With the advent of technology, risks also come to the forefront. Even though identity theft can take place even without the internet, it facilitates the occurrence of this crime. You have to face an extremely stressful situation when your identity is stolen, especially when you discover the incident much later after the occurrence. Theft of your identity is a crime although you might now know the detrimental effects when you become a victim.
When a lot of damage is done to your credit, you lose money, and your identity is stolen, you have to find out whether you are eligible to file a civil lawsuit in the court. A few states allow people to sue the offenders under the laws of identity theft. However, you can still pursue the lawsuit even when your state does not include this provision.
How to sue
You have heard about identity theft attorney Georgia, so be prepared to hire one when you become a victim in Cobb County. The motto of identity theft is financial gain and some of the personal details that are stolen include the date of birth, address, information of bank account, credit card and social security numbers. As soon as the thief accesses the information, impersonation of the victim is the next step. After gaining thorough access to personal and financial information of an individual, the thief often pretends to be the victims and use the information to make a purchase or open a line of credit.
When you realize that you are a victim of identity theft, you can work with the legal professionals to find out the remedies. Furthermore, the victims may also sue the thieves under consumer protection laws and state consumer privacy laws.
Operation of the thieves
The identity thieves gain access to such things as the personal identification number or the PIN, credit report and history, and the scores through various methods that are highly sophisticated and unlawful. Most of these activities such as phishing and hacking are identified as some sort of cybercrime. On the other hand, there are certain low-key methods as well through which they acquire information from an individual’s mail, wallet, and purse. Try to consider taking help from a fraud defense attorney to know how to move ahead with the case.
Legal theory for suing
You can always sue a thief when considerable damage occurs, but you may find it hard to sue someone as it may be hard to locate them. For instance, you can sue the businesses or the credit bureaus for divulging your credit information to unknown people. However, various legal theories may apply while dealing with a case of identity theft such as breach of duty invading the privacy of the victim, inflicting emotional distress on someone, and negligence.
Role of a lawyer
Figuring out which legal theory applies in your case of identity theft can be daunting, but a lot is going to depend on the facts related to the case. Apart from this, there are civil statutes of limitations that exist which require you to file a lawsuit within a specific timeframe. To understand how to file a lawsuit when you are a victim of identity theft, it is necessary to hire an identity theft lawyer who is well-versed with all the legal theories that exist along with the civil procedures.
Holding the thief liable
When it comes to suing a victim for fraud, using the state consumer privacy and the protection laws that apply is the norm. Often, the main thief is not the only person involved in the crime and there may be others that may have access to the information that has been stolen such as banks, financial institutions, and the credit bureaus. Accordingly, the entities such as the credit card companies or the banks that help in processing the fraudulent information and the transactions can be sued under negligence. However, the plaintiff filing the lawsuit must prove during the trial that the defendant owed them some duties that they breached resulting in damages.
Apart from this, the defendant can also be sued under breach of fiduciary duty when a fiduciary bank leaves its network unsecured and failing to maintain the privacy of the victim’s information.
Recovery in the case
You might wonder what you can recover when you pursue a lawsuit for punishing the identity thieves. Through the application of legal theories, the victims can recover financial damages. Apart from this, the victims can be rewarded with punitive damages and they are provided to make the thieves deter from committing the same crimes again. However, awarding discretionary relief to the victims lies at the sole discretion of the judges. To understand how the relief for the damages is going to come, you have to speak to a lawyer for reviewing the entire facts associated with the case and determine what applies in your situation.
