LifeLock will pay $12,000,000 in a settlement with the FTC and 35 states. The states and the FTC claim that LifeLock’s Identity theft and data security claims were not true.
In one of the largest FTC-state coordinated settlements on record, LifeLock and its principals will be barred from making deceptive claims and required to take more stringent measures to safeguard the personal information they collect from customers.
“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,” said FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz.
“This agreement effectively prevents LifeLock from misrepresenting that its services offer absolute prevention against identity theft because there is unfortunately no foolproof way to avoid ID theft,” Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said. “Consumers can take definitive steps to minimize the chances of having their personal information stolen, and this settlement will help them make more informed decisions about whether to enroll in ID theft protection services.”
Since 2006, LifeLock’s ads have claimed that it could prevent identity theft for consumers willing to sign up for its $10-a-month service.
There’s a laundry list of other things that they were fined for that includes data security holes and just overall misrepresentation.
It’s been widely reported that most of the stuff that LifeLock does is easily done by yourself without having to pay the $10/month membership fee. It’s no surprise that they got hit with this, really.
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March 10th, 2010 at 3:33 pm
It’s true it is free to do yourself. You can call one of the Credit Reporting Agencies and tell them you want to put a “freeze” on your report then no one is allowed to access you report (to steal your identity). Even if YOU give a company authorization to pull your report, if it’s been “frozen” – they still can’t without you lifting the freeze.
March 10th, 2010 at 7:06 pm
I think these companys are not worth spending money on, the law should require
these Credit Card Bureaus to not release any information to any one with out
written authorization from the person being checked on or at least talked to. I put a fraud alert on our credit accounts for 90 days but then if I wanted them to continue I had to have copies of police reports and proof that my ID had been stolen. When I applied to buy a new car I received a call from the bank saying I had an alert on my information and was required to talk with me direct and verify that I applied for a loan. It should be that way all the time, why shoud we have to search out companies like this and cannot do what they say they can do.
March 14th, 2010 at 6:14 am
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March 15th, 2010 at 6:16 pm
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March 16th, 2010 at 12:21 am
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March 16th, 2010 at 3:34 am
I was about to go on a rant, but realized that Bill Reed said what has me fuming the most. I’m so annoyed that for profit companies get a free pass on endangering our privacy and financial identities and then companies in the very same system try to get people to pay extra to protect themselves! Ahhh. Insanity.
March 16th, 2010 at 8:45 pm
Hmm I have LifeLock. I purchased it as I believed someone was in the middle of stealing my identity. I also have protection from my credit reporting agency. Maybe it’s time to save an additional $10 per month and cancel that LifeLock membership….
March 16th, 2010 at 9:49 pm
I actually did sign up for LifeLock for one of those silly promotional things. What we won’t do to earn a few extra hundred points. In any case, I ended up missing the deadline to cancel the service and paid for one month. Canceling was incredibly easy. One call, little to no hassle. Maybe they get that a lot?
March 19th, 2010 at 10:03 am
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