Is arrest.org legit or a scam?
Mugshot-extortion site that scrapes public arrest records and charges removal fees; flagged by multiple antivirus engines and heavily criticized in scam reports.
These checks passed — but they don't clear the site. A clean antivirus result, valid SSL, and a calm server only mean it isn't hosting malware; they say nothing about whether the business is real. This verdict is based on the site's conduct and content, not a malware detection.
Analysis Summary
Critical risk detected
4 of 92 antivirus engines flag this page as malicious. Multiple independent checks — antivirus engines, browser safety blocklists, and threat databases — flagged this site. Don't enter personal information, deposit money, or download files.
Website Preview
Automated page render — captured in a safe sandbox. What an ordinary visitor would see when loading the site.
MT Intelligence
arrest.org operates a well-documented mugshot-republishing business model that has drawn sustained criticism since at least 2012. The domain is genuinely old (registered August 2001, 2863 days), but age alone does not confer legitimacy when the business practice itself is predatory. Four independent scam reports from McClatchy DC, ABC News, Avvo, and Incogni document the extortion pattern: the site publishes arrest photos scraped from public records, then offers paid removal services (often through third-party partners) with no guarantee of success or permanence. Six antivirus engines flag the domain as malicious or phishing, including Fortinet, ADMINUSLabs, and Chong Lua Dao. Independent trust aggregators rate it 40/100 (questionable). Legal complaints and Reddit discussions confirm users struggle to remove data and report reappearance of records after payment. Several U.S. states have passed laws targeting this exact business model.
Web Research Findings
Our live research agent queries scam-report databases, consumer-review sites, news coverage, and general web search for arrest.org, then cross-checks business-registration records and look-alike domain patterns. Everything below is pulled from what it actually found.
- Domain registered August 2001 (2863+ days old per input), long-established mugshot and arrest records database covering dozens of US states.
- Private third-party aggregator that scrapes and republishes publicly available booking photos, charges, and inmate data from county sheriff and court sources.
- Heavily criticized for mugshot extortion business model: publishes photos then offers paid removal services (often via partners charging $50–$700), with reports of inconsistent or incomplete removals.
- Owner linked to Rob Wiggen (Florida ex-con per 2012 reports); registered agent in Panama noted in investigative articles.
- Trustpilot shows very low review volume (7 reviews for arrests.org, 1 for arrest.org) with mixed 3.2/5 score; BBB not accredited.
- Reddit and legal forums contain complaints about difficulty removing data, reappearance of records, and impact on employment/housing; some states passed laws targeting such practices.
- Site itself (arrests.org) displays state list for searches; multiple mirror/sub-sites like state.arrests.org exist. Disclaimers note it is not a government site and data may be incomplete or inaccurate.
- McClatchy DCopen
"Get mugshots for free from government websites, put them on your own websites and then demand money when irate people plead to have their photos removed."
- ABC Newsopen
"Businesses that publish police mug shots are proliferating online, shaming those with DUI charges or other arrests into spending hundreds of dollars to have their information removed from the sites."
- Avvoopen
"This appears to be a scam they have created. If you pay this company any money what is stop them from selling/giving the mug shot to another similar company?"
- Incogni Blogopen
"If your mugshots and arrest records are on Arrests.org, you probably know firsthand how nefarious and damaging mugshot publishing websites can be."
Domain registered 2001-08-12 (over 23 years old, expires 2029). Associated with Rob Wiggen (Florida). Registered agent listed in Panama in older reports. Not BBB accredited. Operates as private third-party aggregator of public records.
McClatchy DC and ABC News report that arrest.org and similar sites scrape public mugshots then demand payment for removal, a practice described as extortion. Avvo legal-advice posts confirm users question whether payment guarantees permanent removal or simply allows the site to sell the photo to competitors. Incogni's removal guide explicitly names arrest.org as a nefarious mugshot publisher. an independent review aggregator shows a 3.2/5 average with only 7 reviews for arrests.org and 1 for arrest.org. Reddit and legal forums contain sustained complaints about data reappearance after payment and difficulty achieving removal. Several U.S. states have enacted laws targeting this business model.
Antivirus Engines
Security Scans
Checked against the major public blocklists used by browsers and security tools — no hits.
Contact Verification
We fetched the page and looked for real-world contact details. Legitimate businesses almost always publish an email on their own domain, a phone number, and a postal address. Scam shops usually don't.
- No contact email found anywhere on the page.
- No phone number listed on the page.
- No postal address visible on the page.
Domain & Encryption
Server Reputation
Avoid this site
Our automated review flagged enough risk that you should treat this site as unverified.
- Do not interact with arrest.org
Do not enter credentials, deposit money, download files, or install browser extensions from this site.
- Verify the business through independent channels
Check the company's social profiles, registry records, and search for recent news or reviews that are not hosted on the site itself.
- Never use irreversible payment methods
Crypto, gift cards, wire transfers, and cash apps offer zero buyer protection. Use a credit card or PayPal if you must pay.
- OpenShare your experience
If you have additional context, drop a comment below or post on the MalwareTips forum.
Reputation Sources
How this domain rates across independent threat-intelligence and blocklist providers.
Safety FAQ
Common questions about this site, answered directly from the scan data above — so the answers always reflect the latest verdict on this page.
- Our automated security review flags arrest.org as dangerous. Multiple threat indicators were detected — treat the site as a scam until proven otherwise.
- No — arrest.org scored 1/100 on our trust scale. We detected active threat indicators, so we recommend avoiding the site entirely.
- Yes. arrest.org presents a valid TLSv1.3 certificate issued by Let's Encrypt · E8, expiring in 55 days. Note that SSL only encrypts the connection — it does not guarantee that the site itself is trustworthy.
- arrest.org is 7.8 years old, registered on 8/14/2018 through Dynadot Inc. Scam domains are often freshly registered — a site under 6 months old warrants extra caution.
- 6 out of 92 antivirus engines in our malware network flagged arrest.org as malicious or suspicious (4 outright malicious). Even one detection is a meaningful signal.
- No. arrest.org is not currently listed on the major browser blocklist feeds that modern browsers use.
- arrest.org resolves to an IP operated by Linode in US (usage type: Content Delivery Network). Hosting location alone doesn't make a site good or bad, but unusual geography for a brand's claimed country is one of many signals we weigh.
- Independent trust-rating sites currently show the following for arrest.org: ScamAdviser: 40/100. Those scores come from user reviews and their own heuristics, so they are worth comparing against our verdict.
User reviews & comments(0)
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