Todd Davis publishes his Social Security number to prove a point: It's far easier and less costly to be pro-active to prevent identity theft than it is to clean up the mess once it's occurred.
(ARA) - Todd Davis wants you to know his Social Security number. In fact, here it is: 457-55-5462.
Widely publishing a piece of vital identifying information that many other Americans take extreme measures to protect may seem like total insanity. But there's a method to Davis' madness. As chief executive officer of LifeLock, the nation's first online pro-active identity theft protection service, Davis puts his identity on the line to demonstrate the power of pro-active protection.
"Most people don't think about identity theft until they're turned down for credit because of a blemish on their credit history - a blemish they are not responsible for," says Davis. "It's far easier and less costly to be pro-active to prevent identity theft than it is to clean up the mess once it's occurred."
Consumers, it seems, are flocking to Davis' message. Since its launch just 18 months ago, LifeLock has more than 1,000 new clients every month. It's not hard to understand why, either. In an environment where Americans are constantly barraged with fear-inspiring information, the statistics about identity theft's growth are particularly frightening. Standard credit monitoring and fraud alerts routinely fail to prevent identity theft. And once one becomes a victim, it will take an average of 177 hours over two years to clean up the damage, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
LifeLock pledges to stop anyone from using your personal information, and to help clients clean up the mess (to the tune of $1 million) if they fail to make good on that pledge. What's more, while credit monitoring services - and the credit bureaus themselves - don't maintain records of minors, LifeLock promises to help parents protect their children's information as well.
The company's ability to help the youngest victims of identity theft earned the loyalty of Lisa Terwillegar, a single mother of two in North Carolina. When a family member stole the identity of her 8-year-old son to open a satellite TV account in a state across the country, Terwillegar found the credit bureaus and the satellite company unable or unwilling to help her. "No one can truly understand the cost, stress and aggravation of this crime until it happens to them," she says. "It's even worse trying to clear a child's credit."
LifeLock automates much of the protection process. The service places and automatically renews fraud alerts on all three credit bureaus plus a lesser-known bureau called ChexSystems. "The fraud alert means you should get a phone call every time someone tries to establish new credit using your information or attempts to change an address," Davis says.
Members receive annual credit reports from all three major bureaus, as well as quarterly updates when their fraud alerts are reset. LifeLock also stops pre-approved credit offers and reduces the amount of junk mail members receive. Further, says Davis, "If your personal information is ever stolen and used while you are our client, we will fix the problem, repair your credit and replace very dime you lost from the theft up to $1 million."
LifeLock costs just $10 a month, or $110 annually. Parents can protect their children for just $10 a year when they open an account for themselves. To learn more, go to www.lifelock.com. For a limited time, anyone using the promotional code AMBERALERT can receive a 10 percent discount, enroll children under 15 years old for free and help increase the number of people on Amber Alert Network, designed to assist in finding missing children.
"We insure everything we own, from our house to our health," Terwillegar says. "There is no parent that can say their children's financial future isn't worth $10 a year."
Copyright © 2006, ARA Content
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