Turns Out Lifelock's CEO Has Been A Victim Of Identity Fraud 13 Times
from the is-that-in-their-ads? dept
Ah, Lifelock. The company, which was recently fined $12 million for bogus advertising and absolutely dreadful security practices (the private data that Lifelock claimed it was helping you protect was not encrypted and was available to more than just authorized employees). Of course, the most amusing thing of all was how the CEO of the company, Todd Davis, plastered his Social Security Number everywhere to show how "safe" he felt with the company's service. In the past, we had noted that this didn't actually stop him from from being a victim of identity fraud -- when someone used his well publicized SSN to get a $500 loan in his name. Oh, and then there was the story about how the CEO then personally went to the home of the guy who did this, and "coerced" a confession out of him. In doing so, it ruined the police investigation and tainted the case.Thankfully, it now turns out that there were twelve other opportunities to taint evidence. Yes, it's now come out that the CEO who proudly gave away his SSN because his own company would protect him has been a victim of identity fraud at least 13 times. And they say 13 is an unlucky number...
The stories go on and on, with lots of people using his Social Security Number to open up various accounts -- many of which it appears he didn't find out about until collections agencies came calling. Could there be any worse advertising for Lifelock than this? It's even pissing off the police
"It's unfortunate he chose to conduct business in that way," [Albany police] spokeswoman Phyllis Banks said. "It's not fair to [AT&T] because they're losing a pretty substantial amount of money."Update: Lifelock, as per usual, is trying to spin this in a positive way, sending over a PR statement about how we should really pay attention to all the times his identity wasn't used fraudulently. Very convincing.
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Filed Under: identity fraud, todd davis
Companies: lifelock
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Why is our job to make sure it's not us me when we're not there?
They were robbed so punish the robber not everyone else for your lousy security procedures!
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http://itacidentityblog.com/
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Personally, I believe "fraud" is more accurate a description of what is transpiring, but it does go against the current public usage of "stealing one's identity", "identity theft", etc.
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im spartacus
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LifeLock Class Action
Federal settlement info:
http://ftc.gov/lifelock
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What shocks me
Seriously, how hard is it to run a credit check on a number, which returns name and address, and then check someone's photo ID and compare the two?
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http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=388730644&blogId=532 659819
http://www.USPrivacyAssociates.com
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Huh?
Wow ... that means that they can tell you exactly how many times his identity wasn't used fraudulently. How is that done? Its like tracking how many people didn't walk into a store, but stayed home, or went to a baseball game. Have they developed the elusive "ANTICIPATOR"?
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Re: Huh?
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IANAL - but ...
If it is considered theft, then the lackadaisical handling of personal information (gathered with or without consent or knowledge) and the resulting monitary loss could be foisted upon the individual whilst the business makes money off the transaction.
If it is considered fraud, then the business is responsible for the loss because they were defrauded.
There is a problem area where irresponsible actions by an individual can be the cause for their own demise. Not sure how this can be proven, unless of course the individual has been very blatant about it - like posting their info on billboards and the like.
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Lifelock's Bold Advertising
Hate them all you want, their bold advertising worked for them. Lifelock is the current market leader despite their services being substandard to competitors like TrustedID and Guard Dog ID, a new company that blows away lifelock in service features and price.
Todd Davis knows what they're doing and Lifelock's greatest strength is their marketing department. Look at the brand recognition they've built and they're at least 10 times larger than their nearest competitor.
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So I guess
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Yeah, because 13 times is still an acceptable amount of times to have your identity stolen.
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that's a lot of times
number of those people who stole his identity: 13
that means that Lifelock prevented his identity from being stolen 6,840,506,990 times!!.
with numbers like those, I'm signing up right away!!
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