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| | The Business Finance,Taxes and Business Operations Network is not currently active and cannot accept new posts | | Lifelock in trouble....just info for those who are utilizing this service. | Views: 1225 | | Mar 31, 2008 3:18 am | | Lifelock in trouble....just info for those who are utilizing this service. | # | 
Rainmakerz Unique Employee Benefits Programs | | Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro: Heavily Promoted Identity-Theft Protection Company, LifeLock, Sued for Misleading Consumers
Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP Logo. (PRNewsFoto/Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP)
SEATTLE, WA UNITED STATES
Company CEO, who flaunts social security number, victim of ID theft
PHOENIX, March 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Today an Arizona consumer filed a
proposed class-action lawsuit against LifeLock, a heavily promoted company
that claims to protect consumers against identity theft. The lawsuit
alleges that the three-year-old company defrauds customers by offering
services it cannot legally perform, and by touting a $1 million guarantee
that the suit alleges is wildly misleading.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080317/AQM144LOGO )
Filed in United States District Court for the District of Arizona, the
suit seeks to recover money consumers paid to LifeLock.
LifeLock, headquartered in Tempe, Arizona, uses aggressive advertising
to entice consumers to sign up for its $10-a-month service which it
describes as "proactive identity theft protection, offer[ing] a proven
solution that prevents your identity from being stolen before it happens."
Its advertisements prominently feature a supposed $1 million guarantee.
In one commercial, Todd Davis, a founder and CEO of LifeLock, announces to
a crowd of individuals, "If anything happens for any reason while you're a
client of LifeLock, we will cover all losses and all expenses up to one
million dollars." On its Web site, LifeLock makes similar statements,
claiming that it will "do whatever it takes" to restore a member's good
name.
According to the complaint, the fine print says otherwise: LifeLock
will not pay any losses directly to the consumer and does not cover
consequential or incidental damages to identity theft. The guarantee is
limited to fixing failures or defects in the LifeLock services and paying
other professionals to attempt to restore losses.
"The fine print in this $1 million guarantee is so limiting, we think
it is almost worthless," said Rob Carey, partner in the law firm Hagens
Berman Sobol Shapiro, who is representing consumers. "LifeLock buries the
truth beneath a pile of inconsistencies and disclaimers so deep that we
believe the intent is to mislead consumers so they don't make claims."
LifeLock also misleads consumers about the protections it can provide,
according to the complaint. LifeLock's advertising campaign features Davis
displaying his social security number, saying, "I'm here to prove just how
safe your identity can be with LifeLock - that's my real social security
number." Davis claims he can give out his personal information because of
his complete confidence in his company's protection.
"What LifeLock doesn't tell you is that in 2006, Davis was a victim of
identity theft when a criminal used his social security number to
fraudulently obtain a $500 payday loan," said Carey.
According to the suit, LifeLock's "proven solution" consists of
illegally placing and renewing fraud alerts under consumers' names with
credit bureaus. Under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, however,
corporations such as LifeLock are not allowed to place fraud alerts on a
consumers' behalf - in fact, according to the complaint, the law was
written so as to specifically bar credit-repair companies from improperly
using fraud alerts.
Moreover, the lawsuit alleges, LifeLock overstates the protection
consumers get from fraud alerts.
According to Carey, a fraud alert tells creditors that the consumer
does not authorize new credit accounts, new credit cards or credit-limit
increases, but, contrary to LifeLock's claims, a fraud alert does not
require a creditor to contact the consumer before extending credit,
according to the complaint.
They also do not protect against many types of identity theft - as the
theft of Davis' identity proves, notes Carey.
"Identity theft is a rampant problem in the United States, and
companies that overstate what their services can or will do are as much a
part of the problem as the thieves," said Leonard Aragon, another attorney
representing the consumers.
According to the complaint, one of LifeLock's founders, Robert Maynard,
has been investigated and prosecuted by the Federal Trade Commission and
the State of Arizona for fraud in connection with his previous "credit
repair" enterprise.
As a result of that investigation, Maynard was banned for life by the
FTC from participating in or promoting any credit repair business. When
news accounts surfaced recently about Maynard's past, including allegations
that he stole his father's identity, Maynard resigned from the company but
continued to work as a consultant, according to the complaint.
The suit's named plaintiff, Byrl Lane, bought LifeLock in October 2007,
after his car was stolen, and was falsely informed that creditors would
have to contact him and that he would be protected against any theft
involving his personal data. He was not informed that LifeLock is not
authorized to secure fraud alerts on his behalf nor of the stringent limits
of the $1 million guarantee.
If approved by the court as a class action, Lane would represent other
similarly situated LifeLock customers.
The suit claims LifeLock violated Arizona's Consumer Fraud Act and the
Arizona Insurance Code, and seeks to have all members' fees refunded due to
the illegality of the contract and LifeLock's misrepresentations about its
service.
About Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro
Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro is based in Seattle with offices in
Chicago, Cambridge, Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Francisco. Since 1993, it
has developed a nationally recognized practice in class-action and complex
litigation. Among recent successes, HBSS has negotiated a $300 million
settlement in the DRAM memory antitrust litigation, one of the largest
anti- trust settlements in history; a $340 million recovery on behalf of
Enron employees; a $150 million settlement involving charges of illegally
inflated charges for the drug Lupron, and served as co-counsel on the
Visa/Mastercard litigation which resulted in a $3 billion settlement, the
largest anti-trust settlement to date. HBSS served as counsel in a $850
million Washington Public Power Supply settlement and represented
Washington and 12 other states against the tobacco industry that resulted
in the largest settlement in history. For a complete listing of HBSS cases,
visit http://www.hbsslaw.com .
CONTACTS:
Rob Carey (602) 840-5900
Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro
Rob@hbsslaw.com
Mark Firmani (206) 443-9357
Firmani + Associates Inc.
Mark@firmani.com
SOURCE Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro
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Private Reply to Rainmakerz Unique Employee Benefits Programs | | Apr 03, 2008 4:02 am | | re: Lifelock in trouble....just info for those who are utilizing this service. | # | 
CedReynolds.com - The Entrepreneurial Pastor | | Sorry to hear this news re: Lifelock. Identity Theft is certainly something that can't be stopped.
What can be done is:
1.) Review all 5 forms of identity (past)
2.) Monitor credit daily (present)
3.) Restore credit if it's stolen (future)
These are the claims made by a nationally recognized company makes.
Ced - Host of The Entrepreneurial Pastor's Talkcast
http://greatjoboption.com/CedReynolds
http://prayer-network.ryze.com/
http://www.cedreynolds.comPrivate Reply to CedReynolds.com - The Entrepreneurial Pastor | | |
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