Identity theft is one of the fastest-growing areas of criminal activity in the United States. According to government statistics, more than one in every five people in the country has been the victim of identity theft in recent years, and that number continues to grow. Fraudsters are using much more advanced and complex tactics, and they are often succeeding at stealing your information. In some cases, your information may even be stolen when you thought it was safe.
Identity theft can result in significant financial and emotional costs. In some cases, you may find yourself locked in legal disputes in the wake of what happened. You can be dealing with the fallout of identity theft for many months, and there will be plenty of stress involved.
You can fight identity theft by both taking steps to prevent it from happening in the first place and then fighting back if your rights are being violated in the aftermath. Unfortunately, even if you are using your best efforts to keep your identity safe, service providers who have your data may not be doing the same. In cases like these, someone else can be liable for their failure to protect your data. You can also file lawsuits against someone who is trying to collect on a debt you never incurred or who will not remove the data associated with the identity theft from your credit report.
If someone has stolen your identity and you have experienced issues related to it, you should contact an identity theft lawyer to learn more about your legal rights. An attorney will review your case and help determine whether you can take any legal action to obtain financial compensation.
How to Keep Identity Theft from Happening in the First Place
The first way to fight identity theft is to do everything within your power to keep it from happening in the first place. Some of the steps that you can take to protect yourself from identity theft include the following:
- Protect Your Social Security Number – Stealing your SSN is the most common way that criminals will commit identity theft. Only give out your data when it is necessary to do so and be extremely skeptical when anyone asks for your SSN. If you have your personal information on a piece of paper, make sure to shred it when you no longer need it.
- Be Alert for the Signs of Identity Theft – There are signs that can alert you that identity theft may be occurring. For example, you may get communications from the Internal Revenue Service that do not relate to anything with which you are familiar. You may get communications from creditors with whom you do not remember doing business. Be vigilant and take action at the first sign of any trouble.
- Be Careful Entering Your Personal Information Online – Phishing and spoofing are common ways that criminals obtain your personal data. They may design websites that appear very close to established sites and send you communications designed to steal your passwords. Be very careful before you enter passwords in response to an unsolicited email.
- Use Stronger Passwords – Criminals may even be able to guess your passwords based on information that they can find out about you online, like your birthday, kids names, or address. Try to use unique passwords for each account and use stronger passwords. Additionally, consider using passkeys, which many experts believe provide more security than passwords.
- Monitor Your Credit Reports – You are entitled to one free credit report per year from each of the three major credit bureaus, and you should take advantage of them. Frequently monitor your report to look for any suspicious activity. Oftentimes, a credit report is the first sign that something is wrong. You may even consider paying for a credit monitoring service.
- Shred Any Unnecessary Documents with Personal Information – Be very careful what you keep lying around your home or what you throw out in the trash. If you are disposing of old papers, shred them first and not throw them in the trash. It is not unheard of for identity thieves to steal documents from right outside your house.
You need to be vigilant so you do not make a fraudster’s job any easier for them. However, there is only so much you can do when hackers and identity thieves have such sophisticated methods for stealing your data.
Fighting Identity Theft Once it Happens
You need to take very quick action once you learn that your identity has been stolen to minimize the damage and fallout. If you wait too long after learning about identity theft, the damage can multiply, and you can find yourself involved in disputes or even litigation with creditors who are trying to collect from you.
Freeze Your Credit Report
The first thing that you need to do after you learn of identity theft is to contact one of the three credit bureaus and place a freeze and fraud alert on your report. Reporting the theft to one bureau will freeze your report for all three bureaus. A credit freeze means that creditors will be unable to seek or view your credit report when someone is trying to open an account in your name. The practical effect is that thieves will be unable to open new accounts in your name while the freeze is in place.
Close Accounts That Have Been Wrongfully Opened or Tampered With
You must take immediate action to close accounts that have been fraudulently opened in your name to avoid being held responsible for them in the future. You may learn about these accounts by monitoring your credit report or receiving bills from unfamiliar parties.
If any existing account was tampered with, you should also take steps to close that account or change account numbers and passwords. You should continue to vigilantly monitor your credit for some time afterward to make sure that no other accounts have been opened in your name. If you learn of anything you did not authorize, you must close that account instantly.
Report the Identity Theft to Law Enforcement and the Government
You should also immediately report identity theft to local law enforcement. A police report is perhaps the most important document you have that helps you after an identity theft. When a police officer puts their signature on the page and verifies that identity theft happens, it provides proof that you can use when creditors are trying to collect money they claim you owe. One of the first things that you may be asked for is a copy of the police report. The document should be dated very closely to when you learned of the identity theft (preferably immediately after) to provide you with the maximum possible amount of consumer protection.
You should also report the identity theft to the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC is not a law enforcement agency, and they will not investigate what happened and try to catch the perpetrator. That said, they will enter your information into a national database, and they may provide you with additional documentation that creditors may ask for when you report that you were a victim of identity theft.
Change Existing Passwords
You never know how the identity thief may have obtained your data. You should err on the side of caution and assume that they have all of your personal data, account numbers, and passwords. Change all the passwords on existing accounts. Make sure to use strong passwords that nobody can guess. If the thief has your personal information, you may even assume that they know the names of family members and can easily figure out weaker passwords.
Suing an Entity Responsible for a Data Breach
If someone else was tasked with protecting and securing your data and they failed to do so, you can file a claim for a data breach. Numerous entities, such as Experian, have had to pay large settlements for wide-scale breaches caused by their own lack of diligence in protecting their customers’ information. You can obtain the actual damages that you suffered from any data breach, along with potential punitive damages, depending on the level of fault that the responsible party had.
Suing a Creditor Who Wrongfully Tries to Collect a Debt from You
You can often fight back when you have experienced difficulty in the aftermath of identity theft. Federal and state laws give you certain rights when you have been the victim of identity theft. Under state law, you can often file a counterclaim when you have been sued for a debt that was the result of identity theft.
Creditors need to perform their own investigation of debts, including any identity theft reports that consumers have filed. If they persist in trying to collect from you when there is evidence of identity theft, you can sue the creditor. Not only must they pay your damages, but they can be ordered to pay you an additional penalty on top of that.
Filing Lawsuits Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
When you file a report of identity theft, it should stop everything as far as debt collection is concerned. A debt collector cannot continue to try to collect from you when they learn that the debt was incurred by identity theft. They also cannot use abusive or deceptive methods to try to collect debt from you. If the debt collector continues to try to collect a debt that was the result of identity theft or uses illegal debt collection methods, you can file a lawsuit against them directly.
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act allows you to file a lawsuit against debt collectors who engage in any one of a number of restricted practices. If you win or settle your case, the debt collector will need to pay you damages.
If you win your FDCPA lawsuit, you may be entitled to the following damages:
- $1,000 in statutory damages (a one-time payment and not on a per-violation basis)
- Emotional distress damages that you suffered from the debt collector’s wrongful actions
- Your actual financial losses that the debt collector caused
- Attorney’s fees
Federal law does not allow for punitive damages, but you can obtain them when you file a debt collection lawsuit under state law.
Filing a Lawsuit Against a Credit Bureau Under the FCRA
You can also file a lawsuit against the credit bureau under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The FCRA requires the credit bureau to perform an investigation when you challenge derogatory information on your credit report. When you have proof that identity theft occurred, they will need to remove this information. If they fail to act diligently in the wake of identity theft, you can file a lawsuit directly against the credit bureau, and you can recover damages.
Contact an Identity Theft Attorney if You Are Having Difficulties After Identity Theft
If you want to fight back and hold criminals responsible for what happened to you, it is best to contact an experienced consumer protection attorney once you realize that you are having problems. Your lawyer will review your case and determine whether you have a potential lawsuit against anyone. They can also handle some communications on your behalf when you are experiencing problems with creditors or other issues.
You may not know of your legal rights when you have been the victim of identity theft. You may make the wrongful assumption that you have to pay all debts that are incurred in your name. Just because someone has stolen your data does not make you legally responsible for everything that occurs afterward, and it does not give anyone else a license to do whatever they want to try to collect from you.
You do not need to pay out of pocket to hire a consumer protection attorney. Most identity theft lawyers work on a contingency basis, meaning that they are not paid unless you win your case. Depending on the applicable law, your attorney’s fee may even be covered by the defendant. In the meantime, you do not have to pay your lawyer anything unless you win your case. Contact an identity theft lawyer near you today to learn more.