I've Been Mugged

Monthly Update From The Suze Orman Identity Theft Kit (TrustedID)

When you sign up for a credit monitoring service, most provide a monthly report via e-mail about the status of your credit information and files. A coworker of mine signed up several months ago for the Suze Orman Identity Theft Kit. My coworker shared the latest report she received via e-mail:

The report is simple and easy to understand. The message make it clear and easy what the consumer should do next, if there is a problem. My coworker seems to be very happy with the service she receives from Suze Orman. If you have a different credit monitoring service, you can compare the monthly message you receive from your service with the message above.

Consumer Reports On LifeLock

Many consumers consider Consumer Reports a trustworthy source of independent product and service information, in order to make smart purchases. As a child, I remember watching my parents read Consumer Reports' product testing results before buying a car and expensive household appliances. I currently subscribe to Consumer Reports' On Health publication.

Last month, Consumer Reports reviewed LifeLock, a credit monitoring service:

"LifeLock spent $5 million on TV and radio ads nationally in the first half of this year and claims to have 300,000 subscribers. It has been endorsed by actor Fred Thompson (before he officially became a presidential candidate) and radio personalities Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Paul Harvey. But as Harvey might say, now here’s the rest of the story."

What LifeLock does to protect your sensitive personal data and credit reports:

"For $10 a month or $110 a year, LifeLock instructs the top three credit-reporting agencies — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — to place fraud alerts on your credit reports and renews them every 90 days. The service also tells the three bureaus that you opt out of receiving preapproved credit offers and asks the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) to remove your name from mailing lists. Of course, you can do those things yourself free. And fraud alerts are no guarantee against ID theft. Some lenders don’t see them and allow crooks to open accounts in other people’s names anyway."

If you are like me, then you've already done most of this on your own -- for free. I placed Fraud Alerts on my credit reports, and later renewed them. I have already opted out of pre-approved credit offers and telemarketing lists -- again, for free. Is there anything LifeLock provides that we consumers can't do ourselves? Perhaps it's their credit restoration services:

"... the company guarantees against all losses and expenses a client incurs up to $1 million. LifeLock’s guarantee will restore stolen funds to your bank accounts, get fraudulent credit accounts closed, pay lost wages, hire credit-repair firms, and do "whatever it takes to get your life back..."

While that sounds really appealing, Consumer Reports also wrote this:

"But the customer agreement doesn't actually bind LifeLock to much of what Davis promised us. It specifically says that the company will not reimburse "consequential damages, such as lost wages." [LifeLock CEO] Davis says customers should ignore the fine print: "The lost-wage clause is there because insurance commissioners wanted to be sure we’re not an insurance company. We’re not." The contract, meanwhile, is vague about reimbursing stolen money: "We will pay professionals to assist in restoring any such loss." The guarantee hinges on "the failure or defect in our service," which the contract defines as initiating requests with credit bureaus and the DMA. But Davis says the contract really means something else: "If the fraud alerts did not do what they were intended to do, then the service failed. I don’t just mean that my system didn’t send them correctly," he says.

If you are considering LifeLock to protect your identity, I strongly encourage you to read the entire Consumer Reports review of LifeLock first. Then decide if LifeLock is for you.

Satisified With RFID Skimming Protection (Product Review)

A couple weeks ago, I purchased online the Armadillo Dollar "skimming" shield product. I ordered two shields and both arrived in separate business-size envelopes within a larger U.S.P.S. Express Mail package. Each envelope included a shield and instructions. That makes it easy to give the second shield as a gift.

I opened one envelope and read the instructions, which were clear and simple. The instructions said that you could place the Armadillo Dollar product in your wallet to protect multiple RFID cards, often referred to as "smart cards" or contact-less credit cards. I folded one Armadillo Dollar product in half, placed two contact-less smart cards inside, and then placed the bundle in my pants pocket. I don't want to open my wallet every time I need to use one of my RFID cards. I planned to test Armadillo Dollar the next day on the way to work.

One the way to work the next morning, I pulled the Armadillo Dollar and my RFID cards out of my pocket and waived them near an RFID reader at a Boston MBTA station entrance. Nothing happened: the turnstile did not open. The RFID reader was unable to penetrate the Armadillo Dollar shield. Great! Then, I removed my MBTA Charlie Card by itself and waved it by the station's reader. The turnstile opened as usual.

At work, I repeated this process at the the downtown-Boston office where I work. Employees use RFID badges to access both the building elevators and individual company offices. As expected, the RFID reader was unable to penetrate the Armadillo Dollar shield. I then removed my employee badge by itself and waved it the RFID reader. The turnstile opened as expected.

While this isn't a scientific test, it is good enough for me. The product works as advertised... RFID readers couldn't penetrate the Armadillo Dollar shield. Wisteria House fulfilled my product order as requested, and applied the product discount as promised. I am satisfied since I now have some identity protection for my RFID cards. When I receive my new RFID U.S. Passport, I'll repeat this test with the Armadillo Dollar shield.

Want to learn more? This video provides some background about RFID or smart cards and "skimming"... how an identity thieve can clone a smart card:

Want to learn more? Read this New York Times article about no-swipe credit cards, or this C/Net Review about contact-less credit cards. You can also visit the Smart Card Alliance, armadillodollar.com, or the National Envelope web sites.

[Author's note: you can rely on I've Been Mugged for independent product reviews. The I've Been Mugged blog is wholly independent, and is not affiliated with any identity theft or identity protection products. Nor do we accept any advertising or payments from manufacturers of identity theft products or services.]