Court: Lifelock Using 'Unfair Business Practice' -The Red Tape Chronicles
Back in April 2008, APRPEH posted: Lifelock Getting Picked. At that time, Lifelock and its over-exposed CEO Todd Davis was at the beginning of a slew of legal issues. Well finally, the Experian case may have hammered the first nail into the coffin of Lifelock. According to the above story, Lifelock's procedure of proactively placing fraud alerts is an "unfair business practice". U.S. District Judge Andrew Guilford of the Central District of California ruled that
"Experian clearly incurs costs each time it must process a fraud alert made by LifeLock. These costs include the costs of allocating Experian’s electronic resources and employee time, plus the maintenance costs of Experian’s toll-free telephone number and Web page used to accept fraud alert requests," he said. "Experian also incurs postage and printing costs in mailing disclosure letters to each consumer on whose behalf a fraud alert is requested."
As was pointed out in the article, Lifelock will continue to place 90 day security alerts either with Trans Union or Equifax which pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, will also be automatically activated with Experian too. The big question is whether or not Trans Union and/or Equifax will press the issue and request Lifelock to stop automatically placing and renewing security alerts as well. Or, will either Trans Union or Equifax cut a deal with Lifelock? If I were forced to guess on this, I would expect both Equifax and Trans Union (which has worked with Lifelock in the past) to cut a deal provided there is adequate financial reason for the bureaus to do so. Lifelock claims that if they are prevented from performing their primary offering of automatically renewing security alerts they will continue to provide other services.
Lifelock's other services, besides the security alert include an internet privacy scan service and "Wallet Lock" which amounts to someone asking you, with apologies to Capital One, "Whats in your Wallet?" in the event you lose it and "help you contact each credit card, bank or document issuing company, cancel your affected accounts and complete the paperwork and steps necessary to replace your lost documents, including your credit/debit cards, driver's license, social security card, insurance cards, checkbook - even travelers checks...". Plenty of other companies offer internet scans and I suppose if you are not near a computer it is helpful to have someone look up telephone numbers and possibly conference call you in to the customer service of your credit card issuer.
Despite Lifelock's tremendous advertising effort, the product has always been lacking substance. As a result of this, Lifelock entered the business world with a guarantee and promise which they could never keep. While the product expectations, after much criticism were finally revised to more realistic levels, the question of why purchasing the coverage remained. The question now is still pressing. While the bureaus may force Lifelock from performing automatic security alert renewals, the bureaus would most certainly fail in an attempt to prevent consumers from doing the same proactively. Why continue to pay $10 a month for internet scanning and "Wallet lock"?
What is true is that other companies in the business of providing security services to consumers, those who provide honest and useful services to consumers, will read this story with a smirk. Lifelock's history of high-flying promises and service guarantee, both of which have been, in my opinion a stain on the industry coupled with the high profile advertising, - are not enviable but embarrassing. The most important question is what will all of our favorite radio talk shows do if Lifelock stops its radio advertising campaign?
Child ID Theft: Victim Tells His Story, Hoping to Help Others Avoid Woes
By Roxana Orellana
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 10/16/2007 06:47:44 AM MDT
Zach Friesen, a 21-year-old college student from... (Francisco Kjolseth/The Salt Lake Tribune )«1» Zach Friesen first learned he owed money for a $40,000 houseboat when he turned 17 and applied for a job and a school loan.
Certainly he had never bought a houseboat.
Someone had stolen his identity when he was 7 and used it to get a loan. He's off the hook for the debt, but his credit remains damaged.
"I thought 'There's got to be something I can do as a victim to help people,'" he said.
Now 21 and a senior at the University of Colorado, Friesen has spent the past three years working for Qwest Communications' Incredible Internet Program talking to teens, parents, legislators and anyone else who will listen about teen identity theft.
On Monday he stopped at Skyline High School in Millcreek to caution students about the dangers of sharing too much information.
"High school students specifically are the target of identity theft," Friesen said. "They have clean lines of credit, so thieves know how much they are going to get when they target a child."
In addition, teens too often are willing to give out their information and don't check records such as credit reports that may turn up fraudulent activity.
In his case, Friesen said the thief had 10 years to get away with the crime and to this day, no one knows who stole his identity. When Friesen applied for his loan, the bank informed him of the debt and what the money had been used for.
He said teens and their parents can start by checking credit reports. Friesen said he is working with companies to try to get the expense of credit reports reduced for teens and for parents with multiple children.
Qwest started the Incredible Internet Program to offer families an online resource for smarter and safer Internet surfing, spokeswoman Katie Lessman said. The program seeks to educate teens before they learn the hard way that they're vulnerable to identity theft.
The company hired Friesen because he had a personal experience with identity theft and can relate what happened to him and other teens.
"It really opens some people's mind about identity theft," Robert Wilcox, a senior, said of Friesen's warning. "It's helpful. Most of the time we don't know what we're putting on the Internet."
Friesen said teens typically react with shock to his presentation. "I really want students to walk away with an understanding of what identity theft is and what to do in the event that it happens," Friesen said.
Protect your identity
Teens are particularly vulnerable to identity theft because they too often provide personal information. Here are some tips for protecting against theft and fraud:
* Never provide personal information to strangers. Do not post your photo online or post a public profile with data such as age, gender, hobbies or interests.
* Be sure you know who is receiving the instant messages you send.
* If something inappropriate happens online, report it immediately to www.cybertipline.com.
* Always be alert to Internet scams.
* To protect yourself and your computer, use software for spyware, spam and viruses.
* Parents should know their children's passwords and screen names. They also should learn Internet lingo such as POS: parent over shoulder.
Source: www.Incredibleinternet.com
Zach's message is very true. People, teens in this case, with clear credit reports are particularly vulnerable to fraud. Legally, anyone under 18 years of age cannot receive credit unless an adult co-signs the application. Why? Because minors are not legal signatories to contracts. A minor cannot be held liable in contract law and must be backed by someone who can be. The credit bureaus do not intentionally have files for minors as a result.
Social Security Numbers not associated with a consumer credit file leave the holder of that number vulnerable to fraud when a perpetrator fakes a name and date of birth to apply to credit thereby associating the wrong person with the SSN with the credit bureaus. This starts a trail of credit fraud perpetrated against an unknowing victim and which ends in a devastated credit standing.
Unfortunately, minors are most often victimized by parents or other family members. This is indeed tragic. In order to correct most credit reporting problems or to dispute fraudulent accounts with creditors, a police report may be required. The minor, upon reaching legal age and discovering the fraud must make a choice between starting life as an adult with bad credit or filing a police report incriminating his/her parents. That is, of course if the source of the fraud is known.
While advocating consumer credit education is a popular approach to reducing the likelihood of identity theft, educating minors means educating parents first. However, parent predators only become better predators with increased credit knowledge.
For teens, while credit education is important, privacy education is more important. Teens need to learn self-defense in general and spend a specific amount of time learning to be identity shrewd. Social websites have attracted a bit of attention as of late being an avenue to uncover information about a consumer for criminal purposes. Identity shrewdness training should take into account not only Internet behavior but document retaining and usage training. Teens do not to share with friends their SSNs, have easy access to original documentation (SS Cards, certified birth certificates, forms displaying their PII, etc.), or need more than a name and id number issued by their school.
Teenage computer users often have access to an adult's credit card number for internet activities. One has to wonder how many credit card accounts are made subject to fraud as a result. Teens and adults who routinely buy or order goods or services online should have a separate credit card (not a debit card) which is used only online. Using multiple credit cards online delays discovery of fraud and complicates the dispute unnecessarily.
More on identity theft at a later date.
Good reference
Spear Phishing: A Targeted Attack
Posted August 13th at 12:01 pm | Tags: Catherine Forsythe, data breach, identity theft, phishing, security, spoofing |
from Flying Hamster
One of the common, well known attempts at identity theft is phishing. You may received email asking you to do things like verify your PayPal account or your eBay account. The criminals are casting a wide ‘net’ with broadcast spam to see who will respond. Playing the numbers game, if enough spam is sent out, someone will make the error and carelessly give up their personal information.
Spear phishing is not broad spectrum spamming. It is very specific and targeted. For example, if you received an email from someone from your tech support services asking to confirm your security code, would you do it? The email is addressed directly to you and has your name in the text of the note. A glance at the email address shows that it is a company email. If you send back your security code or password, you may have been ‘phished’ - specifically, you have been ’spear phished’. You were targeted.
Email addresses can be spoofed. And the mention of your name in the text is just social engineering. It is to manipulate you into feeling secure and giving up the information. Obviously, in business, the senior management has access to the sensitive data. One breach there could mean a security problem involving hundreds, perhaps thousands, of files containing information for a staggering number of identity thefts.
The spear phishing is not limited to businesses. It can happen to anyone. An example is the recurring jury duty scam. In this ploy someone may call or write and tells you that you have been negligent in performing your jury duties. You may reply that you did not receive any notification. The hacker then asks you for your social security number to confirm that the documents are indeed yours. And you can guess the rest… it’s spear phishing on a smaller scale.
Obviously, the precaution is to check before giving out any sensitive information. Check thoroughly and then check again. And even then, you may want to say ‘no’…
Catherine Forsythe
Just because it looks and sounds real doesn't mean that it is. If you are uncertain as to the truthfulness of an email contact or a mix of email and telephone contacts, do your own research. Do an internet search for the organization or entity and follow up based upon the contact information that you discover. Check out Rip Off Report. This is a great resource which helps unsuspecting consumers make decisions about suspicious emails or offers.
Another good resource is Fraud Watch International.
Above all, use good judgement. If need be, please respond to this blog on this post and I will take a look at the information you have submitted. While I cannot always be 100% accurate, I will do my best.
What Words Offend Arabs? The Truth.
Children's Poetry Booklet Recalled After Arabs Complain
(Israeli censorship kowtows to Arabs.
When Will We Tell The Truth Without Fear)
(IsraelNN.com 7 Sivan 5768/June 10, '08) Ynet's web site and Arab complaints against a ten-year-old boy's poem about terrorists has resulted in the recall of all of the Nes Ziona municipality's children's poetry booklets.
Ynet boasts that its coverage of the poem resulted in its being recalled.
The text of the poem (Ynet's translation):
Ahmed's bunker has surprises galore: Grenades, rifles are hung on the wall. Ahmed is planning another bombing!What a bunker Ahmed has, who causes daily harm.Ahmed knows how to make a bomb. Ahmed is Ahmed, that's who he is, so don't forget to be careful of him.We get blasted while they have a blast!Ahmed and his friends could be wealthy and sunny, if only they wouldn't buy rockets with all their money.
Poetry competition director Marika Berkowitz, who published the booklet, was surprised at the protests and told Ynet: "This is the boy's creation and this is what he wanted to express. Of course there should be a limit, but I think the there is no racism here. 'Ahmed' is a general term for the enemy. These are the murmurings of an innocent child."
The Education Ministry told Ynet: "The local authority that published the booklet should have guided the students in a more correct manner through the schools. The district will investigate the issue with the local authorities."
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