Surely you’ve heard the radio ad for LifeLock sometime over the past few years. It’s the one where the guy sounds all serious and says, “I’m Todd Davis, the CEO of LifeLock, and what I’m about to say is true. My Social Security Number is…” and then he goes on to give you his real SSN.

I’ve always thought it was a pretty slick marketing gimmick… and simply assumed that it was likely a fake number anyway. Even if you’re pretty confident in your company’s services, identity theft isn’t something you want to go messing around with. I generally assume that identity thieves are sort of a lot like computer hackers–they probably have some pretty good ideas and technical know-how. And you wouldn’t go daring hackers to infiltrate your website, would you?

Well apparently the number quoted in the radio spot is Davis’ real Social Security Number. And apparently it’s inspired at least 87 identity thieves to attempt stealing Todd’s ID. And at least one guy succeeded, convincing a payday loan company to send him $500 after using Davis’ SSN.

Oh, there’s also this part, from the article:

“Attorney David Paris said he found records of other people applying for or receiving driver’s licenses at least 20 times using Davis’ Social Security number…”

Hmmm. Okay, let’s take a poll. Raise your hand if you are really, really surprised to learn that giving out one’s Social to millions of people could lead to your identity being stolen.

You don’t see armored car services challenging the public to test their security prowess by robbing them. You don’t see the CEO of DuPont–which makes Kevlar–daring Americans to test his product’s effectiveness by randomly shooting him on the street. You don’t see Honda commercials that say “We’ve got the highest crash-safety rating in our class, and we invite you to test that by ramming your Accord into the next tree you see.”

Sometimes there’s a really thin line between killer marketing ideas and abject stupidity. And it’s up to me to point out when that line has been crossed.

There is now a class-action lawsuit against LifeLock… of course. Seems that some customers feel they were mislead as to the company’s ability to actually provide identity protection. Hmmm, where would they get that idea?

I almost feel bad for the guy. But then I remember that he gave out his Social Security Number to millions of people and I don’t feel quite as sorry for him.