LifeLock Lawsuit
LifeLock Inc., an identify-theft protection company, has been sued for breaking the law and defrauding customers. LifeLock says it has approximately 1.5 million customers who pay a $10 a month fee to protect their credit against theft. For that fee, the company checks the customer’s credit report with major credit bureaus. The company then provides customers with alerts (email, postal, or phone) when their personal info is being used to apply for credit. The company removes customers from pre-approved credit offers and sends the customers their credit reports every 12 months. It also provide a service to cancel all accounts if the customer’s wallet is stolen.
To prove the service worked, CEO Todd Davis televised a commercial in 2005 in which his personal social security number, which was protected by the service, was shown on screen.
Many critics charges that LifeLock was charging customers for a service that was offered for free by the major credit bureaus – Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. People who believe they have fallen victim to ID theft can ask that alerts be sent from these credit bureaus for free.
Experian filed a lawsuit against LifeLock in February 2008. The lawsuit stated that the Fair Credit Reporting Act allows only for individuals to set the fraud alerts, not companies such as LifeLock. Experian stated that when LifeLock sets a fraud alert, it costs them money because they must in turn contact the other two agencies and mail notices to consumers. It believes that LifeLock’s fraud alerts clogs the system and prevents it from working as it should.
Last May, the judge in the federal lawsuit, Andrew Guilford, ruled that LifeLock fraud alerts, which are the cornerstone of its services, are illegal. LifeLock is challenging the decision, stating that their services offer a convenient way for customers to manage alerts. Davis likened it to changing your oil – you can take the time to do it yourself or have someone do it for you. Since the ruling, both Experian and Equifax have stopped accepting fraud alerts from LifeLock. However, TransUnion is still accepting them and when the LifeLock alerts are sent to them, it are required to forward the alert to the other two bureaus.
Other lawsuits filed against LifeLock concerns what some see as LifeLock’s misleading loss coverage policy. One of their commercials states “If anything happens for any reason while you’re a client of LifeLock, we will cover all losses and all expenses up to $1 million.” However, the terms and conditions state that this doesn’t cover actual losses by the customers, but the hiring of a third party to clean up their credit after the theft.
December 6th, 2009 at 9:00 am
You should update your blog with the final court decision.
I’m pretty sure Experian settled their suit with LifeLock for an undisclosed amount after the final ruling from the judge.
I’m also pretty sure LifeLock has ceased placing fraud alerts.
There are still pending class action lawsuits in several states which you might want to provide an update to your readers.
December 7th, 2009 at 6:09 am
Thanks for the information Teri.
December 25th, 2009 at 8:36 pm
Hello Katie,
You are on the right track. Yes, Experian and Lifelock settled, but the bottom line is that Lifelock was barred by the court ruling in Oct. 2009 from using its original process of illegally placing fraud alerts.
Keep up the good work.
Nellie
November 9th, 2010 at 8:46 am
so what is the result, should we stay wt this company or use a better service, is there any better alternative??? advise.
November 26th, 2010 at 3:00 pm
So given all of this, is Lefelock still operating as before?
Who would be a good replacement for this coverage?
November 29th, 2010 at 8:16 am
I would like to know the answer to the above question, and I am sure most people would like the same. If this is truly a waste of money please tell us..
November 30th, 2010 at 11:49 am
Mike, there is an alternative! A very good one! Check out my website.
The company I represent guarantees in writing 100% restoration. They have licensed investigators waiting to help you and are backed by Kroll Background America Inc.
Contact me if you have questions! I have had this for about a year now and it is wonderful!
December 20th, 2010 at 8:12 pm
Lifelock has sent me a ten dollar check as settlement.
October 31st, 2011 at 8:41 am
I was a customer of Life lock and yet my credit card was duplicated and charged. The credit card company dealt with this fradulent charge. When LifeLock was contacted and mentioned. They claimed this is not Credit Card Fraud.
This instance in my book is a credit fraud. I did not get an alert from them.
This is a breach of contract.
Any words of advise.
Thank You
Sincerely Ripped off Customer
February 29th, 2012 at 12:53 pm
Experian is the same service. They check for address changes, bank changes, new credit applications, etc. I went to an island resort and used my credit card. No word fro experian about this. They said that has to be arranged with each individual credit card company. Steal your money, nope, these agencies do not check for that. Change information about you, add credit lines or bank account changes, yep, they do that.
December 12th, 2012 at 10:52 am
i believe lofelock should reimburse me for my membership due to no service or product.
February 24th, 2013 at 9:31 am
My credit card numbers have been stolen 3 times. In all cases, the card company caught the problem promptly with no notice from Lifelock. Now they are frequently sending me alerts to call my card company and cancel my cards because they found my card numbers exposed on fraudulent web sites.
THIS HAPPENED 3 TIMES within 30 days. Meanwhile, I can’t get in touch with them to sort out the threats. Right now I have the same problem again. In the past, all of the alerts have been for cards cancelled by my card company-sometimes years ago.