How Does It Work

LifeLock works by placing a fraud alert on your credit report, which requires you to be notified and give specific permission to access your report each time you (or a potential criminal) attempt to open an account with a creditor. If you're experiencing problems getting access to your credit report when you actually want it because of the fraud alert, LifeLock will call your landlord, employer or creditor on your behalf, explain the situation, and get it resolved for you.

LifeLock will add your name to the no-junk mail list, so you will stop receiving pre-approved credit offers through the mail and keep thieves from using one of the most common ways of gaining personal information about you. You will also be sent a yearly copy of your credit report from each bureau, so that you can inspect it for any fraudulent activity, and they will monitor the check reporting system to identify whether a thief opens a bank account in your name, too.

Perhaps most importantly, if your identity is stolen, LifeLock will pay for the costs of the theft and help restore your good credit. One study found that it takes a typical victim of Identity Theft an average of 330 hours to restore their good name, and as a LifeLock customer, LifeLock will help you in the event that the worst occurs by contacting the relevant agencies on your behalf.

Does it work? Is it a scam?

The CEO of LifeLock, Todd Davis, prominently displays his Social Security number in every LifeLock promotion, including its television and newspaper ads and its website, because he's so confident that his identity will not be stolen due to LifeLock protections. Davis says that LifeLock makes personal information useless to an identity thief even if they already have it in their possession, so it doesn't matter whether everyone in America has his Social Security number-- because he's protected by LifeLock, no one can do anything bad with it.