fresh scans on-demand to view new Exposure Reports whenever they want. There are many reasons why Optery users want fresh Exposure Reports, for example:

To double-check their own DIY work
To double-check the work of competing data removal services
To fetch real-time Exposure Reports on-demand in between Optery's default quarterly reports
To generate Exposure Reports for different city and state combinations, e.g. if someone has moved from New York to Chicago to Dallas over the last 10 years, they might like to run Custom Scans to generate custom Exposure Reports for each of those three different city and state combinations

We heard this feedback and now offer Custom Scans that can be purchased and run to create fresh Exposure Reports on-demand. In the near future, we plan to offer additional Custom Scan options such as the ability to scan for your verified phone numbers and email addresses.

Current Limitations

Custom Scans can only be run on the primary name on the account
Custom Scans are only available for Optery Personal and Optery Family plans - we plan to make this feature available for our Optery for Business customers very soon
Only one Custom Scan can be purchased and run at a time, targeting a single city and state combination - once a scan is complete, you can purchase a new scan - we do not have a credit system yet where you can purchase a pool of credits to be used for future scans, but do plan to offer this in the future
By default, scans are scheduled to start 45 minutes after the Custom Scan purchase, however the scan start time can be customized after the purchase is complete, and can be started immediately or postponed for up to 24 hours
The city and state for the scan must be set before the scan starts and cannot be changed once the scan has commenced
Exposure Reports for Extended and Ultimate plan customers are QA-ed by human Privacy Agents, however Exposure Reports for Custom Scans are no QA-ed by humans - Custom Scans are not represented or warranted to be 100% accurate
Custom Scans is a new feature currently in beta, and we are continually working to improve it

Custom Scans can save you hours of time versus searching through hundreds of data broker sites manually, but are not represented or warranted to be 100% accurate. The accuracy of Custom Scans may vary depending on a number of factors. If this is not what you expected, we do not recommend purchasing a Custom Scan.

Steps to Use Custom Scans

Log In: Access your Optery Dashboard at the Optery Login. Once logged in, locate the Custom Scan tab, which becomes available only after the completion of the Primary Scan.
https://app.optery.com/login and locate the Custom Scan tab on your Dashboard.

Note: The Custom Scan tab will only be available after the completion of the Primary Scan, as Optery currently does not support multiple scans in parallel.

Purchase: Click the "Buy Custom Scan" button to proceed with the purchase.


Configure: Optery will prepopulate your Name, City, and State based on your profile, but you can modify these to target different locations to maximize the search for exposed profiles.


Checkout: Review and complete the purchase of your Custom Scan.


Schedule: After purchasing, a confirmation popup will allow you to schedule your Custom Scan to start within the next 24 hours.


Custom Scan can be postponed for up to 24 hours with the options shown below.


Once a Custom Scan is scheduled, the City and State can only be edited until the scan starts. The option to edit is displayed in the image below.


Custom Scan will be scheduled to start based on the choice, with a confirmation modal.


Previous results of the Custom Scan can always be viewed from the Dashboard and are accessible from the reports page.


Custom Scan results can be viewed by navigating through the screenshots.


Download a comprehensive Custom Scan report anytime after the scan. The same reports are also available for download from the reports page.

You received your Custom Scan results! Now what?

Your Custom Scan results might show evidence that your profile was found on some data broker sites. In order to help us remove these profiles, please follow these steps:

Add the City and State combination you used for the Custom Scan as a new Address.

Note that your profile information is the basis for which Optery performs monthly automated scans and removals. Adding more personal information can often help us find and remove you more effectively.

If you are a paying customer, you can submit a Removal Issue to report your exposed profile. Free Basic users do not have access to this feature. You can learn more about how to get access to this feature here.

Updated on: 02/05/2024