LifeLock Settlement: The $100 Million FTC Refund, Explained

Who qualifies

• Class action (closed): anyone in the United States who had a LifeLock identity-theft protection plan at any time between September 1, 2010 and January 20, 2016 — an estimated 6.7 million people. A subclass covered members enrolled between January 1, 2012 and April 30, 2015.
• Class members who filed a claim by April 29, 2016 received the larger payments; some class members received money without filing, at a lower amount.
• FTC refund round (closed): people who were LifeLock members between 2012 and 2014 and did not receive money from the class action settlement. The FTC identified them from records rather than a claim form, and mailed checks in October 2019.
• Nobody needed to prove they were actually a victim of identity theft. The claims were about deceptive advertising and inadequate data security, not about individual losses.
• There is no current LifeLock claim form, no open deadline, and no fund left to pay from. Any website inviting you to file a LifeLock settlement claim today is not official.

What happened, in order — and what to do now

1. 1

   2010 — the first FTC order

   The FTC and 35 state attorneys general charged LifeLock with making deceptive claims about its identity-theft protection. LifeLock paid $11 million to the FTC and $1 million to the states, and agreed to stop overstating what its service could do and to maintain a comprehensive information-security program. The FTC used that money to mail refund checks to nearly one million LifeLock customers in November 2010.

2. 2

   2015 — the $100 million order violation

   The FTC went back to court, alleging LifeLock had broken the 2010 order: it had not put in place the promised security program, falsely claimed it protected data as well as a financial institution would, falsely advertised immediate alerts the moment it received a sign of identity theft, and had failed to keep required records. On December 17, 2015 LifeLock agreed to pay $100 million — then a record for an FTC order-enforcement action.

3. 3

   2016–2017 — the class action paid twice

   $68 million funded the Ebarle class action settlement. Checks of up to $19.48 were mailed from October 14, 2016 after final approval on September 20, 2016, and a second distribution of up to $134.04 followed on March 3, 2017. Garden City Group administered both rounds.

4. 4

   2019 — the FTC's own refund checks

   In October 2019 the FTC used the remaining funds to mail more than one million checks totaling over $31 million, averaging about $29, to LifeLock members from 2012 to 2014 who had not been paid by the class action. Rust Consulting handled the mailing. Recipients had 60 days to cash the checks, so that money is no longer available.

5. 5

   Watch out for LifeLock refund scams

   Because the settlement is well known and long closed, it is a favourite hook for scammers. The FTC never asks you to pay a fee or hand over your bank login or Social Security number to release a refund check. If a message claims you are owed LifeLock money today, treat it as fraudulent, and check ftc.gov/refunds yourself.

6. 6

   Catch the next one while it is still open

   LifeLock customers got paid three times, and the biggest single payment went to people who filed a claim by a deadline in 2016. ClaimBee monitors settlements and FTC refund programs, matches them against the services you actually used, and tells you while there is still time to file.

Frequently asked questions

Sources and official records

Every figure and date on this page was taken from the primary records below — court dockets, agency releases, and the settlement administrator's own notices. Payout averages we describe as averages are calculated from the official totals, not reported per-person estimates.

• FTC press release — LifeLock to Pay $100 Million to Consumers to Settle FTC Charges it Violated 2010 Order
• FTC press release — FTC Takes Action Against LifeLock for Alleged Violations of 2010 Order
• FTC press release — the earlier 2010 LifeLock settlement with the FTC and 35 states
• FTC press release — FTC Sends Checks Totaling More Than $31 Million to LifeLock Customers
• FTC case record — LifeLock, Inc., a corporation