My Blog, Your Money

You might have seen or heard ads about LifeLock, an identity theft prevention service, where CEO Todd Davis broadcasts his own Social Security Number. For those who are curious, it’s 457-55-5462. With such a bold marketing gimmmick practically taunting identity thieves to steal his identity, he must be pretty confident in the company’s service. So confident that there’s even a $1 million guarantee.

So is it for real? Well, Todd Davis himself reported that out of 88 attempts (I’m surprised there weren’t more), only one succeeded. It turns out one Texas man successfully obtained $500 from an online loan company sometime last year. I guess one instance of $500 isn’t too bad considering how prevalent the advertising is.

So is it worth it? Well, it turns out that all the services that LifeLock provides, can actually be done by yourself for free. LifeLock even states that on its website. Here’s its page on How LifeLock Works. Given all this, you now have an idea of what LifeLock does and can do everything on your own. The only question is: Is it worth $10 every month (or $110 a year) to pay LifeLock to do it for you.

If you’re interested in enrolling, you may want to read the following article about a lawsuit against LifeLock: ID-protection ads come back to bite pitchman. And, of course, there’s always Wikipedia.