ID Protection Entrepreneur in Litigation for Having Stolen Father's ID

LifeLock, a company that offers an anti-identity theft service consisting mainly of calling credit bureaus for you to put in fraud alerts in case your credit cards or other ID gets stolen, may not be as squeaky clean as its ads lead you to believe.

Today on dataloss a reference to the BNN article led me to an investigative article by Ray Stern in the Phoenix New Times about Maynard's shady crooked past.

According to BNN (Blogger News Network) Robert J. Maynard Jr. has a very questionable background, including convictions while he was running a credit-repair company that was was shut down by authorities in the early 1990s for false advertising and deceptive practices.

Forced closure means that a US federal court order banned Maynard from working in the credit-repair industry — forever. He isn't supposed to be running a business like LifeLock, the hot new anti-identity theft company, based in Tempe, Arizona.

Stern also unearthed information showing something interesting: Maynard Jr. is apparently lying about having had his data stolen. But, Stern's article says that Maynard did steal his own father's identity at one point. His dad, understandably, is no longer speaking with him and is litigating.

Nice.

Whatever good things I said in any previous columns about LifeLock - disregard them - get out while you still can - who knows what a guy who'd steal his own father's data will do with yours!

LifeLock has ads in many major mainstream media outlets and a very slick professional looking web presence. I recollect covering LifeLock in this column, at one point. The company's web presence was particularly shiny. Shiny as in too slick.

I figure, get out now and save your data while you still can. and if you're thinking of using the company - read Sterns article, that I've linked above - and see what you think!

I would not be touching this with a ten foot pole. Not even a 100-ft. pole, come to think of it.