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IDENTITY THEFT LAWYERS
Identity theft is one of the most savage crimes that can be committed today. It can result in the destruction of your credit, loss of your life savings, inability to obtain further credit/finance opportunities, loss of potential job opportunities (in particular, banks and financial institutions find it especially important for their potential employees to maintain strong credit), and apartment or home purchases. Businesses want to keep you on the hook for fraudulent transactions, no matter how obvious it is that you are not the liable party instead of acknowledging it was a criminal – a fraudster who the business will likely never locate and recover the lost proceeds from.
What is Identity Theft?
Identity theft occurs when an individual uses your personal identifying information (your name, birthday, social security number, etc.) without authorization. Identity theft is typically motivated by financial gain by fraudsters. In 2021, approximately 23.9 million people were victims of identity theft. A majority of those victims (about 76%) experienced some type of misuse of at least one existing account, such as a credit card or a bank account. Astonishingly, in total, identity theft victims experienced financial losses of approximately $16.4 billion in 2021.
How Does Identity Theft Traditionally Occur?
Some of the more traditional methods of identity theft can occur through the following circumstances:
- Established Relationships: sadly, family members, friends, roommates (and the like), have easy access to your personal identifying information (wallet, computer, mail, etc.) and will use your trust in them to steal your information and commit fraud.
- Phone: where fraudsters obtains your information by claiming they are calling on behalf of a trusted institution and falsely state they have a legitimate need for your information.
- Vishing: a type of phone scam where fraudsters use promises like the offer of a prize, or threats, to prompt victims to provide their information.
- Lost Personal Items: loss of your wallet, cell phone or similar item that contains highly confidential personal information.
- Trash: identity thieves will go through your garbage to obtain your personal identifying information, typically through discarded but still legible documents.
- Co-workers: co-workers who have access to your personal information provided in conjunction with your employment.
Understanding Your Rights: The Fair Credit Reporting Act
How Do Identity Thieves Use Technology for their Benefit?
With technological advances, identity thieves have expanded their reach. For instance, identity thieves now can obtain your information through:
- Data breaches: gaining unauthorized access to data in a system or computer of a company or institution that you have trusted with your information.
- Phishing: emails used to deceive a victim into providing personal or financial information.
- Smishing: the use of text messaging impersonating a trusted organization (or even a friend) to trick a victim into providing personal and financial information.
- Fake Websites: websites that are created to look like lawful and established organizations where a victim is tricked into providing online credentials.
- Skimming: when a criminal steals your information by manipulating an electronic card reader so that the fraudster acquires your credit information. Skimming can happen at any electronic terminal, such as credit card readers used in stores for making payments, ATM machines, and gas pumps, to name a few.
- Contactless Payment: a thief can use a device to read information from a credit card (or other payment source) that is used for contactless transactions.
- Public Internet: a criminal can gain access to a public wi-fi connection and intercept sensitive information that is sent online by the victims who uses the same wi-fi connection.
- Public USB Charging (also known as “juice jacking”): fraudsters can upload malware (a type of software) that allows them to access your phone, and the information stored on it while you are charging your phone.
How is My Fraudulently Obtained Information Used?
Fraudsters use unlawfully obtained information in various ways, most typically to: open new bank or credit card accounts, opening new lines of credit with banking institutions, making unauthorized purchases with existing accounts of the victim, filing fraudulent tax returns, purchasing cell phone equipment (or other items) for later sale of the item, renting apartments, taking cash advances out on existing credit cards, transferring funds from existing bank accounts, obtaining employment under the victim’s name and even obtaining health insurance or health care services under the victim’s name. The possibilities for wrongdoing are endless. Anything you can do personally with your information, so can a criminal.
What Can You Do to Protect Yourself Against Identity Theft?
There’s no guaranteed method for stopping an identity thief. That’s the unfortunate truth. And with nearly all transactions in this modern era involving electronic transmissions, exposing yourself to identity theft to some degree is unavoidable. However, there are some steps you can take to minimize potential of this crime from occurring or continuing to occur:
- Be sure that the information you share is with a legitimate business or trusted individual.
- Never share your information with someone that calls you for the first time, regardless of what institution s/he claims to be from.
- Be wary of how you access the internet, especially when traveling. Use a hotspot or other internet service that is personal and private to you, and not through public wi-fi.
- Confirm the legitimacy of the individual or business you share the information with prior to doing so, regardless of how reliable they may initially seem.
- Keep records of your accounts, transactions and use of your finances. This is not only helpful in recognizing any unlawful use of your accounts, if it does occur, but may help in proving to the bank and credit reporting agencies that you are not responsible for any fraudulent conduct.
- Sign up for a credit monitoring service so you can receive immediate updates as to your credit usage. However, be wary of any arbitration clauses contained within the fine print of any subscription you sign up for. These clauses can waive your right to courts and limit your potential recovery.
What are Signs that You May be a Victim of Identity Theft?
None of these are dispositive of you being a victim of identity theft. And in some instances, they may simply be the result of some kind of clerical error. However, if you are involved in one or more of the following situations, you may have had your identity compromised:
- Receiving bills or statements for accounts that you never opened.
- Receiving letters regarding credit card or loan denials for products that you never applied for.
- Being locked out of your online access to one or more accounts.
- Transactions for your accounts that you never authorized or engaged in.
- Mail that you are expecting does not arrive.
- Calls from debt collectors for debts that you do not owe.
- Rejection of your tax return.
- Inquiries on your credit report from institutions that you never applied for financing from.
- Medical bills relating to treatment that you never requested or received.
What to Do If You Are the Victim of Identity Theft?
Once you are a victim of identity theft, until you take action to stop or limit the criminal(s) actions, you are in danger of further financial harm, and untold emotional distress. Some of the steps that you should take are:
- Freeze all of your accounts. Contact all financial institutions that you have open accounts with and ask them to freeze your accounts. This includes all financial accounts that you have credit card accounts, bank accounts, online trading accounts, other investment accounts or any other accounts that have any financial value.
- Freeze your Credit Reports: Freezing your credit reports will prevent any further opening of accounts.
- Request Documentation: Request documentation of the fraudulent account or transaction from the institution that was involved in the transaction. This will provide you with additional details as to what is actually happening. For instance, if the fraudulent debt has already been referred to a debt collector, the debt collector is required to provide you with documents that verify the debt.
- Request that Fraud Alerts be Placed on Your Credit Reports. You can contact the three major credit reporting agencies (Trans Union, Experian and Equifax) and request that Fraud Alerts be placed on your credit reports. The credit reporting agencies can be contacted at the following telephone numbers: Trans Union: 800-916-8800; Experian 1-888- 397-3742; and Equifax: 800-525-6285.
- Obtain Copies of Your Credit Report: After you have requested that credit reporting agencies include a fraud alert within your credit file, you will then be entitled to two free credit reports for a year time period starting from when the fraud alert was placed.
- File an FTC Fraud Report: Filing an FTC Fraud report will be helpful for later use to submit and to assist with demonstrating that the fraudulent transaction was the result of a criminal and not yourself. Here is the link for completing your FTC fraud report: https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/assistant
- File a Police Report: submitting a report to your local police station will be helpful for later use, like the completion of an FTC Fraud Report, to assist with demonstrating that the fraudulent transaction was the result of a criminal.
- Records. Keep detailed records of all phone calls and documents relating to the issue. These documents will be pivotal in demonstrating to any institution that the fraudulent activity was not a result of your actions and was without any consent or authorization.
Will You Ever Recover from the Harm that the Identity Thief Caused?
You should. However, the road to potentially reclaiming your identity and financial well-being is typically a long one. Companies do not want to believe that you were victim of identity theft. Regardless of the number of times you dispute a fraudulent transaction, the information you provide, and reasons as to why a fraudulent transaction was the result of criminal conduct – companies will want to hold you liable. It is easier for companies to hold you liable for the financial loss instead of acknowledging it was a fraudster – an individual who the company likely will never locate or be able to recover the lost proceeds from.
Consumer Lawyers Can Help You Take Back Your Identity and Finances
Identity theft is one of the most savage crimes that can be committed today. It can result in the destruction of your credit, loss of your life savings, inability to obtain further credit/finance opportunities, loss of potential job opportunities (in particular, banks and financial institutions find it especially important for their potential employees to maintain strong credit), and apartment or home purchases. Businesses want to keep you on the hook for fraudulent transactions, no matter how obvious it is that you are not the liable party instead of acknowledging it was a criminal – a fraudster who the business will likely never locate and recover the lost proceeds from.
It can seem like an endless and unwinnable battle with these companies, but all hope is not lost. This is why law firms like The Kim Law Firm, LLC (“KLF”) exist. To help individuals victimized by fraudulent conduct who want to regain their financial freedom and emotional wellbeing. Here are a few examples of where KLF represented fraud victims who took action against credit reporting agencies and financial institutions relating to transactions engaged in by criminals with their personal identifying information:
- Johnson v. Bread Financial Payments Inc., No. 2:24-cv-3131 (SD OH June 2024): matter where the KLF represented a fraud victim with credit reporting and debt issues relating to the Plaintiff’s family member unlawfully opening a credit card in his name with Comenity Bank.
- Jenkins v. Experian Information Solutions, Inc., et al., No. 2:23-cv-3065 (EDPA Aug. 2023): matter where the KLF represented a fraud victim with credit reporting and debts issues relating to Plaintiff’s family member unlawfully opening credit cards with Discover and Barclays Bank in her name.
- Cook v. Trans Union, LLC, et al., No. 2:22-cv-829 (EDPA March 2022): matter where the KLF represented a fraud victim with credit reporting and debt issues relating to an unknown criminal opening a Citibank credit card in his name.
The Kim Law Firm, LLC (“KLF”) aggressively enforces consumer rights. We fight for the little guy.
Do you have issues relating to identity theft for accounts on your credit report that you do not belong to you, transactions with existing financial institutions that are not yours, or receiving debt collection calls for debts that don’t belong to you?
If so, we can help. As a consumer protection law firm, we are here to support you in regaining your freedom.
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Case results depend on a variety of factors, and prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. The information on this website may not reflect current legal developments and is provided without any knowledge as to the reader/user’s specific circumstances. The application and impact of laws varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Attorneys’ fees and compensation are provided from a successful resolution. The law firm has offices in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Cherry Hill, New Jersey.
