Lifelock's total fines to date $12 Million, do Identity theft prevention services really work?
LifeLock, an Arizona company promising customers protection from identity theft, has agreed to pay $12 million to settle charges that the company overstated its benefits and used "scare tactics" to gain subscribers.
Since 2006, LifeLock has promised in television and newspaper advertisements that it would protect customers from ID theft, but a complaint from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and 35 state attorneys general said the company over-promised what benefits it could provide.
The company's $10-a-month subscription service provided some benefits, but "this was a fairly egregious case of deceptive advertising," said Jon Leibowitz, the FTC's chairman. "They promised protection, and they didn't deliver."
You won't find any hard and fast guidelines about what to look for if you decide to buy into an identity-theft protection service. "Consumers need to do their homework," says Jay Foley, executive director with the Identity Theft Resource Center. Before signing up, you should ask what these companies offer, and evaluate whether their services fit your needs.
According to Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, identity-theft protection services don't monitor certain types of identity theft, such as prior instances of identity theft, Social Security number fraud (a point of contention with the LifeLock advertising), debit/check card fraud, criminal identity fraud (that is, a criminal assumes your identity when arrested), and medical fraud (a criminal assumes your identity when seeking medical attention). Paul Stephens, director of policy and advocacy with Privacy Rights Clearninghouse, notes that these sorts of crimes "are more difficult to recover from than financial identity theft."
"There is nothing you can do or purchase that will provide you with a 100 percent guarantee against being a victim of identity theft," said Lisa Madigan, attorney general for Illinois. "But that doesn't mean you should do nothing."
Links:
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9168098/Update_LifeLock_to_pay_12M_to_settle_FTC_states_complaint
http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20100725/tc_pcworld/doidentitytheftprotectionserviceswork