Lifelock to pay $100 million to settle FTC charges it violated 2010 order
December 17, 2015
LifeLock will pay up to $100 million to settle Federal Trade Commission charges it violated a FTC order.
Of the $100 million, $68 million will go to LifeLock consumers who were part of a class action lawsuit. Other funds will be returned to consumers by attorneys general or the FTC.
In 2010, LifeLock agreed to settle charges with the FTC and 35 state attorneys general that it used false claims to promote its identity theft protection services.
The settlement required Lifelock to:
- Stop making deceptive claims.
- Strengthen measures to safeguard the personal information it collects from customers.
- Pay the FTC $11 million for consumer refunds.
LifeLock violated the 2010 FTC settlement order by:
- Failing to establish and maintain an information security program, from about October 2012 through March 2014, to protect its customers’ sensitive personal information, including credit card, Social Security, and bank account numbers.
- Advertising falsely during that period that it protected consumers’ sensitive data with the same high-level safeguards as financial institutions.
- Advertising falsely that it would send alerts “as soon as” it received any indication that a consumer may be a victim of identity theft from January 2012 through December 2014.
- Failing to meet the 2010 order’s recordkeeping requirements.
If you’re concerned about protecting your personal information, you can pay for identity theft protection services, said Colleen Tressler, consumer education specialist, for the FTC.
However, before you pay any fees, check out the company and its track record. Type the name of the company or product into a search engine along with words like “review,” “complaint,” or “scam.” Be sure to read a few reviews – don’t rely on just one source.
Or, you can decide to manage your own personal information by reviewing your credit reports on a regular basis or placing a credit freeze on your report, Tressler said.
For more information about protecting your personal information, visit the FTC’s Privacy & Identity page. If you need help recovering from identity theft, visit IdentityTheft.gov.
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