Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - He Made The Biggest Marketing Fail In History - The Todd Davis LifeLock Story

Episode Date: October 22, 2025

Todd Davis, the co-founder and CEO of LifeLock, became famous in 2007 for publicly displaying his real Social Security number in ads to prove confidence in his company’s identity-theft protection service. But the stunt backfired when his identity was stolen at least a dozen times, exposing flaws in LifeLock’s system.

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against identity theft and stuff like that. But one day in 2007, Todd and his company run into a huge huge, huge problem. A local newspaper just dropped a very negative story about his co-founder. And this makes the co-founder look like a really shady dude. And this makes the company look bad. And so the co-founder ends up resigning. Now, after this bad press, Todd, he needs a way to bounce back. And he has to come up with something creative, something to get people to know that his product can protect them against identity theft. So, time. Todd, he starts doing media interviews, and he goes on regional, business radio, and TV shows to talk up his company.

And this is fine, but the process is a bit slow. But then Todd gets the opportunity to speak on a show on CNBC. And this show has a bigger audience than what he's used to going in front of, so there's going to be a lot of people watching. So right before he goes on the air, he gets a crazy idea. What if he says his social security number, like his real social security number while live on the air? I mean, this will prove to the world that he is confident that LifeLock will protect him from identity theft, and therefore his company is legitimate. So he's on the air, and he's talking to the show's host.

And Todd says, you know what? I'm so confident in my company. I'll give you my real social security number right here on live television. And the host is like, you ain't got to do all that. And then Todd, he's about to reveal it. But then, before he can, his segment is over. Now, Todd didn't give the world his Social Security number, but just his confidence in that segment alone makes a massive impact on the people watching.

According to him, his company signs up a ton of new customers that week, like 40,000 new enrollments or something like that. So this little Social Security number stunt, works and it lights a fire under Todd and so he feels like he needs to do another stunt and he decides to try and tell everyone his Social Security number again but for real this time this is gonna be the best publicity marketing stunt any company has ever seen so he launches this campaign lots of pictures of him just holding up his Social Security card and soon there are magazine and newspaper ads that have his

Social Security number on it there are billboards that have his Social Security security number on it. They even put his number on the side of a fricking bus. But then he makes his biggest marketing move yet, the one that everyone knows him for. He goes and he shoots a commercial for television. And in that commercial, there's a billboard truck driving around, blasting out Todd's real social security number. I'm Todd Davis. And I'm here to prove just how safe your identity can be with life lock. And of course, this stunt is so absurd that it blows up. People are shocked by what he's doing, but, you know, also kind of impressed.

I mean, a lot of these people are thinking, like, well, if the CEO is confident enough to give out his personal information, then his service must work. And tons of people start signing up for it. So Todd, he's just happy his marketing stunt worked. And his investors are now happy. And LifeLock, the company is growing steadily, and they're now making tons of money. On two. Okay, so here's where the marketing stunt starts to fall apart. People on the internet, they see Todd's ad.

And a lot of them start thinking, Hey, you know, I bet I can steal that motherfucker's identity. And they do. People start trying to steal his identity left and right. A bunch of people apply for driver's licenses using Dodds' Social Security number. One person tries using the name Jabba T. Hut. He fails, though. fails though. Another person attempts to get a license with the name Joe Blow. He also fails.

Another person tries to give their address as one, two, three, fake street. Now, to Todd and LifeLock's credit, there are at least 87 attempts to steal his identity by people opening credit cards or licenses or whatever. And LifeLock actually stops them. So the service does seem to work. However, it doesn't seem to work 100% of the time. And while LifeLock may have stopped Jabba T. Hut, at least 20 other people get driver's licenses using Todd's Social Security number. And Todd, he's now busy running his successful company, so he doesn't even realize most of this is going on. Hi, I'm Todd Davis, CEO of LifeLock. And yes, that's my real Social Security number.

Until one day, his wife comes. to him and she says, did you take out a payday loan? And Todd's like, a payday loan? No. Someone over in Texas successfully took out a $500 payday loan using Todd's Social Security number. Then someone in Georgia opens up an AT&T phone line and they rack up $2,000 worth of charges. Then someone else opens a Verizon account. Another person opens a credit card. Another person opens an electric bill account. Another uses Todd's info to buy $312 worth of gift baskets. That actually seems kind of nice. And little by little, Todd starts finding out about all these thefts. And eventually a debt collection agency puts a note on his credit report and this happens over and over and over again. And he's

getting more and more fraudulent accounts on his credit report all without standing debt. So it's more than official at this point. Todd, the CEO and mascot of LifeLock, has officially had his identity stolen multiple times. And so they go and they file a police report. But here's the thing. LifeLock doesn't declare it to any of their customers because, you know, it's bad PR. So even after Todd's massive Social Security number stunt actually ends up failing, LifeLock keeps right on promising that their services work exactly as.

advertised. Now, here's the problem with that. As it turns out, LifeLock Services aren't capable of doing much to stop identity thieves from doing things like using credit cards you already have, which is actually the most common form of identity theft. They also can't stop someone from getting medical care in your name or getting a job in your name. So, as you might guess, customers get real pissed off. Because, you know, a lot of them feel like they were lied to about this product. and some of them start filing lawsuits. In fact, so many lawsuits are filed that all this eventually gets the attention of the Federal Trade Commission. Now, in 2008, Todd goes on TV.

He goes on The Today Show with Matt Lauer, and he defends his company and his decision to publicize his social security number. And he correctly points out that there were 87 attempts to steal his identity, and they all failed because LifeLock stopped them. And only one time was someone successfully able to get money using his identity, which I assume he's referring to that $500 payday loan that someone took out in Texas. Which, during this time, I don't know if that's actually true. He had his identity stolen a bunch, but I'm not sure if they were before or after this today's show interview.

Either way, the FTC accuses Todd of operating a scam. And in 2010, they take him to court. And ultimately, LifeLock pays a $12 million settlement. Five years later, in 2015, the FTC takes them back to court again, and LifeLock settles with the FTC again, this time for $100 million. Damn. Anyway, in 2016, Todd ends up stepping aside as CEO, but like he's still on the board of the company. By the way, even after the Social Security number marketing fiasco and the $100 million settlement,

LifeLock as a company, they're still around. Like they claim they have more than 80 million paying customers worldwide, so I guess their services must be working for someone.