Namesafe are suing Lifelock for what it claims to be a blatent case of corporate identity theft.

“We have discovered that LifeLock has been sponsoring advertisements on most major search engines including Google, Yahoo, Lycos, MSN, Dogpile, and AOL, that deceptively led consumers to Lifelock.com. Specifically, when you searched ‘Namesafe.com’ in any major search engine, you found an advertisement that said ‘Namesafe.com’ but when you clicked on it, you were not directed to the official site for NAMESAFE, but rather to our competitor, LifeLock.com” said NAMESAFE founder and CEO David Ridings. “It is one of the most bizarre attempts to steal a company brand and its costumers that I have personally seen. Ironically enough, we consider it a form of ‘corporate identity theft’ from a company that is in the business of protecting identities, and we really could not tolerate it. Having said that, we expect it will stop today.”

The suit was filed June 25, 2008 and seeks statutory damages plus legal costs , as well as injunctive relief for the wrongful use of their Namesafe brand, and the deceptive/misleading advertising practices.

Marks & Klein, LLP have filed yet another class action lawsuit against Lifelock and they have released further details about the cases.

An example is the case of  25-year-old Nathaniel Faulhaber of Parsonsburg, Md., who began paying LifeLock $10 a month for their services back in May 2007 only to later find out that an identity thief had somehow managed to obtain a total of five credit cards in his name — all while he was supposedly under the protection of LifeLock.

“Not only did the primary service not work, but he also found LifeLock’s guarantee to rectify any defect in that service to be useless,” Said one of the lawyers. “LifeLock and the third party entities it employs have provided so little meaningful assistance to Faulhaber that, ironically, he now finds himself in the same situation he would have been in had he never paid LifeLock a dime.”

To add flames to the Lifelock com scam fire, the complaint also says the company appears to have been founded on a deception. For example, Davis and initial LifeLock co-founder Robert Maynard have repeatedly claimed that Maynard came up with the idea for LifeLock while serving 7 days in jail for a crime committed by someone who had stolen Maynard’s identity but an in depth investigation has revealed that Maynard was actually sat in jail after being arrested for not settling a $16K marker he had ran up at a Las Vegas casino.

If you signed up with Lifelock and are unhappy with their service or guarantee or just want further info on the class action you can contact David Paris at Marks & Klein, (732)-747-7100.

The billboard and newspaper ads showing the CEO of Lifelock Todd Davis proudly revealing his social security number to America as a show of trust in the service his company offers has been revealed as the great Lifelock Com scam.

As a piece of marketing it was pure genius and has worked better than Todd Davis could have dared to dream when the idea for the ad was first put to him. Based on that ad campaign over 1 million Americans now gladly pay Lifelock $10 a month to protect their own identity the way it protects Todd Davis’s but there’s one small problem……… 

The Great Lifelock Com Scam

A lawyer who represents several disgruntled Lifelock consumers has been doing a little digging and discovered at least 20 cases of drivers licenses being issued to people using Todd Davis’s social security number as well as some guy in Texas who was able to take out a $500 payday loan in his name thanks to the infamous SSN.

Attorney David Paris who first did the background check on Todd Davis said:

“The company [ Lifelock Com] is lining its coffers with somewhere in the arena of $100 million a year by selling a level of identity theft protection that it simply cannot provide.”

So far 5 lawsuits have been filed in what is becoming known as “The great Lifelock com scam” among security experts and class action status is being sought in all cases.

It’s not just Lifelock customers and class action lawyers who aren’t happy with the Lifelock com advertising either, state agencies in both New York and Montana are investigating the Lifelock advertising campaign.

What About That Famous $1 Million Guarantee?

LifeLock is also being sued in Arizona over its $1 million service guarantee, which the plaintiffs say is misleading because it only covers you if there is a defect in LifeLock’s service.

This means that should a bank or payday loan company not check with a credit bereau or if they do but choose to ignore the fraud alert (this often happens as it slows down the process as was the case with Davis’s bogus payday loan) that Lifelock placed on your file, Lifelock are not responsible because it’s not their fault.

Ignoring the gaping hole in the guarantee for a minute it should be pretty obvious to most that while calling it the great Lifelock com scam may be a little harsh, there are some serious problems with their service and the way they are promoting it.

Placing a fraud alert against your name and removing you from mail lists is NOT identity theft protection and by the way, both can be done for free with a phone call. A fraud alert will not protect you when someone is arrested and gives your name and SSN. It won’t help you if someone uses your SSN and good name to  apply for a job. It won’t help you when someone uses your name to get medical services and it won’t help you if the loan company choose to ignore it!

If you are serious about protecting your identity you should look to take a proactive approach. By following a few simple steps anyone can quite easily protect themselves without paying Lifelock or anyone else $120 a year.

Yet more trouble for Lifelock as several consumers filed lawsuits against the Tempe based identity theft protection company.

Attorneys want class-action status for lawsuits which say the Lifelock advertising is misleading and even lies about the service Lifelock offers.

Gerald Marks, an attorney in Red Bank, N.J., who is representing the plaintiffs said:

“The advertising is deceptive because it makes you think you are buying an insurance policy, you think that you’re totally protected. That is not the case.”

Not suprisingly, the CEO of Lifelock , Todd Davis (pictured above) claims the lawsuits are unfounded and the company stand by their advertising where he gives out his Social Security number on the grounds that he is protected by Lifelock so his details are of no use to anyone.

Anyone that is apart from the guy who watched the advert and then used that social security number to take out a payday loan in the name of Todd Davis.

The lawsuits are now starting to stack up for Lifelock but as they approach their 1 millionth sign up I’m guessing they can afford the odd court case.

For a fee of around $10 a month for presumably the rest of your life, Lifelock remove the customers name from mail lists and enroll them in the fraud alert system offered free by the 3 credit bureaus. Experian (one of the 3 bureaus) is suing Lifelock because it claims Lifelock is abusing the fraud alert system and wants the practice stopped. This court case is potentially huge for Lifelock as their entire business model is based around the fraud alert.

Lifelock are also being sued by an Arizona customer over their guarantee which its claimed is misleading. The small print says Lifelock will pay for any losses resulting from an identity theft up to the amount of $1 million, it is not a $1 million guarantee.

With some common sense (such as NOT showing your social security number on TV) and a couple of phone calls you can do everything that Lifelock does without the $120 a year price tag and if its their guarantee that’s tempting you, simply take out some insurance, its cheaper!