The secret list that tells scammers you're an easy target

Somewhere in a marketing database, something you did years ago could still be helping a company decide what you might respond to next. Maybe you entered a sweepstakes or signed up for a business seminar. That kind of response can become valuable data.

Federal court records show just how far that can go. In a case involving data broker Epsilon Data Management, employees had a name for people targeted by certain solicitations: "opportunity seekers." Those opportunity seeker lists became especially valuable when they reached people running fraud schemes. And as you'll see, the idea of sorting people based on what they are likely to respond to has not disappeared.

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HOW SWEEPSTAKES ENTRY DATA CAN REACH SCAMMERS

"Opportunity seeker" sounds like harmless marketing jargon. But in the Epsilon case, the Department of Justice (DOJ) showed how that label was being used inside a business unit that worked with fraudulent clients. According to Epsilon's deferred prosecution agreement, the company's clients included businesses sending deceptive solicitations involving sweepstakes, astrology, auto warranties, dietary supplements and government grants.

Epsilon employees called the people targeted by those offers "opportunity seekers" and referred to the clients sending them as "opportunistic." The court filing also says those opportunity seekers frequently came from the same group: older and vulnerable Americans.

Then there was the data behind the label. DOJ says Epsilon used transactional data and algorithms to identify "responsive buyers," or people most likely to respond to certain offers. Its database covered about 100 million U.S. households. Think about what that means. If you responded to one offer, that response could become a signal that you might respond to another. In the hands of a fraudster, that kind of information can make it much easier to decide who to target first.

Epsilon eventually agreed to pay $150 million, including $22.5 million in criminal penalties and $127.5 million for victim compensation. Two former Epsilon employees, Robert Reger and David Lytle, were later convicted. A federal judge sentenced Reger to 10 years in prison and Lytle to four years.

According to the DOJ, they sold nearly 100 lists of names and addresses to one fraudulent client. That client used the information in a scheme that defrauded more than 218,000 people out of more than $23.7 million. Even more alarming, DOJ says more than 12,000 people were defrauded by that single scheme more than 20 times each.

Other cases followed. KBM Group entered a deferred prosecution agreement requiring a $33.5 million victim compensation payment and an $8.5 million criminal fine. DOJ says employees sold data tied to millions of Americans to more than a dozen clients they knew were engaged in fraudulent mass-mailing schemes.

Macromark, a Connecticut direct-mail services company, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. The company admitted that lists it provided to fraudulent clients resulted in at least $9.5 million in losses. Wiland Inc. later entered a non-prosecution agreement with DOJ that included $4.4 million in victim compensation over data sold to operators of fraudulent schemes. By June 2025, DOJ said its Consumer Data Victim Compensation Fund had returned more than $129 million to more than 100,000 victims across the country.

It would be easy to look at the earlier cases and think this was an old direct-mail problem. It wasn't. In May 2026, a federal judge sentenced Troy Murray of North Carolina to 121 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

DOJ says Murray collected and sold lists containing names, phone numbers, home addresses and, in some cases, ages and email addresses of older Americans. His customers included people in Jamaica running lottery fraud schemes. And the scale was huge. From 2016 through 2023, DOJ says Murray sent scammers at least 22,000 lead lists containing information on more than 7 million older Americans.

Those lists typically sold for $500 for 100 to 300 names. DOJ says Murray made more than $5.2 million while victims lost more than $9.5 million. That is what makes these lists so valuable to scammers. They do not have to spend time figuring out who might pick up the phone or respond to an offer. Someone has already handed them a list of people to try first.

WHY IDENTITY THEFT COMES BACK FOR THE SAME PEOPLE

These kinds of marketing lists are legal and can be used for legitimate advertising. Just because a list is for sale does not mean the company selling it or the company buying it is doing anything wrong. But the way some of these lists are described today sounds very familiar.

As of September 2026, Geon Media advertises a list called "Prime Opportunity Seekers - Buyers Only!" It includes 397,532 names and focuses on people who purchased business opportunities after responding to marketing campaigns. Marketers can narrow that list even further using details such as age, income, net worth and location. Geon also requires buyers to provide a sample mail piece.

NextMark advertises a list called "Sweeps Winners Only" made up of people who recently responded to sweepstakes offers. Its listing describes that audience as "highly impulsive" and promotes the list for sweepstakes, lotteries, credit cards and other offers.

Exact Data also advertises categories with names including "Sweepstakes Opportunity Purchasers" and "Gambling, Lottery, and Sweepstakes Enthusiasts." Its listings were updated in September 2026. None of that proves fraud. What it does show is how valuable your past behavior can be. Respond to the right kind of offer, and that response can become a data point that helps someone decide what to put in front of you next.

For a scammer, finding someone willing to respond can be half the battle. Calling or emailing random people takes time. A list of people who have already responded to certain offers gives them a much better place to start. That is what made Epsilon's data so valuable. DOJ says the company's algorithms could predict which people were most likely to respond to certain mailings. If you had responded before, that behavior could become another clue about what might get your attention next.

And there is a lot of money on the line. The FBI says people over 60 filed more than 201,000 complaints in 2025 and reported more than $7.7 billion in losses. The FBI does not say how many of those people were targeted through marketing or lead lists, so we cannot say those lists caused those losses. But the DOJ cases show something important: scammers have used targeted lists to help find people they believe are more likely to respond. That is why something as simple as entering a sweepstakes or responding to an offer can be more valuable than you might think. The response itself can become another piece of data about you.

You probably cannot find every private marketing database that contains your name. However, you can reduce the information available about you and become much more selective about what you hand over going forward.

Start with your full name. Then search your phone number and home address. Pay attention to people-search sites displaying your address, age, relatives, phone numbers or email addresses. If you find a profile, look for the site's opt-out or removal process. The FTC says you can request removal from people-search sites yourself for free, although you may need to repeat the process if your information appears again later.

A legitimate contest can still collect information for marketing. Before entering, read the privacy policy and official rules. Look for language explaining whether your information can be shared with advertisers or marketing partners. The FTC specifically warns that contest promoters may sell information to advertisers, which can lead to more targeted advertising, promotional mail, calls and spam.

If an entry form asks for information that seems unrelated to the promotion, stop and ask why it needs it. Avoid handing over extra details simply because a box appears on a form. Also watch for prechecked boxes giving permission for additional marketing. Every unnecessary piece of information you share gives a company one more data point that can potentially be added to your profile.

Consider creating an email address or alias used only for contests, loyalty programs and promotional offers. That keeps your primary email address out of some marketing databases and makes unexpected prize messages easier to spot. If someone contacts your main email account claiming you won a contest you entered with a different address, that alone should raise questions.

This one is simple. Real prizes are free. The FTC says anyone demanding taxes, processing fees, shipping charges or other payments before releasing a prize is running a scam. Also, never provide your bank account, credit card or Social Security number to claim a prize. If you are unsure whether an offer is real, find the company's official contact information yourself rather than calling a number in the letter, text or email.

If you sent money or personal information to a scammer, act quickly. Contact your bank or payment provider first if money changed hands. Report the scam to the Federal Trade Commission at ReportFraud.ftc.gov . If the scam came through the mail, you can also report it to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. If someone used your personal information, IdentityTheft.gov can walk you through recovery steps. For anyone age 60 or older, the DOJ's National Elder Fraud Hotline at 1-833-FRAUD-11 (1-833-372-8311) offers free help Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern. DOJ says reporting certain financial losses quickly can improve the chances of recovering money, although recovery cannot be guaranteed.

There is no public search box that will show you every private marketing category attached to your name. A people-search or data-broker scan also cannot tell you whether your name appears on one of the specific "opportunity seeker" or criminal lead lists described above. And no data removal service can pull information back once criminals already have it.

What a scan can do is show you where personal details such as your name, address or phone number appear across covered people-search and data-broker sites. From there, you can start reducing that exposure. If the scan finds your information, you have two options. You can contact sites yourself and submit opt-out requests, or you can use a service that handles much of that work for you.

A data removal service can automatically send removal requests to hundreds of covered data brokers and people-search sites. Some plans also let you request removals from additional websites that fall outside the standard automated coverage.

It is worth knowing the limits too. Some private data-broker databases cannot be scanned directly. Instead, removal requests are sent to brokers that may hold your information. These services also cannot remove certain government records, court records or information already circulating in criminal databases.

Check out my top picks for data removal services and get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web by visiting CyberGuy.com.

For me, the biggest takeaway here is that scammers do not always have to figure out who might respond. Sometimes, someone else has already done that work for them. The Epsilon case showed how marketing data and algorithms could identify people likely to respond to certain offers. DOJ says those "opportunity seekers" frequently included older and vulnerable Americans. And this problem has not been confined to old direct-mail cases. In 2026, a federal judge sentenced a man who DOJ says sold more than 22,000 lead lists containing information on over 7 million older Americans to lottery scammers. At the same time, legitimate marketers still sell highly specific lists based on things like sweepstakes responses and interest in business opportunities. That does not make those lists fraudulent. It does show just how much our past behavior can say about what we may respond to next. You may never know every list that has your name on it. But you can stop handing out unnecessary information, remove exposed personal data where possible and slow down whenever an unexpected offer lands in front of you.

Should companies be able to sell lists built around how likely someone is to respond to money-making or sweepstakes offers, especially when age and financial information can also be used for targeting? Let us know by writing to us at CyberGuy.com.

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