Loyal readers know that I’m attentive to identity theft issues ever since I got nailed.
I tend to be a proponent of the identity theft services.
I buy mine through Costco (good place to save a few pennies, right?) … in part, because I’ve been suspicious of all the advertising done by industry leader LifeLock.
Turns out that the FTC was – and continues to be suspicious of LifeLock and its hyped up claims …
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Some background …
In 2010, the FTC charged that LifeLock used false claims to promote its identity theft protection services.
The settlement:
- Barred the company and its principals from making any further deceptive claims;
- Required LifeLock to take more stringent measures to safeguard the personal information it collects from customers; and
- Required LifeLock to pay $12 million for consumer refunds.
Fast forward to 2015.
This month, the FTC charged that in spite of these promises, violated the 2010 Order by:
1) failing to establish and maintain a comprehensive information security program to protect its users’ sensitive personal data, including credit card, social security, and bank account numbers;
2) falsely advertising that it protected consumers’ sensitive data with the same high-level safeguards as financial institutions; and 3) failing to meet the 2010 order’s recordkeeping requirements.
In addition, the FTC also asserts that LifeLock falsely claims it protects consumers’ identity 24/7/365 by providing alerts “as soon as” it received any indication there was a problem.
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Not good publicity if you’re in the identity protection business, right?
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