Identity theft is a crime: Resources from the Government
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Guide for Victims of Identity Theft

Guide for Assisting Identity Theft Victims

Welcome to the Guide for Assisting Identity Theft Victims (Guide). The Guide was developed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to help attorneys and victim service providers chart their way through and resolve legal problems that pro bono clients may have following the theft of their identity. 

Background
The ABA supports this initiative to provide legal assistance to victims of identity theft. At the February 2008 ABA Midyear Meeting, the House of Delegates adopted resolution Report 102B. The resolution urges national, federal, state, tribal, territorial and local bar associations, in cooperation with state and local pro bono, lawyer referral, and legal aid programs, to establish programs to help or provide representation for victims of identity theft who need assistance in recovering from the crime.

The resolution was sponsored by the ABA Sections on Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice, Antitrust Law, Business Law, Criminal Justice, and Individual Rights & Responsibilities, as well as the Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defendants.

Broadening the Scope
The Guide primarily deals with rights under the FTC’s purview, for example, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and the Fair Credit Billing Act.

We would appreciate your help to broaden the scope of the Guide. We want to include advice for attorneys and victim assistance professionals on other, non-financial types of identity theft, including mortgage, criminal, and medical identity theft.

We also encourage you to add state-specific information to the Guide on your state bar web page or other state resource guide.

Please contact us at probonoguide@ftc.gov if you can draft text or provide resources on these types of issues. 

Navigation Tips
To navigate through the guide, click on the icon at the left. Then click on the Section that you want to read.

Hyperlinks are provided throughout the guide where cross-references and URLs appear.

Note: When working with the sample letters and other documents in Word, be aware that different versions of the software may alter the symbols and punctuation.

Page updated: July 22, 2010.

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IDTheft.gov is your one stop resource for government information about identity theft.