The encyclopedia · Advertising & PR · Marketing decision · 2005–2015
LifeLock's CEO put his real Social Security number on billboards — then got robbed
Todd Davis advertised identity-theft protection with his real SSN. He was robbed 13+ times, and the FTC later fined LifeLock $100M for the false ad claims.
LifeLock · 2005
What happened
LifeLock built its identity-theft-protection business on a stunt: CEO Todd Davis put his real Social Security number on billboards, TV ads and the company's own trucks, backed by a '100% guarantee' that the service would protect subscribers from identity theft. The ads ran for years and helped make LifeLock a household name.
Davis was confirmed to have been a victim of identity theft at least 13 times using the number he had publicized — including someone taking out a $500 payday loan in his name. The stunt that was supposed to prove the product worked instead demonstrated its limits.
In 2010, the FTC and 35 states settled deceptive-advertising claims against LifeLock over its guarantee claims. LifeLock kept running similar ads and, in 2015, the FTC found it had violated the 2010 order — this time for $100 million, of which $68 million went to customer refunds.
Why it happened
- A publicity stunt built the brand around a guarantee the product could not actually back up.
- Publicizing a real SSN as proof of confidence handed the company's own weakness a very visible test case.
- LifeLock kept the same ad claims running for years after regulators first found them deceptive, turning a warning into a second, larger penalty.
The lesson
A guarantee-driven stunt ad only works until the product is tested for real — and testing a security promise in public invites the exact failure it claims to prevent.
Aftermath
LifeLock continued operating and was acquired by Symantec in 2017 for $2.3 billion, later sold on as part of Norton's consumer security business. The Davis billboard remains a textbook example cited by marketers and regulators alike on the risk of advertising a guarantee you cannot fully deliver.
Sources
- FTC — LifeLock, Inc., a corporation (case page, $100 million settlement)
- Wired — LifeLock CEO's Identity Stolen 13 Times
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