Should you pay for an identity theft protection service?

The recent news that the personal information of 80 million Anthem Blue Cross members was compromised in a data breach has probably put many of us into a quandary. Is it time to sign up for an identity theft protection service such as Lifelock, IdentityForce, or Identity Guard? Then, just as we’re wondering about that option, an email offering a 30-day free trial of Lifelock Ultimate Plus arrives. Is it worth a try? Not so fast.

I’ve received three of these emails recently. All three have been sent using email addresses related to domains with poor reputations. The links in those emails do not go to Lifelock, but to websites with reputations as phishing sites. In other words, those emails offering you identity theft services could be intended to steal your identity, not protect it.

Lifelock does have an affiliate program in which they pay “a bounty” to those who have partnered with them to obtain new clients. This seems to be a very odd arrangement for a business whose sole purpose is protecting consumers’ identities from theft. Why would a company with such a difficult purpose even want to involve a third party in obtaining a customer’s sensitive information? My guess would be, grow the business.

Unfortunately, the Lifelock website has no information about its affiliate program other than a few basic sales pitches for the Lifelock service itself. There’s no information about what an affiliate does, restrictions on business practices, or what happens to collected information. The bottom line is that even if the emails I’ve received are legitimate, I can’t trust them because I can’t confirm whether these are legitimate affiliates.

Tips to avoid being taken

1. Never trust an email offering to sell you a service or give you a free trial if you didn’t ask for that email to be sent.
2. If you think you need an identity theft protection service, consider that many of the basic options offered by these services can be obtained for free. For instance, you can place a fraud alert on your credit and obtain annual credit reports at no cost to you.
3. If you’re still convinced you do need an identity theft protection service, take a look at this comparison of services conducted by TopTenReviews.com. Don’t make a choice until you’ve compared at least a few of the players and what services they offer.