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LifeLock CEO’s Identity Stolen 13 Times
- jsdalton 16y agoI knew I'd seen this ad somewhere before: http://37signals.com/svn/posts/353-fly-on-the-wall-lifelock-motionbox-print-stylesheets-shoe-repair-posts-dordoni-table-and-daring-fireball-ad http://37signals.com/svn/posts/353-fly-on-the-wall-lifelock-...
- ajg1977 16y agoI think you're probably just being snarky, but it is a pretty great marketing concept. After all, it's not always the case that product->quality == marketing->quality.
- jsdalton 16y agoActually, I remember reading it and having the exact same reaction the 37 signals guys did in their thread -- so I certainly wasn't immune to the marketing ploy myself.
- pwhelan 16y agoIf it has only been 13 times, he's lucky. Don't go challenging criminals to screw you over and giving them a crucial piece of information. Got what he deserved, especiall yconsidering he was fined for deceptive advertising because of crappy security.
- Groxx 16y agoI LOL'd at the article. I've never liked those commercials... now I have a concrete reason to dislike the company. Bring on the ID thefts! He's quite literally asking for it.
- jotto 16y agoi guess this could serve as a kind of honeypot so the company can observe the attacks on this guy and then improve the service. but according to the FTC in this article their service doesn't work so apparently it was nothing more than a marketing stunt.
- orblivion 16y ago> lucky Or Lifelock is pretty good.
- lukeqsee 16y agoThis goes to show how crafty identity thieves really are -- and how stupid it is to let them get any bit of private data. If they can steal his identity, why not yours? He has staked his reputation on LifeLock's services, and lost. Maybe this will knock some sense into the share-all generation.
- pxlpshr 16y agoExactly why people have a right to be up in arms about Facebook changing privacy policies without allowing users to opt-in voluntarily. Identity theft is a serious issue, most young techies haven't been a victim simply because time and risk haven't converged. It can impact your life for years, making it extremely difficult to get a mortgage, car loan, or even land a job in some cases.
- lukeqsee 16y agoYup. I myself am a "young techy" I started out not caring about the little bits of data I let out. But now I'm really clamping down, identity theft is too real to take a risk.
- nostromo 16y agoFrom the article, the identity thieves don't sound that crafty at all. They basically just filled out an application and were approved at instant loan shops, phone companies, etc., etc. It goes to show how silly it is to have so much resting on our SS#.
- smiler 16y agoGood job he's got a $1 million compensation fund to cover him.
- recampbell 16y agoRead the fine print. This covers Lifelocks costs in trying to restore your credit, not any loses you sustain due to having your identity stolen. http://www.lifelock.com/our-guarantee http://www.lifelock.com/our-guarantee Money quote: "Under the Terms and Conditions, NO money passes directly to our LifeLock members." http://www.lifelock.com/about-us/about-lifelock/terms-and-conditions http://www.lifelock.com/about-us/about-lifelock/terms-and-co... "LifeLock will retain and pay for those third party professional services that are reasonably necessary in LifeLock's judgment to assist you in restoring losses or recovering your lost out-of-pocket expenses caused by such fraud. " Disclosure: I worked for and have ownership in a competitor to Lifelock.
- alexyim 16y ago"Policy change!"
- ajg1977 16y agoShocking! Next we'll probably find out that the guy from Video Professor doesn't actually have a doctorate..
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- keltex 16y agoUnfortunately these "credit monitoring services" are basically useless. The only real solution is to "freeze your credit" which makes credit inaccessible to anyone unless you provide an unlock code (which temporarily "thaws" your credit). The cost ranges from $3-$10 per person per bureau to freeze a credit report which is considerably cheaper than the $10/month lifelock service. More information on how to do this here: http://clarkhoward.com/topics/credit_freeze_states.html http://clarkhoward.com/topics/credit_freeze_states.html
- natrius 16y agoIsn't that kind of extortion? "We've collected all of this data about you, and we'll give it to anyone unless you pay us some protection money."
- kareemm 16y agoabsolutely. i've had "build a better credit bureau" on my ideas list for a couple years now. it's a multi-billion dollar industry that could be waaaay more consumer-friendly.
- run4yourlives 16y agoIt is consumer friendly. Credit bureaus are designed to protect lenders, not lendees.
- kareemm 16y agolenders are customers, not consumers. but lendees are customers in teh same way facebook's users are customers. experian and transunion build a business off the backs of consumer data. consumers are reliant on their records, but generally have to pay to get access to them, even to correct a report. like i said - it's a big, staid, slow-changing opaque industry. looking at it through the right lens makes for a big opportunity.
- 16y ago
- chime 16y agoThe entire identify-theft problem can be solved by a very simple mechanism. If I apply for a loan for a car, the dealer takes my info and tries to run my credit online. Immediately I get an automated phone call that says "Dealer ABC is trying to sign you up for service: AUTOLOAN. To allow this service, enter your 4 digit pin." If I do not have my cellphone, I can directly call a 1-800 number, enter my SSN + PIN and confirm the sign up. I do NOT have to provide any vendor with my PIN. Who manages/offers this service? Experian/TransUnion etc. could do this for a very small fee. Sure, there would be the issue of lost PINs, unavailability of Internet access, not having your cell on you etc. but I think it could work very well. Right now, it is possible for someone to find out my SSN# from a piece of paper from a trashcan and immediately buy a phone in my name. At least I can change my pin if someone finds out.
- keltex 16y agoRead my comment below. A similar service already exists with all the credit bureaus. It's called a "credit freeze". How it works is when you're about to apply for credit somewhere, you ask them "what bureau are you checking?" Then you go online to that bureau and temporarily "thaw" your credit just for that inquiry. And there's a nominal charge for this service.
- mos1 16y agoI have this on my account, and you don't need to go online to "thaw" it. The bureau calls you and asks "did you just apply for an auto loan at a Hyundai dealership in Florida?" and you reply "no, no I didn't", they say "okay, have a nice day", and that's that. At least that's what happened when somebody tried to use my identity to buy a Hyundai in Florida.
- zaatar 16y agoWhat you described was not the 'thaw' scenario, but rather, what credit freeze is supposed to do, by design. The 'thaw' scenario would kick in if you were to legitimately apply yourself for an auto loan at a Hyundai dealership in Florida, and have that loan not be rejected.
- bullseye 16y agoI wrote an application for a banking client a few years ago that required a valid SSN. In addition to using the information available on ssa.gov to check the validity of a number, I built a simple filter to exclude valid, but otherwise fraudulent numbers. While none of the steps I took are a bulletproof measure against identity theft, they do lighten the load a bit. I cross-referenced the SSN death index to ensure dead people had not risen from the grave to apply for credit. I also excluded the popular "fake" SSNs used in advertising (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Security_number#SSNs_invalidated_by_use_in_advertising http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Security_number#SSNs_inv...), and I most definitely added Todd Davis's number to the list. This last step seemed like a no-brainer given all of the publicity at the time. While I can understand a small boutique store not going to those lengths to prevent a fraudulent account, I am a little surprised that AT&T and Verizon were among the casualties.
- recampbell 16y agoA lot of identity theft occurs when people just make up an SSN and use it to gain employment or credit. If they are lucky, the credit file doesn't exist yet and no one is the wiser. The "theft" part occurs when someone is assigned that SSN starts using it and finds out that they have $300,000 in bad loans on their credit file. This is usually a kid who is applying for student loans or their first car loan. Then they must spend time/money cleaning up their credit file. http://news.debix.com/index.php/2008/11/teenager-tarnished-by-600000-house-foreclosure/ http://news.debix.com/index.php/2008/11/teenager-tarnished-b... Discolsure: I'm a former employee and current investor in Debix.
- mikeryan 16y agoApparently AT&T and Verizon wanted Todd Davis's business ;-)
- spoiledtechie 16y agoIts interesting you could do all this with a SSN. The program I mean. If you can do this easily, then why can dead people still vote... I am being serious.
- 16y ago
- sriramk 16y agothe real issue here is everyone assuming social security numbers are meant to be 'secret'. It is a terrible way to authenticate someone. There have been recent studies to show how non-random someone's number actually is. Someone recently suggested the 'nuclear' option of making everyone's social security number public and forcing all institutions to figure out a better model. This may be too extreme but something like that may be necessary
- cookiecaper 16y agoI agree that SSNs are used in a contradictory manner. They are both a universal identifier -- something you have to give to open a bank account, etc., and something that many places use to track your information, and a universal authenticator, wherein only YOU are supposed to know your SSN. It's like requiring everyone's username to double as their password. It is seriously broken system, something else has to be figured out.
- raganwald 16y ago>t's like requiring everyone's username to double as their password. Reminds me of the old joke: Store Cashier: If you'll just give me your SSN, I'll sign you up for our rewards program. Customer: Can you keep a secret? Store Cashier: Of course! Customer: So can I.
- curio 16y agoand while we're on the topic of how broken SSN's are... why is it that the most important piece of identification you receive in your life, that you also need to keep forever, is printed on a crappy piece of paper???
- nkassis 16y agoI was really astonished by this when I moved to the US from Canada. Canada gives you a plastic card while after 7 years, my SSN card has pretty much turned into a disintegrating pile of paper dust.
- 16y ago
- DanielBMarkham 16y agoDavis -- the human identity-theft honeypot. We need more of him.
- Tichy 16y agoMaybe he could have used a fake SSN that says "fraud going on" loud and clear. Are honeypot SSNs possible?
- todd_davis 16y agoHere I am! Number 14 beeotches!
- ciupicri 16y agoThere's something that I don't understand about these identity theft cases. If I didn't really sign any document, why should I be held responsible just because someone else used something public (non-private) about me? P.S. To be more clear: the company giving the loan should prove that I signed the documents, not I that I didn't sign them. The presumption of innocence if you will.
- smallblacksun 16y agoLegally, you aren't. The issue is the time and expense in proving that you didn't sign anything.
- matwood 16y agoThis is why I think companies that incorrectly send you to collections or give credit to someone using your identity should not only be on the hook for the money they lost but also liable to the person they are forcing to clear their name. Years ago I rented at a crappy apartment complex. When I left their check out basically meant you always owed them ~$200. I paid and moved out of state. 6 months later I get a collections call saying I didn't pay the bill. I told them I paid it, she said it wasn't and said it was going on my report unless I paid that day. Luckily I paid by check and my bank (like all banks I guess now) keeps canceled checks online for pretty much ever. So now I had to go back 6 months and find this check then call the apartment then the collections agency, etc... A HUGE hassle and time waster for me all because the apartment complex employed incompetent people. The kicker was that the girl trying to collect from me said "people make mistakes and you can't blame them." Um, when I make a mistake and forget to pay a bill you guys jump all over me. You make a mistake and it's still my problem to solve.
- jessriedel 16y agoIt's a weird situation. You're not legally liable for the debt incurred by the thief even if you don't bother to prove anything (although they will still hassle you by phone), but your credit is destroyed.
- johnnyb4 16y ago
- prodigal_erik 16y ago> It’s not fair to [AT&T] because they’re losing a pretty substantial amount of money. AT&T isn't even bothering to check photo ID. Being defrauded is a risk they have eagerly assumed. Presumably they make more money this way, despite fraud.
- matwood 16y agoExactly. I put a majority of the blame on these companies that for some reason can't be bothered to check an ID. On the back of my debit and credit card I sign it with "Check ID" since the cashier is supposed to at minimum verify the signature. I've had cards stolen multiple times and have had them used before I could cancel them. So much for verifying the signature.
- prodigal_erik 16y agoThe way I've heard it, your signature on the card is actually your acceptance of the contract with the issuing bank, so they are Not Okay with "check id" there instead. The merchant is just expected to verify that the card has been signed, not try to match signatures (doing that correctly requires very rare expertise).
- matwood 16y agoObviously I don't expect them to do a point by point comparison of the signature, but they are supposed to at least make sure it's there. Writing 'Check ID' should get them to check my ID every time, but so few even look at the card. This is a funny prank where a guy went out trying to get people to actually look at the back of the card :) http://www.zug.com/pranks/credit_card/index2.html http://www.zug.com/pranks/credit_card/index2.html
- melling 16y agoSeems like http://www.lifelock.com http://www.lifelock.com is getting a little slow. Everyone is seeing if his ss# is still there?
- kwyjibo 16y agoIt's really funny that a SSN is enough in the USA to get somebody else in so much trouble. Doesn't work in the other countries, as long as you don't send in copies of your passport or identity card to claim a fake lottery win ;).
- RabidChihuahua 16y agoOh...so much for that security.
- pedalpete 16y agoWhat I find so surprising is the low dollar amounts that were racked up. Sub 10k in fraudulent charges on an SSN that is published? Like this? According to Wikipedia, Identity theft doesn't result in the high dollar figures I was expecting http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identity_theft#Spread_and_impact http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identity_theft#Spread_and_impac...
- rmorrison 16y agoWhile there are obviously some issues with LifeLock, I really appreciate the confidence he has in his product. I wish there was a way for all CEOs to do something similar. Too bad it's kind of difficult for, say, a social web service.
- maxklein 16y agoWhy don't you just implement ID cards like in europe and skip this social security nonsense? And ID card has your face and height on it, making it more difficult for someone to pass as you.
- robinduckett 16y agoSimilar thing happened to Jeremy Clarkson when he put his full bank account details in his newspaper column, thinking that no one could actually withdraw money from his account - he was wrong, someone used his details to sign up for charity direct debits.