Experian have been trying to get the practice stopped for some time and it’s hard to blame them when Lifelock charge it’s customers $10 a month and then simply pass on the work to Experian and demand they do the work for free.

Maybe if Lifelock had offered some kind of recompence to Experian they could have smoothed the way a little but that doesn’t seem to be Lifelock’s style.

While their competitors announced they would be dropping the practice of placing fraud alerts and shifting their business models towards credit monitoring, Lifelock CEO Todd Davis announced it would be ‘business as usual’ for them.

By this I imagine he means they will be milking the business for as much as they can for as long as they can and with current profits coming into the Lifelock office at over $10 million a month, his attitude should be no surprise.

Taking on new clients though when they know that they are unlikely to fulfill the service offered is brash at mimimum but again that should be no surprise to anyone following the exploits of Lifelock.

They are already being sued over their advertising claims. Todd davis was made aware that there were some 20 illegal drivers licenses in circulation in his name and obtained using his social security number.

The same social security number he continued to show the public in his attempts to convince them no one could use it because it was being protected by the Lifelock service.

Source: Lifelock Service Ruled Illegal

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!