Daily Dose of Common Sense

Remember the LifeLock ads where the owner broadcasts his own Social Security Number? Well, after the ads ran, owner Todd Davis’ identity was stolen thirteen times. Crooks opened up credit card accounts, ran up phone bills, and applied for bank loans using Davis’ SSN. Doesn’t do much for the company image, dudes.

Customers pay $10 to $15 a month for their service, which has a $1 million guarantee that your identity is secure with them. The FTC went after them earlier this year, claiming the company was making false advertising claims:

FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz states the Commission’s feelings bluntly: “While LifeLock promised consumers complete protection against all types of identity theft, in truth, the protection it actually provided left enough holes that you could drive a truck through it.”

In the settlement, LifeLock agreed to pay $11 million to the FTC, which will be refunded to consumers. Also, they have been instructed to remove any “100% effective” claims from their advertising.

Bottom line: no one but YOU can protect your SSN. Only give it to those that need it, and then keep it in the lockbox.

[Via the fine folks at The Consumerist.]

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 19th, 2010 at 1:55 pm and is filed under Scams. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.