Turd Ferguson
DA-DA Da Da Da Bah Da Da DADADA
If you watch Fox News or listen to the radio, you've heard these ads before. Basically, Todd Davis, who is CEO of this company, Lifelock, publicizes his Identity Theft Protection (in a very smug way) where it's supposedly so strong that he airs his Social Security Number to the world.
The article is pretty lengthy, but it goes in-depth on how he's had his identity stolen, how much the identity thieves have stolen, and how ineffective the service he promotes (for $10/month!) really is.
I feel bad for victims of Identity Theft. However, I don't feel bad for this guy at all. I really don't know what he was expecting when he decided publicizing his SSN was a good idea.
How did this make it past the editor?
The article is pretty lengthy, but it goes in-depth on how he's had his identity stolen, how much the identity thieves have stolen, and how ineffective the service he promotes (for $10/month!) really is.
I feel bad for victims of Identity Theft. However, I don't feel bad for this guy at all. I really don't know what he was expecting when he decided publicizing his SSN was a good idea.
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2010-05-13/news/cracking-life-lock-even-after-a-12-million-penalty-for-deceptive-advertising-the-tempe-company-can-t-be-honest-about-its-identity-theft-protection-service/1
In October 2007, a few months after news broke that Davis had become a victim, someone in Albany, Georgia, opened an AT&T wireless account using Davis' personal info, a Chandler police report shows.
As Todd Davis tried to deflect the bad press in the wake of the Texas crime, the Albany resident was racking up hours on a cell phone in Davis' name.
By the time AT&T cut off the person, he or she had amassed a large, unpaid bill. The amount with which AT&T was stuck wasn't disclosed, but in the fall of 2008, the phone company authorized a collection agency to try to recover a $2,390 debt.
That's when LifeLock and Davis finally learned of the theft.
A LifeLock employee reported the identity crime to Chandler police on November 21, 2008, while Todd Davis was traveling out of state.
After a short time on the case, Chandler forwarded it to police in the Georgia city, which still is still investigating. Phyllis Banks, a spokeswoman for the Albany agency, tells New Times that investigators went to the address listed on the bill and interviewed a local woman, but no arrests had been made.
When Albany investigators phoned Davis about the crime last year, "they were very familiar with him" and how he'd publicized his Social Security number, she says.
"It's unfortunate he chose to conduct business in that way," Banks says. "It's not fair to [AT&T] because they're losing a pretty substantial amount of money."
Yet AT&T wasn't the only company getting screwed by LifeLock's advertising scheme — because plenty more criminals have made use of Davis' data.
Records show that LifeLock representative Tamika Jones called the Chandler PD again in February 2009 to report a slew of fraudulent accounts opened in Davis' name.
As with the AT&T account, the amounts owed on the fraudulent accounts were not revealed in the police report — only the amounts sought by various companies and collection agencies, listed below. Because these companies often forgive or waive a percentage of the bills of debtors, the dollar amount of the losses could easily be higher.
More cell-phone service was fraudulently charged to Davis: Someone opened a Verizon account in New York, leaving behind unpaid bills of at least $186.
An account at Centerpoint Energy, a Texas utility, was opened. At least $122 went unpaid.
Fake Davises owe $573 to Credit One Bank and $312 to Swiss Colony, a gift-basket company.
Two other accounts, one for USA Savings Bank and a Gap credit card, were opened successfully in Davis' name but showed zero balances as of early 2009.
There were also multiple dings by collection agencies: Bay Area Credit, $265; two for Associated Credit Services, $207 and $213; and two for Enhanced Recovery Corporation, $250 and $381. Finally, there was a NCO/Fin 22 collection-agency account for $2,390, which could be the AT&T bill (considering the identical amount).
Full details as to what happened with these accounts could not be obtained from Davis. But it's clear that criminals in different locales have used Davis' ID to obtain a host of loans, goods, and services.
Davis' personal ID hasn't been merely abused since he began advertising his SSN — it's been gang-raped.
Counting the Texas incident, he's been a victim at least 13 times since 2007.
In October 2007, a few months after news broke that Davis had become a victim, someone in Albany, Georgia, opened an AT&T wireless account using Davis' personal info, a Chandler police report shows.
As Todd Davis tried to deflect the bad press in the wake of the Texas crime, the Albany resident was racking up hours on a cell phone in Davis' name.
By the time AT&T cut off the person, he or she had amassed a large, unpaid bill. The amount with which AT&T was stuck wasn't disclosed, but in the fall of 2008, the phone company authorized a collection agency to try to recover a $2,390 debt.
That's when LifeLock and Davis finally learned of the theft.
A LifeLock employee reported the identity crime to Chandler police on November 21, 2008, while Todd Davis was traveling out of state.
After a short time on the case, Chandler forwarded it to police in the Georgia city, which still is still investigating. Phyllis Banks, a spokeswoman for the Albany agency, tells New Times that investigators went to the address listed on the bill and interviewed a local woman, but no arrests had been made.
When Albany investigators phoned Davis about the crime last year, "they were very familiar with him" and how he'd publicized his Social Security number, she says.
"It's unfortunate he chose to conduct business in that way," Banks says. "It's not fair to [AT&T] because they're losing a pretty substantial amount of money."
Yet AT&T wasn't the only company getting screwed by LifeLock's advertising scheme — because plenty more criminals have made use of Davis' data.
Records show that LifeLock representative Tamika Jones called the Chandler PD again in February 2009 to report a slew of fraudulent accounts opened in Davis' name.
As with the AT&T account, the amounts owed on the fraudulent accounts were not revealed in the police report — only the amounts sought by various companies and collection agencies, listed below. Because these companies often forgive or waive a percentage of the bills of debtors, the dollar amount of the losses could easily be higher.
More cell-phone service was fraudulently charged to Davis: Someone opened a Verizon account in New York, leaving behind unpaid bills of at least $186.
An account at Centerpoint Energy, a Texas utility, was opened. At least $122 went unpaid.
Fake Davises owe $573 to Credit One Bank and $312 to Swiss Colony, a gift-basket company.
Two other accounts, one for USA Savings Bank and a Gap credit card, were opened successfully in Davis' name but showed zero balances as of early 2009.
There were also multiple dings by collection agencies: Bay Area Credit, $265; two for Associated Credit Services, $207 and $213; and two for Enhanced Recovery Corporation, $250 and $381. Finally, there was a NCO/Fin 22 collection-agency account for $2,390, which could be the AT&T bill (considering the identical amount).
Full details as to what happened with these accounts could not be obtained from Davis. But it's clear that criminals in different locales have used Davis' ID to obtain a host of loans, goods, and services.
Davis' personal ID hasn't been merely abused since he began advertising his SSN — it's been gang-raped.
Counting the Texas incident, he's been a victim at least 13 times since 2007.
How did this make it past the editor?
