The Federal Trade Commission and a consortium of state attorneys general have reached a $12 million agreement with an identity theft protection service provider to settle charges that the company used false claims in its advertising. The FTC also charged that its service provided no protection against certain forms of identity theft, including medical identity theft.
LifeLock made promotional claims such as the following: “By now you've heard about individuals whose identities have been stolen by identity thieves … LifeLock protects against this ever happening to you. Guaranteed.”
The forms of protection LifeLock employed as part of its service, placing fraud alerts on customers' credit files “protected only against certain forms of identity theft and gave them no protection against the misuse of existing accounts, the most common type of identity theft,” the FTC release said, adding, “It also allegedly provided no protection against medical identity theft or employment identity theft, in which thieves use personal information to get medical care or apply for jobs. You can place your own fraud alerts on your credit files, but it is a pain to get credit, etc.