Brad Stone, in an article just published in the International Herald Tribune indicates some very key investors have picked Debix as their “top dog” in the Identity Theft space. Mr. Stone even tells the story of one investor Gideon Yu (former CFO of YouTube) who personally experienced Identity Theft…and is now backing Debix.
So as consumers, we ask why Debix?
The short answer seems to be a technology. (though we did not verify this directly with Mr. Yu)
Debix offers some leading edge technology that is often overlooked, or perhaps washed out by the high profile marketing by LifeLock. Even the newest addition TrustedID, lines up behind Debix from a technology perspective.
Let’s strip away the marketing for a minute and look at the technology again, and why you should care:
All three companies set your Fraud Alerts at the major credit agencies, TrustedID will even set a Freeze if you want to totally lock things up. All three will insure that the Alerts are reset every 90 days as required.
The difference starts right here –
LifeLock and TrustedID install your phone number into the appropriate places and then presumably check to be sure the Alerts are set – this is great and provides ok ID Theft coverage. If someone tries to open a line of credit in your name, the financial institutions are expected to call your number to confirm. If you have changed your number, or a thief actually has your phone at the time of the credit application, this system can fail – granted, LifeLock’s $1 Million guarantee will be more than enough to cover you, but the fact is, your identity can still be compromised.
Debix takes this to a whole new level – Debix actually places a special phone number in your credit file that rings into the Debix technology, the Debix system then instantly and automatically calls the first number on the contact list you provided at registration, if there is no answer it tries a second, and a third number to reach you. But that’s not all, once the Debix system reaches you, it plays a prerecorded message in your own voice! AND asks you to enter a PIN! Do you see the key differences here?
- Your personal phone numbers are not exposed in your credit file.
- Debix will try up to three different numbers to contact you.
- You will know it’s a valid call from Debix, because it’s your voice.
- Finally, you need to enter your PIN, so even the crook with your cell phone is out of luck.
This is 2-3 layered protection, and it’s also technology with a high “cool factor” with a variety of potential uses.
Kind of a long winded post – but we really want our readers to appreciate the differences, and understand them clearly before selecting an Identity Protection Program.
Oh – and forget the prices mentioned in the article – we have arranged discounts that will get you a year of either Debix (LoudSiren) or LifeLock at well under $100!