Remedies Available to Victims of Identity Theft

Publication Date: September 2003

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

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According to the Federal Trade Commission, identity theft is the most common complaint from consumers in all fifty states, and complaints regarding identity theft have grown for three consecutive years.1 Victims of identity theft may incur damaged credit records, unauthorized charges on credit cards, and unauthorized withdrawals from bank accounts. Sometimes, victims must change their telephone numbers or even their Social Security numbers. Victims may also need to change addresses that were falsified by the impostor.

This report provides an overview of the federal laws that could assist victims of identity theft with purging inaccurate information from their credit records and removing unauthorized charges from credit accounts, as well as federal laws that impose criminal penalties on those who assume another person's identity through the use of fraudulent identification documents. State laws and recent legislative proposals (S. 22, S. 153, S. 223, S. 228, S. 745, S. 1533, S. 1581, H.R. 220, H.R. 637, H.R. 818, H.R. 858, H.R. 1636, H.R. 1729, H.R. 1731, H.R. 1931, H.R. 2035, 2617, H.R. 2622, H.R. 2633, and H.R. 2971) aimed at preventing identity theft and providing additional remedies are also discussed. This report will be updated as events warrant.