LifeLock CEO said to be victim of identity theft 13 times

A CEO who publicly posted his Social Security number on billboards and TV commercials as part of a campaign to promote his company's credit monitoring services was the victim of identity theft at least 13 times, a news report says.

By Jaikumar Vijayan

May 19, 2010 — Computerworld — A CEO who publicly posted his Social Security number on billboards and TV commercials as part of a campaign to promote his company's credit monitoring services was the victim of identity theft at least 13 times, a news report says.

The Phoenix New Times reported that Todd Davis, CEO of LifeLock Inc., which is based in Tempe, Ariz., was victimized numerous times by identity thieves who apparently used his Social Security number to commit various types of fraud.

Davis has previously admitted that he was the victim of an identity theft once in 2007, when a man in Texas used his Social Security number to take out a $500 loan which wasn't repaid and ended up being handled by a collection agency.

The New Times reported that Davis has been a victim of similar ID theft at least a dozen more times.

Among the examples cited in the report was one involving an ID thief in Albany, Georgia who opened an AT&T wireless account in Davis' name and used it to rack up more than $2,300 in charges.

In another instance, an individual used Davis's identity to open an account with Centerpoint Energy, a Texas utility, and leave behind $122 in unpaid bills, the report said.

It also cited examples where individuals with Davis' identity owed more than $573 to a bank and $312 to a gif-basket company.

The numerous incidents belie LifeLock's claims that the services it offers protects consumers against ID theft and fraud, the report noted.

Davis said by e-mail that there had been "hundreds" of attempts to use his personal information in a fraudulent manner since 2005. All but 13 of those attempts were successful, Davis said.

"In each of these cases, our Member Services Team performed the same service that it would for any LifeLock member," Davis said, adding that he had never out of money as a result of the theft.

"I was saved many of hours of invaluable time and my credit report has been corrected," Davis said.

He said that some of the successful attempts were "not true identity thefts," but, rather, there were "false entries on my credit file to people with similar names but different addresses -- clearly, not me," he said.

The other instances demonstrate precisely why LifeLock has recently launched a alerting service that looks at credit bureau fraud alerts and other information to determine if an individual s identity information is being improperly used, he said.

"Indeed, in just the last eight months we have provided more than 310,000 alerts to our members [using LifeLock s new Identity Alert service]," Davis said.

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