Known for its distinctive commercials featuring its CEO Todd Davis providing his Social Security number on the screen and challenging identity thieves to attempt to commit fraud in his name, LifeLock came to the market of identity theft protection in 2005. This risky advertising strategy helped LifeLock gain national recognition and expand membership at an exponential rate. However, having faced multiple legal and financial scandals, as well as continuous public criticism from consumer protection organizations and activists in the past years, people have started to question - whether is LifeLock worth the money in 2023.
How LifeLock Works
LifeLock only tracks your personal information and sends a notification to you in case of any suspicious activity that is indicative of identity theft. This entails tracking your name, address, date of birth, SSN, and many other identifiers, public records, the dark web, and credit bureaus among other sources. If something seems off like a credit check done in your name, you’ll receive the information through a phone call, text, or email.
Other services are offered by LifeLock and they include lost wallet protection, bank and credit card activity, payday loan alerts, and if any chance your wallet is lost or stolen, LifeLock will help cancel and replace the credit cards. In case you fall victim to identity theft while under LifeLock membership, they promise to pay up to $ 1 million to hire lawyers and experts to reinstate your identity and repair the money loss.
The Cost of LifeLock
The pricing for LifeLock begins from 14. 99 USD monthly, and it will cover a single person or several family members below the age of 18 years under the most basic plan. In addition to yourself, you can enroll your spouse or partner for 29. 99 us dollars per month. The family package covers all your family members including young persons above the age of 18 for $39. 99 monthly. Each plan is covered under a 60-day money-back guarantee if the customer is not fully satisfied with the product.
While some identity theft companies may offer a similar service for a lower monthly fee, it may not be the lowest that is offered by LifeLock. For instance, individual coverage in Zander is only 8. 50 per month, and in IdentityForce, 17. 95 per month. Nonetheless, LifeLock is said to be more proactive in this regard compared to its rivals in the market, tracking more of the consumer’s personal information across more sources.
Lawsuits and Controversy
While LifeLock grew rapidly thanks to splashy marketing, the company has faced lawsuits and scrutiny from legal authorities and consumer advocacy groups over the years:
- In 2010 the company was involved with the Federal Trade Commission as the company was found to have made fake claims that identity theft can be prevented with the help of services offered by the company.
- The company made another 100 million payment in 2015, regarding a class action suit for continuing to mislead consumers after the FTC crackdown that it can prevent all identity thefts.
- Several state attorneys general have filed legal action against LifeLock for offering credit repair schemes in their states without state licenses.
- In 2015, it was revealed that although LifeLock’s CEO Todd Davis has been using his social security number in the ads since 2006, his identity has been stolen 13 times, while the company failed to protect him from those gaps not covered by their services.
Critics have noted that while LifeLock has toned down some sensational messages in its advertisements and appended various disclaimers indicating the limitations of its services, they still contend that the company’s business model is based on misrepresenting the threat of ID theft and the capabilities of avoiding it.
Why would LifeLock be beneficial for you in the year 2023?
It can only be for you to determine whether it is worth spending up to $480 per year for the personal identity protection services provided by LifeLock.
Consider these pros and cons when making your judgment:
Pros:
- LifeLock has been assisting consumers against identity theft and has served more than 11 million consumers since its inception in 2005. Its million-dollar service guarantee could give great assurance in case the worst comes to worst.
- LifeLock provides perhaps the most exhaustive identity theft protection services to your information scanning more of it than many of their rivals.
- Credit monitoring services may allow for alerts for suspicious credit inquiries, loans taken out fraudulently in your name, data breaches, and other identity threats which may allow for early warning of the problem.
Cons:
- LifeLock, with its monthly price range between $14. 99 and $39. 99, is at the higher end of the price scale for identity theft protection. You can get protection levels as high as this elsewhere for cheaper rates.
- While LifeLock claims to shield you from identity theft and fraud, there is still no way to block all such crimes. The criminals do not stop their creativity to extend new usages of consumer data that cannot be easily detected. Do not count on any one service as the definitive means of keeping the population informed.
- Some important points to note include whether or not LifeLock does have better monitoring capabilities compared to other providers of identity protection for which they charge more money each month, therefore customers should ensure they compare different rates of identity protection services offered by different companies.
Unfortunately, the risk of having your identity stolen or being a victim of an online scam will not disappear. In conclusion, it is important to guard oneself tenaciously in several aspects ranging from computing exercises to when checking through your accounts and credit reports whether you hire a third-party firm to do so or not. For instance, companies like LifeLock can offer a degree of protection and comfort to an extent depending on what is offered and consider whether the money paid will bring that much value.
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