<prompt> Human: Are there better alternatives?  <response>: Consumer Reports and others have repeatedly and openly stated that LifeLock is basically a scam. No Longer Trust LifeLock? Whats a Consumer to Do? Is LifeLock Worth the Cost? Is your identity safer with LifeLock? Lifelock Dinged 12 Million for Deceptive Business PracticesInstead of opening an account with LifeLock or some equivalent, you, yourself can alert the credit monitoring bureausreporting agencies hereafter, CRAs and get a fraud flag placed on your accounts immediately. All you have to do is put it in place at one bureau and they will all be notified. However, this lasts for only 90 days, meaning that if you dont want to be contacting them every three months, you need to escalate it a bit. Experian Freeze Center Transunion Credit Freeze Center Equifax Credit Fraud Alert CenterYou can get some decent guidance at IdentityTheft.gov though they dont actually do much of anything for you. They tell you what you ought to do.If you want something more permanent with the CRAs, they can do a fraud alert that lasts for 7 years, but IME that requires some documentation, like a police report, which you must furnish them a copy of. You can also do a credit freeze. So far as I understand it, the fraud alert is simply that. Any bank or business who does a hard pull on your credit record will be advised that you reported some form of identity theft. Theyre supposed to do due diligence before extending credit in any form to verify that you are, indeed, the person who is making the application for credit, and not some thief. A credit freeze, OTOH, is just that: a freeze, and as others have indicated, it means no one can do a hard pull on your credit file unless you authorize it.The OP didnt specify what kind of ID theft they had experienced, but a common one these days is fraudulent tax returns, which can hold up a refund for months. To prevent this, you should get an ID protection PIN from the IRS ASAP. Another thing you might want to do is jigger your state and federal income tax withholding so as to not have any refunds coming. The IRS has a withholding calculator which can help you with this your state may have something similar. You need to be close, because the IRS will hit you with a penalty if you significantly underpay your taxes. Im sure your state will do the same. I dont know if any states offer ID protection PINS, but mine does not. However, IME most fraudulent tax returns are filed electronically, and Im not sure you can file a state return electronically without a federal tax return for the same year being filed electronically and accepted, so if you protect your federal return with a PIN, it should help to cover the situation with your state. 