Is Lifelock a Scam?

[Please note: References are linked to this page and can be viewed by clicking on the * throughout this document]

Lifelock's problem all along has been false advertising.  They tell us they can protect us from  identity thieves while the truth is there is no protection from an identity thief if the thief has enough information to impersonate you and steal from you.  

Because of this false advertising multiple fraud charges and fines have been levied against Lifelock.  In 2010 the Federal Trade Commission, along with 35 state attorneys general, fined Lifelock $12 million. *   This fine was to settle charges that the company used false claims to promote its identity theft protection services and repeatedly failed to secure the identity information they collected from millions of subscribers.  Later, because Lifelock's failed to stop the false advertising, they were found to be in contempt of the original order and fined an additional $100 million. *  

The Lifelock story is one of ineptness.  Lifelock came to our attention more than ten years ago when LifeLock's former CEO Todd Davis began an advertising campaign that included sharing his social security number on billboards, in television commercials, and even on the side of truck. The marketing ploy ultimately backfired when several reports showed his social security number being compromised and used for taking out loans and opening new accounts. Rather than building confidence among LifeLock’s clients, it just cast more doubt about the credibility of his marketing campaign and his ill-advised marketing strategy. And coming from a personal identity theft company’s CEO, this spoke huge volumes not just about him but his company in particular.*  According to other reports Mr. Davis has been a victim of identity theft more than a dozen times * and during his tenure as CEO has had to pay out millions to settle lawsuits for misleading customers, and deceptive practices.* 

In November 2016 Symantec corporation bought Lifelock and many had thought the false advertising would stop.  It appears the false advertising continues and it is likely Lifelock and its new owners will be fined in the future.  Evidently a 100 million dollar fine every few years is not much of a deterrent to a corporation that is collecting billions of dollars yearly from unsuspecting subscribers.

Is Lifelock a scam?  You have to make up your own mind.