ID Theft

IDENTITY THEFT: Is identity theft protection a scam?

Lots of companies are selling identity theft protection for a monthly fee. Is it a scam? I'd like to hear from anyone who actually had an identity stolen and was helped or not helped after paying the fee.

Public Comments

1. probably
2. I don't know who your referring to as the scammer or who is trying to scam you. There are scams everywhere. But with Identity theft protection, more companies are offering it. Certain Banks even offer it. So, no it's not a scam. I carry it and I'm thinking about switching to LifeLock. I posted the link below. Good info and coverage. The cost is the same per month that I am paying now. The President is so confident that you identity won't get stolen that he has publicly placed his social security number in his advertisement. The link should answer all your questions as well as what you receive. http://www.lifelock.com/
3. My advice to you is that you get this from a big name insurance company, not some outfit you never heard of. Someone metnioned Lifelock ... there was a recent story in the news where someone misused the identity of the President of the company, the company figured out who that person was, but they used techniques such that the person cannot be prosecuted, because the person's civil liberties got violated ... it sounds like the HP scandal, where someone had been leaking info from HP board meetings, so they needed to do an investigation to find out whom, but the approach they used involved telling lies to the phone companies to get info on who all was being phoned by all the members of the board, and who all was calling them ... info you can only get with a legiitimate search warrant, but they pretended to be authorized people when they were not, and the end result was the CEO of HP had to resign. Anyway Lifelock may be headed down the same path. This is still a developing news story. I am now paying $ 40.00 a year to Allstate, as a rider on my property insurance. I had a long talk with the agent before I bought this to get an understanding of what exactly the insurance covers. Allstate has a private detective agency on retainer. If I become victimized by identity theft, this agency will go to work to document what was legitimately done by me, and what was done by crooks, and make that evidence available to the various creditors, so as to save me a lot of grief. Sounds to me like a legitimate deal ... the detective agency has people who specialize in this & I suppose you know that FTC and other statistics show that one in seven people in USA within their lifetime will be victimized by some kind of financial fraud. I have not yet been victimized by Identity Theft, but I have had several incidents that were very suspicious. * I was getting recorded phone calls telling me my Texaco bill was overdue & to call this 1-800 for customer service to resolve it ... well I do not have a Texaco account ... I called the # ... they did not have a Texaco account on me & they wanted my Social Security #, so they could check their records ... I refused to give it saying that you could be the crooks, I can't tell ... this went on for several weeks, with me talking to different agents at the 1-800 # ... come to find out, it was my Amaco bill that was past due ... Citibank had bought out Amaco (Gasoline) Credit Card & CitiBank is not good at computer systems (I have had previous run-ins with Citibank klutz operations) I have had about 1/2 a dozen places tell me that their computer records on me got breached, or they had a screwup ... my health insurance (before my employer dropped it), the FBI (from which I had earlier downloaded a report on computer crimes), a place that does computer security education, and there were some I know got breached, but they did not tell everyone they should have (e.g. Indiana DMV because apparently the laws that apply to everyone else do not apply to the Indiana State Government, and the IRS which breached 100% of the taxpayers in America, as reported by an Inspector General Report).
4. No it is not, per se.. Stick with reputable well known insurance companies, or take the coverage offered by your credit card issuer, and you should be fine...
5. Many banks and credit cards include free insurance to protect you against the effects of fraud and so, indirectly, identity theft too. Also, if you need assistance sorting out the aftermath of identity theft then you should be aware that an insurance company may be limited in terms of talking to your creditors because of your country's data protection legislation. Therefore, it would pay to read the small print of any identity theft protection insurance policy in advance to see if the protection is actually worth the premium you would be paying.
6. no -- but it is just like any other insurance -- you don't want to but it until you need it -- if you can afford it -- could be the best investment u ever made -- some i would not call a scam but maybe close to being shady business practice --- i only had one credit card discover -- works great in the states so i apply for a chase visa card since i am going to France and needed a MasterCard -- receive the card in two weeks credit limit of 25K --so far so good -- used it once to insure everything was OK and paid off balance when received my bill -- yesterday i get this letter from chase with a advertisement and a check -- now the check looks really great nothing unusual till you read the very find print at the top of the check "sign and cash this check to purchase the chase payment protector plan" not a scan and would be a legal contract if i use the check -- than you read the contract and if i would use my chase card like i use my discover it would cost about 23.00 a month for the protection!!!.