“You, your identity and your financial information are more vulnerable than ever before, and people need to protect themselves and their wallets” – Todd Davis, CEO of identity theft protection company, LifeLock.

Todd Davis knows what he is talking about.

In 2005, he started publishing his Social Security number on billboards, over the Internet, and in radio and television advertising in an attempt to raise consumer awareness of the growing threat posed by identity theft – and to promote a new way of combating that threat.

In an interview, Davis commented, “I decided to give out my Social Security number, which was a risk worth taking to alert consumers to the rising tide of identity theft. As my story illustrates, identity theft is real, and the thieves growing more and more technologically advanced.”

Amazingly, as a direct result of publishing his Social Security number and basically, “daring” identity thieves to use it, Davis has been a victim of fraud only 13 times. It is not difficult to imagine just how many times thieves must have attempted to use his personal information in the five years since the advertising campaign began.

Davis’ experience since 2005 is an illustration of the threat posed by identity theft that faces millions of consumers every day. And while LifeLock is doing our part to help protect consumers like Davis, the crime of identity theft will continue to grow.

The increasing sophistication of identity thieves is one of the reasons why LifeLock transitioned from relying primarily on fraud alerts to the LifeLock Identity Alert™ system. Not all creditors check with the credit bureaus to validate that the person opening a new account is who they profess to be. LifeLock Identity Alerts are designed to be more comprehensive in scope than fraud alerts. In the last eight months alone LifeLock has provided more than 310,000 alerts to its members.

For years, LifeLock has made it exceedingly clear that no identity theft protection service can stop all instances of identity theft, and although LifeLock has been leading the industry by continuously developing new and innovative proactive solutions, compromises do still occur.

In order to combat the increasing technological advances employed by identity thieves, LifeLock has forged partnerships with AAA clubs, nonprofit organizations such as the National Organization for Victim Assistance® (NOVA), and law enforcement. Since 2008, a nationwide series of free training sessions has been offered through a partnership between LifeLock and FBI-LEEDA (FBI Law Enforcement Executive Development Association) to help increase law enforcement’s knowledge base of the crime of identity theft.

Recently, LifeLock has partnered with Symantec Corporation to provide both online and offline protection to consumers. LifeLock, has also forged a strategic partnership with the United States Census Bureau, a leading source of data about America’s people and economy.

“LifeLock is proud to support the 2010 Census,” said Davis. “The information being collected is critical to the country and all residents should feel comfortable providing the requested information. However, we want consumers to be wary of scam artists perpetrating identity theft crimes during this time.”

Without a doubt, identity theft is one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century and it’s going to take a comprehensive public-private partnership to address the monumental challenges we all face. LifeLock is committed to educating consumers and working with other companies, organizations and government agencies in an effort to better protect personal information, especially during a time when identity thieves will attempt just about anything to ensure personal information is used illegally to their benefit.

Tags: LifeLock, Todd Davis

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