Comments on: What's your identity fraud risk level?

Free My ID Score service assesses how at risk consumers are of being victims of identity fraud.

[mjconver]

Very, very interesting. In fact, quite sobering.

I got a 136, and also did not put in my SSN. Just because it's an SSL connection, never assume the geeks on the other end are encrypting their storage.

I happen to share a name with my deceased father and my son, (Jr, III, IV), so I was curious to see if their data had separation from mine. Probably the DOB helped. So, I took the quiz twice, and the questions changed slightly each time. One of the four questions appeared to be a fake, to which I answered "none of the above" both times. I wasn't sure if it was a true random fake, or something related to my father.

But in any case, the truly interesting question was about the townhouse that I moved out of 25 years ago. Holy crap! The internet barely existed 25 years ago, and I paid off that mortgage when I moved out. What the @#$#@ing database is that from?

Did I say sobering? Maybe frightening is better.

[shahnyboy]

Thanks for the info.
I checked mine and am also glad i fall in the low risk category.

One thing i found a bit odd is that the info. required to get this score is very basic - meaning a sibling or a friend could easily answer the questions i was asked. I dont know what good it would do them but more personal questions would be nice.

[Kemetic_Jedi]

I tried it out and got no response... Guess I'm off the grid

[AndrewRich]

The My ID Score site seems to be offline.

[santuccie]

The site looks legitimate, but I'm not taking any chances. ID Analytics is a whopping four months old. Sure, they're BBB accredited, but it's long been my understanding that there's a fee for this (which becomes apparent when a brand new company gets accredited THAT fast).

I'd much rather pay a monthly membership fee with an established agency who has a rep to protect, such as LifeLock. I do business with sites that have been around and have real track records. Up until that point, everyone else is my guinea pig. No, I'm not superior; I'm just paranoid, and justifiably so.

These people "calculate" your risk of ID theft based on the uniqueness of the information you provide. In other words, they have a Web spider or something. I can gather up this kind of data by doing a few queries on various search engines (not recommended unless you KNOW your system is clean).

[Dalkorian]

LifeLock? Whatever you do, don't look into the background of the people you're trusting here. You won't like it. One of them is a convicted criminal with a history of lying and is actually BARRED from helping people with their credit scores.

For being a paranoid type, you're not being very smart about it.

[santuccie]

That's your opinion. But I've been in jail myself, and am all for giving people a second chance when they make good on their debt to society. I'd like to see a link to an article on a LifeLock officer being barred from helping people with their credit scores, if you don't mind.

That said, LifeLock is BBB accredited (which isn't much in and of itself), and has a $1,000,000 insurance backing from XL Capital, which I prefer over someone like AIG. They have their own history of "lying" and cheating, and are now paying dearly for it.

[santuccie]

BTW, if you're talking about Robert Maynard, Jr., you might like to know that he is no longer with LifeLock.

[onysnews]

Worth mentioning that the database cannot help you if you live outside the USA.

[Suwanee_Guy]

I tried this and it doesn't work for me. Looks like a pig in a poke. If I can't get a risk calculation, then I must not be doing something right. I don't think I will sign up for any subscription service here. Looks like Life Lock will be my choice.

[ilsthey]

FAILED FOR ME

Apparently I either did not know enough information about my past or there is some confusion in the system.

What I wanted to report to this system is that you only get two tries in a 14 day period. After that you get a message that you can no longer make a request with an e-mail and phone number to contact if you wish to contest this.

I chose not to contest it. Maybe I'll try again another week, but probably not.

[cp256]

They can't verify my identity at the first step even though I have lived in the same house (that I own outright) for 44 years, had the same phone number for 40 years, own a business as a sole proprietor DBA for 15 years and own a corp for 9, had loans of various types all paid back on time or early and numerous credit cards and bank accounts. I even tried it with my SSN. What a waste of time.

I also refuse to pay the BBB extortion for my businesses, that racket stinks to high heaven.

[Dalkorian]

Not a waste of time at all. They now have your name, address, DOB and SSN in their confirmed database at least, plus the answer to the questions you asked (did they ask about the business??). A gold mine if they're not quite on the level, or a treasure trove for those who are not on the level - either way, it's personally confirmed by you for free.

It's amazing what some people will do just because some blog told them to.

[c|net Reader]

@Dalkorian

I thought the same thing when I read this article. Why should anyone trust these folks with such details? By providing those details, all in one nice, neat portfolio, if My ID Score doesn't abuse them, someone will break in and steal them.

[DADSGETNDOWN]

I believe the "second" you put in your real name ANYWHERE, you put your self at a huge risk.
I still do not see the "need" to use your real name anywhere.
As soon as you do it is then out in cyberspace for ever, and will be found with searches, which hackers using those bots will find.

Then you have the fact that you are giving info to a database, now they have what ever information you gave, and guess one of the places where hackers get their information ?.
As I type right now, it is highly possible my keys are being logged.
Every letter I type, if something looks close to a real name, or a phone number, or SSN or ADDRESS for example. if just one of those gets "nabbed" fraud already has a jump on you. Hackers can do so much with just one of those pieces of info.
Ands what happens after you have had indentity theft happen to you ?.
Okay so you prove it, or they clear it one way or the other, but then guess what, you now have a check mark by your name, and then after that maybe put in a high risk category.
Like having car "accidents".

[Dalkorian]

You don't understand ... I'm paranoid *BECAUSE* the world is out to get me!

[lisa donaho]

Well if you live in the PC/Mac world, expect to have your data stolen.
How about we store sensitive informations offline of the internet servers?
Why on earth would the insurance company have my SSN where hackers could get to it?
Why on earth would the Army have my husbands SSN available 27 years later?

[indnajns]

Anyone who puts in that much personal information on some unknown site isn't immediately given a red-flagged id security score of 600+? Fishy.

[acover101]

Interesting... It was very quick and easy. I also have a low score, but I knew I would due to the fact that I just use my common sense, stay informed and clean, update and keep my system secure. One thing I noticed after reading my score result, all the links below just were simply added for anyone who would be interested in proactively protecting themselves with support or information services. Any thing wrong with paying fees for these services? Bottom line is that as mentioned before, NO ONE is immune from being targeted for fraud or ID theft from our use of our computer and internet. All we can do is do our homework, and make our choices wisely.

[beachbum70]

I found a company that exposed the pitfalls of Todd Davis and Lifelock. Check out www.myspace.com/optoutdetectives and read the blog about Todd Davis. It's pretty interesting on how exposed he really is.

[indicnetguy]

ID Score didn't work for me. Couldn't verify my identity and locked me out after 2 tries.