Identity Theft Destroys Your Credit, Finances, and Peace of Mind.
Credit and finance companies didn’t steal your identity. So why do they keep reporting all of that fraudulent activity as though it’s yours?
- Don’t recognize that loan or those charges? Didn’t authorize that withdrawal? Never opened those accounts? Debt Collectors on the phone? Credit score tanked?
- We help identity theft victims recover from the brutal consequences of being targeted.
- There are no out-of-pocket fees. We get paid when we settle or win.
About Us
Advocates for Identity Theft Victims & more
Founded by attorneys David Chami and Daniel Cohen, the Consumer Justice Law Firm put down shared roots in New York and Arizona before growing into a thriving nationwide consumer protection and employment law firm committed to fighting for fair treatment and accountability. The firm is stacked with top-tier legal talent on a mission to shift the power dynamic from big corporate carelessness to individual consumer justice. Our practice areas broadly cover the scenarios that most immediately and directly impact a consumer’s financial and overall well-being, such as credit reporting mistakes, background check errors, tenant screening errors, debt collection harassment, identity theft recovery, and labor and employment violations, including workplace discrimination.
One of our leading practice areas is helping identity theft victims recover by upholding and protecting their rights under federal and state law. By focusing on consumer rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Fair Credit Billing Act, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and the Electronic Funds Transfer Act, we pull from the full spectrum of legal options to build the best case possible on your behalf. Whether you need to dispute unauthorized charges, be shielded from unjustified debt collections, or fix fraudulent entries in your credit and background reports, we are your most powerful advocate. We’ll do everything the law allows to hold companies accountable for the role they play, correct their mistakes, and get you money.
And we don’t stop there. Not a victim of identity theft, but just the victim of a broken system that is far too reckless with your data? Been denied a job, mortgage, auto loan, rental application, benefits, insurance, personal loan, or any other opportunity based on inaccurate, misleading, or false information in a credit, background, or tenant screening report? Targeted by relentless debt collectors for misreported or inaccurate debt data? Not being paid or treated fairly by your employer? We can help with any of these and more. The Consumer Justice Law Firm works to get our clients every dollar owed, equal access to every opportunity, corrections across every consumer report, and money to help make you whole.
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How to Detect Identity Theft
First, understand that with the volume and frequency of data leaks these days, there is a very good chance that your personally identifying information is already in the hands of cyber criminals or available for sale on the dark web. We recommend using some of the free credit protection services available through the credit bureaus or your credit card companies to prevent identity theft in the first place.
If someone does have your data and bad intentions, they can quite easily begin to make a mess of your financial and credit profile through unauthorized, fraudulent transactions. We recommend monitoring your credit reports and bank statements regularly to catch and kill identity theft attempts early. But, even if you aren’t in the habit of keeping watch, you will eventually run into clear evidence that someone is fraudulently using your data to access credit, accounts, and other opportunities. So keep an eye out for these signs and anything similar:
Unexpected Credit Denial
If getting turned down for a loan, credit card, mortgage, or other loan or financing opportunity is a surprise, you need to investigate.
Inexplicable Credit Drop
Any sudden or sharp drop in your credit score is a red flag.
Unauthorized Credit Checks
If you didn’t authorize having your credit pulled, someone else did.
Unknown Loans
Store cards, credit cards, and other loan products that aren’t yours but show up on your credit profile in your name point to credit fraud.
Collections You Don’t Recognize
Notices or phone calls from debt collection agencies seeking payment on accounts you never opened or services you never arranged for can quickly spiral into a debt harassment nightmare.
Unauthorized Bank Withdrawals
Money leaving your bank accounts without your knowledge needs immediate attention.
Shocking Loss of Benefits
No longer receiving benefits that you have been receiving or should be receiving can mean someone else is getting them in your name.
Questionable Account Updates
Receiving unexpected confirmation from banks, lenders, and other accounts that your address, email, password, or other info, has been updated in their system should be taken seriously.
How it works
Steps to Take After Identity Theft
Talk to a lawyer
What makes recovering from identity theft tricky is that some claims are time-barred and have to be dealt with rapidly, while other claims get lost in a system that is supposed to investigate and correct errors but frequently falls short. A lawyer will clearly set out your rights, guide you through the dispute and recovery process, and get you compensation.
Let the credit & finance companies know
Carefully review your credit report from each credit bureau and your account statements from each financial company (credit, banking, investment, benefits, store accounts, etc). Note every instance of wrongful or inaccurate data, no matter how small. Report and dispute the bad data or unauthorized activity as soon as possible. Freeze your credit.
File a criminal report
File a report with your local police, your state’s Attorney General (if applicable), and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Filing a report paves the way for criminal prosecution, but it also supports your efforts to clear your credit record of false debts, loans, withdrawals, etc.
Legal Services
How An Identity Theft Attorney Leads You to a Full Recovery
Legal Guidance
We have no problem telling you that you don’t need an attorney to battle back from being victimized by identity theft and fraud. Just as someone accused of a crime can represent themselves in court, you are free to pursue data disputes and corrections on your own. But we’re 100% confident that you’ll wish you hadn’t. Identity theft attorneys make recovery easier.
Identity theft recovery is a complicated and involved process that requires (1) identifying every piece of false data that has been created in your name and reported as belonging to you, (2) knowing the full complement of your rights and the wrongdoer’s obligations under the relevant federal (FCRA, EFTA, FDCPA, and FCBA) and state laws, (3) being aware of all relevant statutes of limitations for each and every detail, (4) knowing which credit reporting and data furnishing companies to contact, (5) understanding how to dispute errors and gather evidence without infringing any of your legal rights, (6) being able to hold companies accountable for stalls, delays, and inadequate investigations, (7) preventing or stopping debt collectors from the relentless pursuit of unpaid debts and accounts that you never authorized or opened, (8) holding any credit bureau, data furnisher, or other company accountable for prolonging or worsening the harm done to you, and (9) filing a lawsuit to get you money.
At Consumer Justice, our legal guidance covers all of that and more. Don’t underestimate the peace of mind that comes from knowing every next move is the right move toward recovery.
Not every identity theft case ends in a lawsuit, but many do. The reason that litigation usually becomes necessary is a systemic failure on the part of many data furnishers and consumer reporting agencies to simply do the right thing. What do we mean by that? We mean that the consumer data industry is powered far more by reporting algorithms than it is by people. So, seemingly simple things, like being notified of fraudulent charges due to identity theft, that should have a relatively straightforward solution, become prolonged and painful battles.
Unfortunately, in the world of consumer data, the struggles and requests of any one individual are easily lost in an automated tech void. While algorithms may help produce mass quantities of credit reports on a regular basis, they are particularly bad at rectifying problems that pop up, such as the credit reporting nightmare that happens after identity thieves strike.
Knowing when, how, and who to sue is everything. Our legal team may be able to file a lawsuit against those companies that (1) caused or enabled data breaches that lead to your identity theft, (2) failed to use adequate methods to prevent, investigate, or correct bad data generated by fraud, (3) engaged in harassment (such as unscrupulous debt collectors) for non-payment of fraudulent charges, loans, and accounts, (4) failed to act within the legal time frame for investigating and fixing disputed data, and (5) received notice of identity theft but continued to report the false information anyway.
Who we sue to make you whole
You Pay Nothing, They Pay Our Fees
One of the most important and least known facts about embarking on the identity theft recovery journey is that you don’t have to pay out of pocket for legal help. The same laws that grant you rights, protect your interests, prevent further harm, and hold financial and credit reporting companies accountable for their mistakes, correction refusals, and inadequate investigations also say that the companies you sue have to pay your legal bills when you settle or win. The basic idea behind this feature of the law is that you should not have to spend your own money or take on debt to dispute errors and demand corrections of your data since you aren’t the one who created the problem in the first place.
At Consumer Justice, we respect this fee shifting provision for the role it plays in our legal system, especially since it serves as an equalizer, bringing justice to everyone, including those who otherwise couldn’t afford to work with an attorney. We value each and every client and every case, and appreciate that the law has carved out a way to center equity and fairness in legal representation for consumers harmed by big business data errors.
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What Our Clients Are Saying
Hold Negligent Companies Accountable
Talk to us today to gain insight into the identity theft recovery process and learn how we can help.