Todd Davis, CEO of LifeLock, claims his company offers such a high level of identity-theft protection that he's willing to
advertise his own social-security number. (It's 457-55-5462.) He's that sure no one is going to be able to steal his identity. Many criminals are quite happy to take him up on the challenge. From
Yahoo! News:
Davis acknowledged in an interview with The Associated Press that his stunt has led to at least 87 instances in which people have tried to steal his identity, and one succeeded: a guy in Texas who duped an online payday loan operation last year into giving him $500 using Davis' Social Security number.
Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear was recently involved in a
similar situation. He published his bank account code, claiming it was impossible for people to use it to steal money from him. Someone promptly used it to create a direct debit from his account.
The bigger issue, says attorney David Paris who's participating in a class-action suit against Lifelock, is that the company charges people $120 a year for an ineffective service: "Paris noted that LifeLock charges $10 a month to set fraud alerts with credit bureaus, even though consumers can do it themselves for free."
I get a couple calls a month from my credit card company trying to sell me their identity theft service. The last time they called (about two days ago) the telemarketer launched into her sales pitch and then suddenly yawned loudly in my ear. I appreciated the sentiment but hung up on her. I always hang up on telemarketers. Anyway, it seems to me that identity-theft services are a waste of money. I'd rather be careful and hope nothing happens, rather than guarantee I'll lose money by paying it to a protection company while still being at risk of identity theft.
Comments
I kept trying to find out more about who they were and how they could live up to their promises and got put onto a supervisor, who very curtly asked if I was going to buy their service. I said not the way they described it, and at that price, and they hung up on me. Just like that!
I guess they thought I was wasting THEIR time. Lol.
I've had my credit card number mis-used several times--once to buy a $1,000 purse--and I just say "Twasn't me" and the charge disappears.
Of course, the credit card companies would like us all to be VERY paranoid about it, because it costs them money (and they can sell you the "identify theft" protection).
And, yes, credit card misuse is included in the "identify theft" numbers. Which means I've had my identity stolen at least six times with absolutely zero effect on my credit rating (and it hasn't cost me a dime).
I invested in a shredder (46 bucks) and shred everything that has my name or personal information on it, BEFORE it hits the dumpster... Aside from all the other stuff the rest of you have already stated, THIS is the last thing you can do to help yourself, besides what Alex already said, "I'd rather be careful and hope nothing happens, rather than guarantee I'll lose money by paying it to a protection company while still being at risk of identity theft."
like
http://www.zug.com/pranks/credit-cards/
So, did he get to keep all the stuff? Or did he pay for them all eventually. Sounds like he could have gotten away with not paying.
Anyone have a good link to a walkthrough on how to make this happen? I never give in to telemarketers, so I don't pay for anything like that, but I'd love to set it up myself, for free.
The best thing you can do is monitor your credit report, take sensible precautions, and invest in an ID RESTORATION policy that will offer complete restoration by professionals with a power of atty, along with 24/7 access to lawyers on retainer.
That service is available for about $320 a year which also covers all sorts of other legal services and situations unrelated to ID theft, like wills, lawsuits, traffic tickets, buying house, credit repair, etc. Info at idtprotection.notlong.com
Last month a US district Judge declared Lifelock place fraud alerts on behalf of clients illegally and were ordered to stop.
Todd Davis declared it was 'business as usual' after the ruling and with profits currently running at well over $10 Million a month I would expect him to keep collecting those $10 a month right up to the point when the Feds are at his office door.