Identity Theft Stories

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LifeLock Company Profile

LifeLock is the industry leader in the rapidly growing field of Identity Theft Protection. LifeLock offers a proven solution that prevents your identity from being stolen before it happens for about $10 a month. Besides protecting your identity, it also reduces junk mail and credit card offers. If your identity is ever stolen, LifeLock will reimburse direct expenses you incur and pay profesionals (i.e. private investigators, lawyers, etc.) up to $1 million to resolve the problem for you.

LifeLock has been one of the fastest growing companies in the US and has been nominated for multiple American Business Awards, including Best New Company and Best New Product/Service. They also won Red Herring 200 which is an award reserved for the 200 most innovative and promising private firms in the U.S. and Canada.

How LifeLock Works

LifeLock places fraud alerts at all three credit bureaus and maintains these alerts every 90 days, renewing them before they expire. A fraud alert causes the credit bureaus to flag your credit file and include your phone number so that you can give verbal authorization to a creditor as proof that they are dealing with you and not an identity thief. A creditor who accesses a flagged file is required per the FACT ACT passed by Congress, to confirm your identity. It is best to place your cell phone number in your file so that you can authorize a credit transaction on the spot.

The system has worked extremely well and is the most effective identity protection service as it is proactive rather than reactive, stopping identity theft before it happens. This differs greatly from credit monitoring which only informs you that someone has used your credit and then leaves you the emotionally draining and costly task of restoring your credit and clearing your name.
It allows you to maintain control of your credit and money while “locking” out thieves.

Fraud Alerts

Lifelock will place and renew fraud alerts on your credit file with Experian, Equifax, and Transunion. This requires the credit bureaus to verfiy your identity before issuing credit, usually by calling your phone number on file.

Removal from Marketing Lists

Lifelock will remove your name from marketing lists advertisers use to send you pre-approved credit offers and junk mail.
This is one of the many ways thieves steal identities.

Annual Credit Reports

Lifelock will order credit reports from the three major credit reporting agencies and have them delivered to you for review.

eRecon

eRecon regularly scans the internet for your private information including social security number, credit cards, driver’s license, and other sensitive data to protect it from being sold or traded online.

TrueAddress

TrueAddress scans address databases nationwide to detect if anybody has made unauthorized changes to your address.
This is a common technique identity thieves use to steal mail and your financial information.

WalletLock

In the case your wallet or purse is stolen or lost, Lifelock will assist you in canceling and replacing your affected accounts.
In the even you lose your wallet, LifeLock will transfer you to a certified Recovery Specialist that will help you:

• • Identify your missing documents

• • Contact each credit, bank or document issuing company while you’re on the phone

• • Cancel the lost cards (credit/debit cards, driver’s licenses, social sec. cards, checkbooks,etc.)

• • Fill out the paperwork and request new replacements

• • Initiate the fraud affidavit and police reports if the wallet was stolen

• Depending on the severity, additional follow-up and resolution calls will be arranged.

24/7 Customer Support

If you have any questions or need immediate assistance, Lifelock has protection specialists to help you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

1 Million Dollar Service Guarantee

Lifelock will spend up to $1 Million Dollars to restore your good name if your identity is stolen while under their protection. They will hire investigators, accountants, or any other professional required to recover from identity theft.
It is important to note that this guarantee does NOT cover lost wages.

Why should you consider any other companies?

Lifelock does not offer credit freezes, a stronger measure of protection and it does not offer lost wage coverage in their 1 Million Dollar Service Warranty. This is especially troubling since lost wages is where the majority of identity theft victims require assistance. According to the non-proft Identity Resource Theft Center, most victims of identity theft do not require the assistance of attorneys or investigators. Most of the work involved is contacting and working with all the affected accounts and credit agencies. A nationwide survey released by the Federal Trade Commission found the average victim spends 60 hours and between $120 and $1,200 to clear their name.
IdentityGuard and Equifax both offer $2,000 in lost wages and TrustedID offers $5,000.

If you are looking to provide protection for your entire household, TrustedID’s family plan offers near identical protection at a significant discount. While Lifelock charges per member, TrustedID charges one price per household.
The savings can really add up if you have three or more members in your household.

If you prefer a credit monitoring service as opposed to a company that places fraud alerts, you may want to consider Equifax or IdentityGuard.
We recommend IdentityGuard if this is the case, while the price of their Total Protection package may cost more, the monitoring services they provide are quite extensive.

The Bottom Line

Lifelock is a fine company and as the industry leader, their customers apparently do find value in their service. But as any industry leader knows, the competition will always be nipping at your heels and this case is no different. Lifelock’s competitors have created product offerings that do more for less while others have taken a credit monitoring apporach with some of the same safeguards. Some of the advantages Lifelock’s competitors are offering in the hopes of grabbing market share are so significant we would be negligent not to point them out.

TrustedId is a near Lifelock clone with added protection in the form of credit freezes. It also offers “best in class” lost wage protection and a family discount. TrustedID offers everything Lifelock does and more for less.