If your mugshot is appearing online, you’re not alone—and you’re not without options. Mugshot websites exist for one reason: to publicly shame individuals and often profit by charging to take the photos down.
At National Security Law Firm, we help people nationwide fight back against these exploitative platforms. Our lawyers know how to remove mugshots using legal pressure, policy arguments, and—when necessary—state law remedies that protect your rights.
What Are Mugshot Websites?
These are private websites that scrape arrest records and publicly available mugshots from police department databases. They then:
- Display the mugshots online
- Associate them with charges—sometimes inaccurate or outdated
- Show the content high in search engine results
- Offer “pay-to-remove” options, often at high fees
In many cases, the operators of these sites are also connected to removal companies, essentially running a racket that profits on both ends.
The Big Problem: Mugshot Extortion
Many mugshot sites:
- Charge fees to remove images
- Re-post images even after payment
- Share information with affiliated “reputation companies”
This is known as a mugshot extortion scheme, and several states have banned this practice by law.
What States Have Mugshot Protection Laws?
Several states now offer statutory protections against mugshot extortion. While each law varies, many include:
- A right to demand removal within a set period (e.g., 30 days)
- Penalties for charging money to remove mugshots
- Rights to sue for damages and attorneys’ fees if a site violates the law
Some of the states with mugshot laws on the books include:
- California
- Florida
- Ohio
- Texas
- Illinois
- Georgia
- Oregon
- New York (limited protections)
- Colorado
- North Carolina
These laws can be a powerful tool—but you need a lawyer who knows how to enforce them.
What If My State Doesn’t Have a Mugshot Law?
Even if your state doesn’t yet have a mugshot-specific statute, we can still:
- Report them to Google for policy violations
- Submit DMCA takedown requests if copyrighted images were used improperly
- Appeal to Google’s Right to Be Forgotten-style exceptions for expunged or outdated arrests
- Push for deindexing or anonymization if full removal isn’t possible
Our attorneys also explore whether the site is connected to known fraudulent networks and can escalate complaints to state attorneys general, the FTC, and web hosting providers.
Our Strategic Approach to Mugshot Removal
We don’t just send a takedown email and hope for the best. Our lawyers build a legal and factual case for removal that includes:
- Document Review – We confirm whether the arrest has been expunged, dismissed, or sealed.
- State Law Analysis – We check whether your state offers statutory protections and which enforcement avenues are available. If so, we will team up with local co-counsel to pursue removal.
- Platform Identification – We trace the network of mugshot-related domains and affiliated removal scams.
- Multi-Front Attack – We send takedown requests, report the site to search engines and hosting providers, and pursue legal consequences where appropriate.
Our Flat-Fee, Risk-Free Model
We charge a flat $3,000 per mugshot listing, held in escrow.
✅ If we successfully remove the photo, deindex it from search engines, or anonymize your name, we keep the fee.
❌ If we’re not successful within 6 months, we refund you in full.
This ensures you have zero financial risk.
How Long Does It Take?
Most mugshot removal cases are resolved in 2 to 8 weeks, but timing depends on:
- The responsiveness of the website
- The complexity of legal claims
- Whether escalation or litigation is needed
We begin working immediately after you retain us.
What If the Mugshot Was Expunged or Sealed?
If your arrest was expunged or sealed, we use that order to:
- Demand removal under state law (where available)
- Pressure platforms using court-backed evidence
- Report the violation to search engines as a privacy breach
In some cases, we’ll help you obtain an expungement or sealing if it hasn’t yet been done—and use that to support the removal effort.
Why Work with National Security Law Firm?
- We’re real lawyers, not SEO companies or scammy affiliates
- We understand state-specific legal protections
- We use a collaborative attorney review board to strategize every case
- We don’t give up after the first “no”—we escalate until every option is exhausted
- We have a proven track record of removing mugshots from the most difficult platforms
Don’t Pay the Scammers. Hire a Lawyer Who Fights Back.
If you’ve been targeted by a mugshot website, don’t reward their scheme by paying for removal. Instead, let us remove it legally—and ethically—with the full backing of the law.
📅 Book your free consultation now: nationalsecuritylawfirm.com/book-consult-now
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National Security Law Firm – It’s Our Turn to Fight for You.