There are numerous ways to steal a persons identity. If you have any unpaid debts, your creditors can get the bank to freeze your account in order to satisfy your obligations. Click here. Please. Bankrate.com: 12 Steps for Victims of Identity Fraud, FDIC: Consumer Protection Topics - Cybersecurity. Having a police report filed is beneficial for many situations. How to protect your personal information and privacy, stay safe online, and help your kids do the same. Contact information for major check verification companies are as follows: TeleCheck: 1-800-710-9898 or 1-800-927-0188, International Check Services: 1-800-631-9656. Merchants who process credit card transactions; Most likely any other business that had possession of and may be responsible for the stolen information. Another way identity theft can occur is when someone is not careful with their personal data in public. Although your financial liability for identity theft may be limited, the best course of action is to prevent it in the first place. First, contact an experienced identity theft attorney to learn more about your legal rights and options. $0 cost to you. The second step is to inform any bank or credit card that was impacted by the fraud. The bank will be responsible for covering any losses you might suffer from successful impersonation. If you are warned that your personal information or credit card numbers have been leaked or sold (apps like CreditWise offer alerts of this nature) you should freeze your credit line or start carefully watching your credit card transactions and emails. As a victim of identity theft, you may take action against 3rd party entities. If you're worried. Plus, it's likely that thief will not have assets to recover if you're successful in a civil lawsuit. You dont pay until we win. And remember. This is just a small sample of the cases we accept. Box 740241 Atlanta, GA 30374-0241 To order your report: 1-800-685-111 To report fraud: 1-800-525-6285 TDD: 1-800-255-0056www.equifax.com, TransUnionFraud Victim Assistance P.O. Injunctive relief is often critical in identity theft cases. What's the Penalty for Using a Stolen Credit Card? You have options for who to sue based on your case: There are various legal theories that may apply in an identity theft case. Zander vs LifeLock: What's the Difference? Log in to DoNotPay and select the "Sue Now" product, Enter the dollar amount you are seeking for compensation, Select whether you want to serve a demand letter or file a claim in court, Describe the reasons for the lawsuit and submit any applicable details, including photo evidence. If a debt collector breaks the law, you have one year from that date to sue that collector in a state or federal court. On the site, you can report and put together a plan to recover from identity theft. You may even be able to resolve the debt by responding or showing up in court because some collectors would rather settle than go through extended litigation. Obtaining a Patent: Everything You Need To Know, *If you are having any difficulty accessing your account, please contact us at, 2018 Identity Fraud: Fraud Enter a New Era of Complexity, creditors, collection agencies, and credit reporting companies, contact a local attorney as soon as possible, Disclaimer and a note about Find a Lawyer and Legal Advice . & Copyright 2022, Thomson Reuters. We won every single time! You may never know who committed the fraud using your personal information. A credit report can help identify irregularities that could indicate this form of identity theft. While in law school, her law journal note was selected for first-round publishing, and can be found on various legal research databases. If granted, the defendant will be required to compensate the victim for any out-of-pockets costs resulting from the crime. Identity theft is a form of fraud that happens when an individual uses someone else's personal information (name, social security number, credit card number, etc.) Beyond the criminal penalties that may be imposed on the criminal who steals your identity; you may initiate civil proceedings against 3rd party entities. Get your free case review now or call us toll-free at 1-877-735-8600 today. In addition, there is acivil statute of limitationsyou need to be mindful of. This can be important if you need to deal with creditors, collection agencies, and credit reporting companies in the future. If you are a victim of identity theft, you probably feel angry and anxious. Search "identity theft" on DoNotPay and select the type of incident you would like to report. So, if prevention fails and identity theft prevails, consider consulting an identity theft attorney to help you identify and recover your full potential damages. Regardless of who the target is and how the thief does it, committing identity theft specifically against a child or an elderly person will result in severe legal penalties if convicted. And despite what you may have seen in TV shows, you cant stop things by refusing to accept delivery or service of the lawsuit. Login. Some institutions may require that you file a police report when handling your identity theft case. The online FTC reporting process begins by asking you to identify how the identity thief used your information. Medical Identity Theft:By using another persons name and insurance information, an identity thief can fraudulently receive medical care and services, including prescription drugs and other medical instrumentations. Law, Products There is widespread belief that Uber waited a year before reporting their data breach. Step Three:Contact your bank or financial institution. If you lost $5 million or more in a sophisticated identity theft, we can help. It can take a significant amount of time to remove the reports of fraudulently obtained credit from your credit bureau report. A stolen credit card number or security breach does not have to be reported to the FTC. Check with the company to determine if they will accept the affidavit. The FTC and its law enforcement partners announced actions against several income scams that conned people out of hundreds of millions of dollars by falsely telling them they could make a lot of money. Filing a report with a local police department; Alerting their banks, credit card companies, and other financial or government institutions; Requesting financial or other affected accounts be cancelled or closed; and. Good luck! A similar lawsuit was filed against Wells Fargo in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Many small claims courts require you to make an effort to resolve your dispute before you file a lawsuit in court. If the criminal case is unsuccessful or the victim requires compensation for the crime, they may bring a case in civil court based on a tort law theory. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely. These entities include: Banks Credit Card Companies Credit Bureaus Merchants who process credit card transactions Government agencies Employers, and This complexity can lead to more significant financial losses and make it more difficult for the victim to recover. Several states have established their own identity theft laws making it easier for victims to sue. Many identity theft victims automatically believe that the bank / store / credit card issuer is always liable. For instance, if while they are in a public place they give out information over the phone, such as their credit card or social security number, a criminal can easily overhear it and write down the information to use later. Otherwise, you could end up with a criminal history, fraudulent tax records, and a poor credit score all because a thief decided to steal your identity. They will also provide a personalized recovery plan with tools to help you move forward. The duty they owe is even greater if the bank improperly allows money to be withdrawn from a victims account. She allegedly accessed sensitive data belonging to 106,000,000 Capital One credit card applicants and users. The fraudulent information must be removed from the credit report and an extended fraud alert protection must be assigned to the victims portfolio. In order to recover actual damages or attorneys fees in an action or cross-complaint filed by a person alleging that he or she is a victim of identity theft, the person shall show that he or she provided written notice to the claimant that a situation of identity theft might exist, including, upon written request of the claimant, a valid copy of the police report or the Department of Motor Vehicles investigative report promptly filedat least 30 days prior to his or her filing of the action, or within his or her cross-complaint pursuant to this section. Identity thieves can divert your credit cards to a new address and proceed to charge thousands of dollars in your name. Identity theft is a crime. If a bank has allowed identity theft to occur, you could potentially sue. Look no further than Paige Thompson, the person arrested in the Capital One data breach during the summer of 2019. This needs to be done as soon as possible to limit any losses. Punishment for any related crimes (e.g., mail or credit card fraud); and. ZIP The bank that you're up against gets to pay witnesses to testify on their behalf and can order its own employees to do the same. The staff was amazing, they treated me with the utmost respect and professionalism. This can be important if you need to deal with creditors, collection agencies, and credit reporting companies in the future. Federal Law provides for a liability cap of $50, if you suffer any losses in this way. Tex. Step 2: Complete the FTC Identity Theft Report. Worse, many of the bad actors are overseas or work for hostile nation states. Credit Cards Prior to joining LegalMatch, Jaclyn was a paralegal and freelance writer. Aside from recovering identity theft compensation (i.e., court ordered damages), a victim will also have certain rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), such as stopping creditors and debt collectors from reporting fraudulent accounts, getting extended fraud alert protection on credit reports, and requesting that fraudulent information be removed from credit reports. When applying for new credit, the banks are responsible for verifying the ID of any individual making the application. Thus, any fines the defendant is ordered to pay will go directly to the federal or state government. Typical examples include: Not only can the victim lose his or her life savings, their credit can be ruined and sometimes if the identity thief is successful in obtaining a phony ID, the victim could find a bench warrant in his name for a crime he never committed. Meaning, the most . Cetergy, Inc.: 1-800-437-5120 International Check Services: 1-800-631-9656 Dial 1-800-262-7771 to find out if stolen checks have been passed in your name. According to the Federal Trade Commission, identity theft is on the rise. Identity theft is a crime under federal law, and most states also have laws making it illegal. However, organizations like banks, credit bureaus, and other businesses may have played a part in the crime. Whether your issues are related to identity theftor not, we can help you file police reports in any city, or set up fraud alerts for the major credit bureaus, and do so much more to protect you, including: Whatever issue needs resolved, DoNotPayis here for you. ), February 3, 2022 By Tim Granitz, Managing Partner at Mahany Law, Whistleblowers alerting the government to alleged fraudulent conduct by the Ohio-based drug distributor, Cardinal Health, Read More, The Reigning King of Qui Tam (whistleblower) Actions in the United States, Covert Ops in the War Against the C-Suite Mafia, Active Defective Product and Dangerous Drug Investigations, Tim Granitz, Managing Partner at Mahany Law, Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act, Ohio-Based Cardinal Health Inc. 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