A judge soon forced the company to stop doing business and turn over customer records to investigators.
Wall says he remembers running into Maynard around that time in the checkout line at a Costco store. Maynard was friendly, despite the ongoing litigation, and introduced his wife and baby. But the veteran prosecutor views Maynard's niceness with cynicism.
"Oftentimes, people are selling even when under investigation," he says.
The FTC launched a parallel lawsuit, going after Maynard and his partners for producing and airing a misleading infomercial about the firm's services. That wasn't the worst of it.
Federal court records state that Maynard and the other defendants obtained their customers' banking information and, "in numerous instances . . . withdrew funds from consumers' checking accounts without authorization."
Gilbert resident Vincent Calabrese, listed as one of the firm's creditors because of owed back pay, says he worked for National Credit Foundation for about a year and was there at the end. He says he'll never forget how the "phone was just going nuts" in the last few weeks with customers reporting unauthorized debits on their bank accounts, usually for about $300 a whack.
"I don't know what happened. People were getting hit; their accounts were getting hit," he says. "I thought the information got out on these people on these accounts, and somebody used it."
He didn't suspect the company itself, he says.
"I was on three-way conversations with the bank and the people," Calabrese says. "These people were crying, practically, on the phone."
He also recalls that, sometime in the company's last few days of existence, a news reporter from a television network came in to interview Maynard for a story about the problems.
In a 1998 magazine article, Maynard blamed the National Credit Foundation debacle on the company that produced the infomercial, saying it tried to take over his business. As revenge, Maynard "killed his business" so the other company could not usurp it. The article states Maynard "strapped on a pistol and told his 300 employees to get out. Then he closed the office, declared Chapter 7 and sold everything."
The story could not be verified, because Maynard has refused to be interviewed by New Times.
Again, Maynard denied wrongdoing. But the federal government was so ticked off, it issued a permanent injunction that bans Maynard from "advertising, promoting, offering for sale, selling, performing, or distributing any product or service relating to credit improvement services."
Yet such a service is offered by LifeLock, where founder Maynard works as the chief marketing officer. (He was formerly the chief operating officer).
LifeLock helps customers who fall victim to identity theft repair damaged credit histories. So, the question is: Does Maynard's position at LifeLock violate the court order?
When his partner, Davis, is asked about this, he says the company outsources its credit-repair service. Besides, he says, the company has a written opinion from its attorney that Maynard is legally allowed to work for LifeLock.
After National Credit Foundation's fall, Maynard moved to Dallas and started Internet America. By early 1996, that firm was backed by investors and had 25,000 customers, according to an article that year in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
The newspaper article describes Maynard as a financial whiz kid who adheres to the utmost standards of professionalism.
"That's how we go out and get a $250,000 line of credit somewhere," Maynard was quoted as saying.
Two years later, a Dallas Business Journal article reported that Maynard resigned from Internet America after finally settling with the FTC in the credit-repair case.
Maynard came back to Phoenix in 1999 and invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in a new company he founded, Dotsafe, which offered Internet-filtering services for schools.
Around the same time, someone ordered an American Express card in Maynard Sr.'s name and had the bills sent to a company called Netshield at 8181 South 48th Street, Suite 120, in Phoenix. That was Dotsafe's address.
Court and bankruptcy records suggest that Maynard Jr. obtained the card without his father's consent.
Dr. Maynard, while not giving up all the details because of the open case with American Express, says the "premise" that his son fraudulently ordered the card is accurate.
He adds that he has advice for any new parent: Don't name your kid after yourself.
Even as Dotsafe imploded, Maynard Jr. borrowed heavily and "his living style never went down," his father says.
At one point, Maynard Jr. owed more than $1 million in unpaid taxes to the Internal Revenue Service. Court records reveal lawsuits from a slew of creditors related to Dotsafe. His 2005 personal Chapter 7 bankruptcy lists debts to friends, business partners, credit card companies, the Phoenix Library — even $24,000 to his children's private school, Summit School of Ahwatukee.
Yet, these days, Maynard is back in black — or close, anyway.
LifeLock's expanding and even became a finalist for this year's national Stevie Awards for best new company and best new product or service. Davis is a finalist for best executive.
Dr. Maynard, who acknowledges that his relationship with his son isn't "normal," says he is pessimistic about his son's future — regardless of his current success.
"I don't think Robert will ever not have the ups and downs," Maynard Sr. says. "Mostly, veracity is a problem."
How can anyone trust this company? I have a friend that used the service for 2 years and decided to no longer use it then all of a sudden her identity was stolen makes me wonder if you stop paying if they sell your info? He sounds like a real scammer.
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Here is also the best resource for Identity Fraud and how to OPT-OUT of credit cards. Be sure and read"Maintain Vigilance" near the bottom! This is it, Free info given out since day 1 in 2005!http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pub...
Here is the link to the free complete step by step," Do it Yourself Identity Theft kit" The same info many credit monitoring companies charge to do for you: http://www.bbb.org/us/article/...
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Robert Maynard is not the founder of the "Fraud Alert System". I am the original founder!! In march 2005, he found out the system from a taxi driver driving on Curry Rd as a passenger. He made a deal that if he made a profit with the "system", the taxi driver would recieve 5% of all profits. That info with him in Las Vegas and my misfortune in identity fraud is a blatant lie! I told him to use my honest misfortune as the marketing plan. He instead used the big lie and now has been stopped. Now Robert Maynard is silent and recieving 10% and has forgot to pay his friend, the Taxi Driver his 5% in "LifeLock" that is booming in 2009. Beware!! The truth will set you free Robert Maynard!!! And pay me rightfully for the business idea!!
If you read the story it is all true. I use to work for Lifelock and will be happy to tell the truth. Setting your fraud alerts is not followed thru on. The back end- operations team is many months behind. They do not do what they say, I assure you.They have so manvy chiefs there no one knows who does what.The big chiefs are all getting paid well. The agents who answer you questions are not informed, they have no credit experience. I was made many promises as an employee, none were kept. Pretty thankful to not be part of the big scammers.
WoW, when I first saw these type of ads I thought I was DREAMING someone who could protect my id!!!, I could now give up shopping at proper, trustworthy, or reliable stores and dealers who would be careful with my info.
Thank you for your artical, I knew I was not the only on who read the credit cards liability statement.
more need to know, Please repete story loudly and often ( a shorter story with clear ref to this one would be nice though. found link at http://www.komando.com/message...
Thank you again,jds
Here is how to get "Lifelock for free"1) Lifelock puts a 90-day fraud alert on your credit report (and renews it every 90 days). Experian, Transunion and Equifax all offer this service for free Experian- https://www.experian.com/consu...Equifax- https://www.alerts.equifax.com...Transunion- http://www.transunion.com/corp...
2)Life lock says you will receive less junk mail and credit card offers. Here are the weblinks (also free) to do that. Reduce junkmail- http://www.dmachoice.org/consu...stop credit card offers- https://www.optoutprescreen.co...
3) Lifelock's guarantee "is simple, but it is limited. We will pay up to $1,000,000 to cure the failure or defect in our service, per member, per lifetime for all incidents in the aggregate, regardless of circumstance" That means that if the fraud alert fails they will pay up to $1,000,000.
4) The benefit of Lifelock is that for only $10/mo they will automatically do what you may forget to do every 3 months. And while a fraud alert can NOT stop identity theft, it can prevent new unauthorized accounts from being opened.
4) Currently there is no cure for identity theft, but there are ways to reduce your chance of being a victim. The best thing to do is keep an eye on your credit, and be guarded with your personal information. If you are a victim, you probably won't lose a lot of money. It will probably be a very time consuming challenging process to fix the problem. For example, what would you do if the crime happened in another state than you lived in? or What if it involved drivers license fraud, medical identity theft, incorrect criminal charges, or just your good name became smeared? Would you know what to do? Would Todd Davis be there to help with these issues?
5) If you are going to participate in a Identity Theft protection program look for the following:
a) A reputable company- there are many new ID Theft companies popping up to take advantage of people's fear b) Look for Full-service Identity Restoration, preferably from a licensed private investigator, not just insurance, or counselors or info-packets that can be mailed to you c) Identity theft usually involves some kind of legal action or necessitates legal help, look for comprehensive coverage with free, unlimited legal counsel d) Don't sign a contract...what if the service is no good? you should be able to quit without financial penalty!
At the very least, don't pay for Lifelock, reduce your junkmail and eliminate new credit card offers
I am an attorney with a law firm that handles many cases involving the protection of consumer rights. I have researched Lifelock and spoken with the Attorney General's Offices in a number of states regarding the company's practices. I believe that Lifelock's "services" and advertising campaign are certainly fraudulent. If anyone feels that they have been taken advantage of by subscribing to this service, please contact me at david@marksklein.com.
Marcy, you sound a lot like lifelock. Not sure why I would trust the company you recomend over lifelock. Sounds like another $10 per month scam to me. Think about it, if you can get enough people to send you $10 per month, you're rich! And all for somthing you can do for free for yourself.
That's how I feel.
The comments here make it clear that many people have had negative experiences with Lifelock. A person can become a victim of identity theft in many ways, and it is growing every day as we can tell from the frequent stories of identity theft in the news. I was worried about identity theft and signed up with IdentityTruth.com's identity theft prevention service. So far, I have been very pleased. For $10/month I get all the benefits listed on https://www.identitytruth.com/... as well as a $2 Million guarantee if I am a victim of ID theft while a subscriber. They seem to be committed to helping consumers prevent ID theft before damage occurs, and I have not heard any negative publicity about them in the news. If you are concerned with identity theft and want to protect yourself, IdentityTruth.com surpasses Lifelock in many ways, and is defintiely worth the investment.
typical ..I am glad I had my reservations about suign them.. TY for the easy , diy, how-to!
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On a related note, he has since resigned from the company..."Robert Maynard resigns as LifeLock's marketing chief after questions arise about his past."http://www.latimes.com/busines...
This was a great article and I got a lot of laughs out of the comments here. Why do you suppose there is such a growing demand for Identity Theft Protection services making it possible for companies like LifeLock to come into existence? I'll tell you why. Because not nearly enough is being done to fix our broken credit infrastructure.
Everyone seems so concerned about the risks of giving their personal information to LifeLock. Well, did you forget that TransUnion, Experian and Equifax already have all your personal information and they're busy selling it left and right to (sometimes) unscrupulous creditors? And don't forget your place of work, your insurance company, health care provider etc... etc... etc...
People are reading almost daily about data breaches and identity theft horror stories and feeling that they need to do something, anything to avoid these problems. But don't expect the big 3 to take any serious actions - they are even trying to revoke consumer's credit freeze ability, effectively going backwards.
As long as there is a demand for "full service" Identity Theft Protection, these companies will survive and thrive. LifeLock was not the only game in town. There are plenty of competitors, like TrustedID, IdentityGuard, Debix and more.
Here's a site reviewing the top three (including LifeLock):http://www.identitytheftreview...
I was "this close" to signing up with them, having been convinced by Scambusters shilling for them. Now I think less of both LifeLock AND Scambusters. I hope that I would have been sufficiently scared off by the volume of information and permissions they wanted not to sign up, even if this hadn't come to light now.
It shows you can't be too careful. It also makes people who live "off the books" and don't use services like banks and credit cards, look like the smart ones!
LifeLock is rotten. It starts with Maynard but also includes Todd Davis. He says he knew all about Maynard's past. What does that say about Davis? You might also be interested to know he apparently has LIED about his career with Dell, which is now pulled down off LifeLock's web sites. By the way, Todd Davis' real name is Richard Todd Davis.
And Davis is stupid enough to give out his SSN to the world? Does he realize that by advertising his social security number he is giving every financial institution a right to ignore any ID theft or fraud claim he makes? The UCC and case law make it clear that consumers have to take reasonable steps to protect their account numbers and sensitive data. If someone drains his checking account, his bank has the law on its side to ignore any claims he makes. That is written into nearly every bank disclosure, too (the doc that you get when you open an account). What a jackass.
STAY AWAY FROM LIFELOCK! It's run by criminals and fools who require customers give them personal identifying information AND power of attorney. If you hand that over to LifeLock you are putting everything at risk.
I was a senior at NAU 20 years ago, and I'm reading this article thinking, "I think I had a class with a guy named Robert Maynard." Sure enough I get to the part in the article that confirmed what I thought I knew. The guy I remember was an arrogant prick in a senior class called "Business Policies", designed to put all of the good stuff you learned into a package and show what a well-rounded businessman you were about to be. The professor was this guy named Jon Ozmun, another arrogant prick who never got tired of someone kissing his ass. And Maynard laid it on thick, it's one of the things that made the guy memorable to me.
Anyway, the fact that this guy is a simple fraud does not surprise me one bit. Without Daddy's money he woulda washed up in the gutter a long time ago.
It is very curious that Lifelock keeps stating that they are "looking into" Robert Maynard Jr.'s story about what happened in Las Vegas, yet despite having the facts proven over and over again that Maynard did indeed lie about what happened, they are keeping him on as a "consultant". He is now going to be "the man behind the curtain". How long does it take to "look into" something that many other people have supplied all the information for? My guess is they will never come back and report their findings. Seems to me if you discover something foul in your organization, if you choose to keep it around you, yourself are just as foul. Looks like Davis's lies about being "surprised" about Maynard's story are BS since now that it is very obvious it was all a lie he keeps this lying con man around and on the payroll. Birds of a feather indeed. I will not continue to do business with a company that employs a liar and identity thief. I would strongly urge others to find a more reputable company to do their credit protection.
Nice work Mr. Stern on uncovering the truth. After all the denials, Robert Maynard, Jr. has apparently now resigned from LifeLock:
http://blog.wired.com/27bstrok...
What makes no sense is that while Maynard, Jr. has apparently resigned, according to the blog he is now going to form a "marketing company" and do the EXACT SAME WORK he has been doing for LifeLock as a "consultant." So, exactly what is the difference? If LifeLock has concluded that Maynard, Jr. shouldn't be an employee or officer of LifeLock, why would it continue to use Maynard, Jr.'s services, and why would it continue to allow him to be an OWNER of LifeLock?
What is even more troubling is that LifeLock is apparently going to use Maynard, Jr. as a "MARKETING CONSULTANT" when it was Maynard, Jr.'s MARKETING LIES that got them into trouble in the first place. If LifeLock and Todd Davis were reputable and cared anything about the truth, they would force Maynard, Jr. to sell his stock, stop Maynard, Jr. from MAKING MONEY from his lies, and completely disassociate him from LifeLock. What is that old saying about "birds of a feather?"
On a more humorous note, the blog cited above also reported that another of LifeLock's marketing campaigns has gone awry. As anyone who has been to LifeLock's web page knows, Todd Davis post his Social Security number on the site because he is so CONFIDENT in LIFELOCK'S services. Well...you guessed it, according to the blog TODD DAVIS RECENTLY HAD HIS IDENTITY STOLEN BY AN IDENTITY THIEF USING DAVIS' SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER and a loan was taken out in his name. If the service CAN'T EVEN PREVENT LIFELOCK'S CEO FROM HAVING HIS IDENTITY STOLEN then Maynard may be the least of LifeLock's problems...
I don't know what company, that deals with credit fraud, would hire employees without even thinking about doing background checks! And I also know from what I have been told, a Lifelock employee was fired for no apparent reason and then when she voiced her opinion and raised some very good points, her sibling(also a Lifelock employee)was questioned repeatedly and was left no choice but to quit before they fired her! Can you say "Guilty By Association?" All I can say is "Law-Suit"... As I once pondered working for Lifelock, I definitely have some reservations about it now. If Lifelock, as a company is so insecure, that employees can't even voice an opinion, without the fear of being interrogated and "let go", then it makes you wonder exactly what they are so insecure about! Word of mouth is either what makes you business grow successfully or what can bring it down!
Great article! Im extremely glad to see that someone has finally taken the time to do their research on LifeLock and uncover the dishonest and decieving nature of not only their services, but their company officers. In response to some of the other comments...I'd like to add my knowledge to this board in support of the truth of this article. I happen to have had personal experience with both Maynard and Davis. This article is completely accurate but still leaves alot of the dishonesty and deceit uncovered that LifeLock. LifeLock didnt hire Maynard, he was the brainchild of the LifeLock...it was his next "big idea". Just like his past ideas...it preys upon the innocent and naive citizens charging them for a service that they could do extremely easily by themselves. Not only this...but joining LifeLock technically puts you at more risk. You have to grant them a Limited Power Of Attorney to act on your behalf in addition to providing all of your persoanl information! Considering that the majority of ID Theft occurs when personal information is sold or stolen by a company employee, thiis is a rediculous risk to take. ESPECIALLY considering the VERY shady background of the companies officers. LifeLock was originally ID Lock...but went nowhere until maynard broke away from his previous mentally insane partner to recruit Davis and a small investor to start LifeLock. Davis came from his small 1 employee sports marketing company where he basically wheeled and dealed sponsorships to motorsports league advertisers. he had NO security or financial background whatsoever. The company only succeeded in getting off the ground do to the association of Luke Helms, the former BofA vice chairman who has retired to Scottsdale. By utilizing his name in exchange for shares of the company...and armed with maynards story they hit the PR trail hard with their scam of a service. The fact is... its a scam of a business that can't do anything more than you can do yourself by taking a few minutes of your time every few months. FYI, lenders are NOT required to contact you if you have a fraud alert on your report! LifeLock claims to render your info useless, which is impossible. Extremely misleading and dishonest...just like its company officers
This is quite a story. I even read through all the comments. Consumers should know that there are are decent identity theft protection companies that provide substantial services and information for free, or for a nominal fee, and ask for minimal or no personal information. One such company is http://www.creditlock.com First, it tells you all of the Identity Theft protection tools you can have for free, provides you with links to them, and does not request any information to do so.
Second, for a token $4.68 per year, you can become a member, and have access to Credit Lock Down Pro, which provides you with time saving Credit Freeze kits and information. Other membership perks include Fraud Alerts Reminders, and Free Annual Credit Report Reminders
Third, if you decide to become a member, they only ask for your name, email and address. Your membership payment is processed by Paypal, and Paypal does not share such payment information with the website
Fourth, they have excellent Identity Theft News and Research, read by thousands, offering valuable tips about identity theft, and related social and economic issues.
I can go on and on... You can read about their philosophy at http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/070430...
They also currently do not advertise through mass media, as they rely on word-of-mouth to spread the word about them. That means they are counting on customer satisfaction.
If other Identity Theft Protection followed their philosophy, we wouldn't be hearing the kind of storry we are hearing here....
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I have contacted this company and no one can tell me how they plan on protecting me & my family from fraud. They won't even tell me how they stop junk mail! Apparently the "supervisor" said we can't give out that info. Why would I sign up with a company that cannot tell me what I am paying for? This issue with Mr. Maynard is horrible. 2 sides to every story, but he doesn't want to tell his? Oh yeah he did, he said he was a victim of IDENTITY THEFT. I don't believe him. I have done my homework, and looked him up and there was nothing good about that man. Just ask Grant Woods. I have advised my parents to cancel their accounts.
Buyer Beware! I've talked to people that work for lifelock - currently and previously - and not a whole lot of good things have been said about the company which is why I would not enroll. They have people working from their houses with access to everyone's information and I was told they say their contractors come "highly recommended" by other people, so they don't do background checks. Must be very highly recommended to feel it's acceptable to hire people - many not even living in AZ - after a quick phone interview and sending them some links to start inputing stuff from their home computer! I am sure the people working from home like it, but anyone wanting to join lifelock should gravely consider this. The sales people promote their security and how serious they are about keeping information private, but they also apparently lie about being employees if they work from home on a contract basis. Lifelock is trying to get around having to hire people and carry them as business expenses obviously, but they're not doing what's right and best for their customers. Even if this article were to suddenly spur lifelock into doing something about the obviously LACKING security systems they have in place, it remains that they've lied to people and misrepresented their company practice for all this time and that says a lot about their merit and ethics.
A story like this underscores why reputation is so important today when a couple of web developers can make a company look like a Fortune 100 mainstay. I am protected by RelyData (http://www.relydata.com) because they are the ONLY company recommended by the credit reporting industry. That's an endorsement you can trust.
A story like this underscores why reputation is so important today when a couple of web developers can make a company look like a Fortune 100 mainstay. I am protected by RelyData (http://www.relydata.com) because they are the ONLY company recommended by the credit reporting industry. That's an endorsement you can trust.
Identity theft is much more of a problem than credit/check related. Thievs have learned once they have a fake ID they can do anyhting you do. ID theft today is medical fraud, illegal immigrants using our SS#'s to work and not pay taxes and even commiting crimes such as a DWI in our names. Companies like this and the 3 credit bureuas offering words on a brochure with no intention of actually helping victims for your premium dollar. They find no help, maybe they wil get a kit in the mail but they still have to prove thier own innocense.I own an insurance agency in St. Louis and I have sought out the best coverage for my clients and that is through Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. My fiance became a victim and I had her protected with the plan and someone in Texas wrote 14 checks in 4 days for over $3800 on an account she only had $300 in. So someone was writing bad checks in her name, she called the company and they assigned her a licensed investigator and he restored her identity. It took him 10 months of work and she didn't have to pay anything more than her membership fee. HE did the work, she was able to go on with our life. Thieves are stealing data from companies for a reason, personal data is like gold. These same compamies are putting out letters saying "hey we lost your personal information but we have no evidence is was stolen for illegal purposes". lolThis is my first time to post a comment on a blog so I am not sure if my contact information is allowed but for $12.95 per month covering member and spouse (or significant other) I can get you protected. 314-423-0400 office # or http://www.prepaidlegal.com/hu... Any company that has your personal information may have a clerk with desperate needs that has access the company's data files and clearing up the mess is very time comsuming for the victim. Imagine trying to correct an issue with the IRS or even one of the credit bureuas, it can become a full time job. Thank you Ivan
That is why I have the Identity Theft Shield - with Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. They are 34 years in Business on the NYSE. Pre-Paid Legal teamed up with KROLL the #1 Risk Management Company in the World. Who would you rather have company that has been in business for over 30 years or a company THAT just got started a few years ago? AND NOW LOOK - for more information on how to get the right service - this is where I went- www.teamidt.comI feel sorry for all the people that have AGAIN been mislead.
Betty, I am not a paid blogger. Don't make things up. I can understand your point without making assumptions.
Gino, Cheryl, Lee, seriously, we appreciate that you are paid bloggers trying to do damage control, but let's keep it real. Read the article. Robert Maynard, Jr. is a crook. And, if Lifelock doesn't disassociate itself with him immediately, then they are all crooks. How could Todd Davis possibly be an honest businessman if he would tell Robert Maynard's story again AFTER he knew it was false? Do you want to give these people your personal information AND a power of attorney? The FTC and Attorney General need to shut them down.
The whole premise of Lifelock is a based on Robert Maynard, Jr. telling a story of identity theft THAT HE MADE UP to dupe investors and create fear in the public. Lifelock doesn't do anything that you can't do for yourself for free. All they do is try to make people afraid by telling their lies. Robert Maynard, Jr. never had his identity stolen. He was LEGITIMATELY ARRESTED for failing to pay a gambling debt. Apparently, however, Robert Maynard, Jr. is an identity thief. He STOLE HIS FATHER'S IDENTITY AND LEFT HIM HOLDING THE BAG. What kind of a man does that? It seems a little obvious to me, but why would you want your identity protected by a known identity thief.
Give me $120 a year and I'll be happy to call the credit bureaus every three months to put a fraud alert on your credit file. At least I've never stolen anyone's identity or been in jail...
If you got duped by LifeLock, here is what you can do to stop them:
1) Call your credit card company and have them reverse the membership charge for this scam. You will get your money back immediately and LifeLock will be forced to pay a $25 "charge back" fine.
2) Ask the Federal Trade Commission to seize your personal information from LifeLock's database and revoke the power of attorney Maynard got from you. http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/cmpland...
3) Call the radio personalities that endorsed this scam and tell them to stop LifeLock. They were duped too, but they need to help their listeners who bought in. This includes Senator Fred Thompson, Paul Harvey, Dr. Laura and Howard Stern.
4) Call the fraud department of your state insurance regulator and ask them to make sure the insurance company behind LifeLock (XL Capital) is going to honor the $1 million insurance guarantee in case you are harmed. Find your state regulator here http://www.consumeraction.gov/....
Comment #7!?
You worked out of your home!? Did they happen to send one of their network security professionals to your home to make certain your 'personal' computer was virus free? Did they install any extra security devices in your home? How was the information transmitted to you? Was it through un-encrypted email or faxed?
For the rest of you... How many of you out there have mistakenly faxed to the wrong number? How many of you use encrypted email? There are many scary aspects to outsourcing this kind of information.
Think about the questions I have asked... how much are YOU willing to be outsourced!?
Steve (comment #10),
You said "Talk about identity theft. They actually pretended to be me."
They do that because, as customers, WE gave them power of attorney. Read the terms and conditions on the web site (https://secure.lifelock.com/en... That's right, every LifeLock customer gives power of attorney to a criminal and con man. The more digging I do the more scary LifeLock looks.
I have personally used Lifelock and can testify from experience to several facts. First, they have overly promised more than they could possibly deliver. I was told that Lifelock would �lock� my daughter�s credit file. In turn, I would pay an annual fee of $120. This is a lie. She does not have a credit file and when I called to ask what I was getting for my money I was transferred to two people who could not explain. All I ultimately got was a letter from the three credit bureaus saying they did not have a file on my daughter and a form to mail to the social security office requesting a detail of taxes withheld for her SSN. How has she been protected? An absolute scam.
Moreover, on my part all they have done is call the credit bureaus and requested a fraud alert be added. Talk about identity theft. They actually pretended to be me. Anyone can do that for free and it only takes a minute or two. You don�t even have to call all three bureaus, just one and they refer it on. Beyond this, they did nothing.
Upon realizing I had been ripped off, I sent a letter to Lifelock asking that my subscription be canceled at the end of the one year term. But rather than cancel my subscription, they ignored my letter and automatically renewed me. Within a day I received a new $120 charge on my credit card. Appears the only time they are responsive is when it comes time to bill you. Ironically and eerily similar to the past billing issues Mr. Maynard had with a prior business.
Kudos to you Mr. Stern. An excellent piece of writing. Have to wonder if the two pro-Lifelock comments came from his paid bloggers.
I knew this company was a scam. Sure there may be measures to take to reduce your risk BUT there is NO WAY to truly prevent identity theft from happening.
The person(s) character running a company plays a BIG part in how much I trust a company. I am sure it will be only a matter of time before he sees the legal system again from the defendant position.
Thank you for the great work and effort you put into this story!
I knew this company was a scam. Sure there may be measures to take to reduce your risk BUT there is NO WAY to truly prevent identity theft from happening.
The person(s) character running a company plays a BIG part in how much I trust a company. I am sure it will be only a matter of time before he sees the legal system again from the defendant position.
Thank you for the great work and effort you put into this story!
I am a former employee of LifeLock and I can honestly say that even I didn't want to sign up with LifeLock's services and they offered it to us for free!!!! I was working as a contractor out of my home for them and they never did a background check on me, they interviewd me over the phone which took all but 5 minutes, and that was it! They have never even seen what I look like with the exception of my drivers license that I faxed over to them. But I had access to everybody's Social Security #'s, Credit Card #'s, home address, date of birth, everything!!!! I had everybody's personal and confidential information and not once did they do a background check on me. Alot of people at LifeLock has easy access to everyone's information. The office building may be or look like it's a highly secured company (I only know that from your article, I was never asked to come into the office) but as for the outside contractors there is no kind of security or guarantee that your information is safe with us. I also know for a fact that I am not the only contractor that they did not do any kind of background check on.
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