Is the Lusha Email a Scam? Legitimate or Phishing? Surprising Result

We recently received an email from “[email protected]” that raised some questions:

Notice About Your Personal Information

This notice informs you about how Lusha Systems Inc. and Lusha Systems Ltd. (collectively referred to as “Lusha”) gather, process, and share your personal information in relation to your professional engagements (“Personal Information”). Please read on for additional details regarding the information we collect, our methods for gathering it, and how it is utilized and shared. For more comprehensive insights concerning Lusha’s data handling practices, please consult our Privacy Notice.

Lusha’s advanced online platform aids businesses (our “Customers”) in discovering business contact details (“Business Contact Information”) about professionals (“Contacts”) stored in Lusha’s B2B database (“B2B Database”)…

Opt-Out Rights

If this is your initial notification regarding the handling of your Personal Information by Lusha, and you prefer that your Business Contact Information is not included in our B2B Database, you have a 14-day period from the receipt of this notice to opt out by following the instructions provided below…

To opt out, you can:

Types of Personal Information Processed

Lusha solely processes Business Contact Information along with relevant business attributes of Contacts. The types of Business Contact Information we may collect include:

• Full Name
• First Name
• Last Name…

Sources of Personal Information

Our Lusha B2B Database is built on data sourced or derived from:

• Community Program: Customers participating voluntarily in our Community Program may share data from their professional networks with us. Discover more about Lusha’s Community Program here.
• Affiliates and Group Members: We obtain Business Contact Information from our affiliated entities, such as subsidiaries and parent companies, which share common ownership.
• Publicly Available Sources: We gather Business Contact Information from reputable data brokers and use publicly accessible APIs to extract data from open sources.
• Auto-complete Feature: Our proprietary algorithm scans available public sources to identify standard corporate email patterns (e.g. [email protected])…

Purpose and Legal Basis for Processing

• Service Provision: Facilitating our Customers and their service providers in accessing our B2B Database and its features, while also creating, enriching, updating, and validating our B2B Database.

Legal Basis: Our justified interest in combating identity theft and online fraud, as well as ensuring our Customers have access to accurate and up-to-date contact data to engage meaningfully and effectively with other businesses.

Not recognising the company, we decided to investigate further to establish its legitimacy, and here’s what we discovered.

Who Is Lusha?

Lusha is an Israeli company founded in 2016 by Yoni Tserruya and Assaf Eisenstein, originating as a straightforward “freemium” browser extension. This raised our first alarm, as we have reservations about browser extensions. The tool gained rapid popularity among recruiters and sales professionals for its ability to retrieve contact information directly from professional social media profiles. By opting not to seek outside investment initially, Lusha grew organically, amassing over 500,000 users globally before pursuing major funding.

This site strongly advocates for privacy, and concerns regarding data brokers revealing extensive personal details are valid. For a deeper understanding, read our sister site’s (IssuesLab.com) latest piece on “Surveillance Pricing” for a real eye-opener.

Lusha experienced significant growth in 2021, elevating its status from a simple tool to a global enterprise platform, bolstered by a $205 million Series B funding round which propelled it to “unicorn” status with a valuation of $1.5 billion. This indicates that it is a legitimate company.

This investment allowed for substantial expansion into North America, including setting up a new headquarters in Boston and developing robust integrations with major corporate CRM systems like Salesforce.

How Lusha Differs from Experian Epsilon and Other Data Brokers

Currently, Lusha stands as a key competitor within the sales intelligence sector, presenting itself as a more compliant alternative to traditional data brokers.

Comparing Lusha with Other Major Data Brokers

Lusha also navigates the increasingly stringent global privacy laws, such as GDPR and CCPA/CPRA, by employing automated “Personal Information Notices” (the email you might be researching now!) to maintain transparency with individuals whose data they possess. Their current aim includes leveraging AI to deliver “intent data,” enabling businesses to not only identify whom to contact but also pinpoint the best times to reach out based on observable company behaviour. Essentially, they advise salespeople on not just whom to call, but when consumers and businesses are most likely to make purchasing decisions.

Are Lusha Emails Legitimate or a Scam?

Upon receiving the email, my initial impression was that they aimed to gather more information about me via the opt-out form. However, after further investigation, I discovered:

• Not a phishing attempt: They’re not soliciting your password or credit card information.
• Not a virus: The links provided likely guide you to their “Privacy Center” for opting out.
• Essentially “Legal Spam”: While they operate legitimately, many perceive these companies as intrusive for collecting personal data without prior consent.

Should You Opt-Out?

Here are your two main options:

1. Request Removal (Opt-Out): If you prefer they discontinue selling your business email and phone number to recruiters and sales agents, click the opt-out form link or email [email protected]. Engaging in this process is generally safe with this company (but exercise caution with others!).
2. Ignore the message: If you’re indifferent about your professional information appearing in their database, you can simply delete the email. Their “14-day” timeframe mentioned indicates when they will fully activate your profile for their customers.

Our Decision Process

Ultimately, we opted to withdraw from their database. We simply didn’t wish to receive additional sales calls.

Final Thoughts

When it comes to data brokers, Lusha emerges as one of the more reputable options. They compile publicly available data on individuals (and businesses, if applicable), amalgamating this information with other public data, and applying advanced AI techniques for analysis. Essentially, they’re revealing details about you and your potential interests.

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