Category Archives: Identity Theft

FTC Announces Identity Theft Awareness Week

It’s Identity Theft Awareness Week, Jan. 29-Feb. 2. The Federal Trade Commission says this week it “will host free podcasts, webinars, Facebook Live interviews, and other events focused on avoiding and recovering from identity theft and spotting scams.” Join the FTC in spreading helpful information for consumers on social media.

Second Circuit Addresses Impact of Transunion on Risk-Based Standing Precedent

In Bohnak v. Marsh & McLennan Companies, the Second Circuit considered how the Supreme Court’s 2021 decision in TransUnion, LLC v. Ramirez impacted earlier Second Circuit precedent as to how to establish Article III standing in data breach cases. In short, the court held that TransUnion altered its precedent as to whether an injury arising […]

4th Circuit: Lack of Article III standing resuscitates state-law identity theft protection claim

In its decisions in Spokeo v. Robins and TransUnion v. Ramirez, the Supreme Court held that consumers lack Article III standing to challenge violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act absent the showing of some concrete harm beyond the publication of inaccurate credit information. On Tuesday, the Fourth Circuit confronted how those decisions interact with […]

Study examines whether data breach notification laws work

Aniket Kesari of NYU’s Information Law Institute has written Do Data Breach Notification Laws Work? Here’s the abstract: Over 2.8 million Americans have reported being victims identify theft in recent years, costing the U.S. economy at least $13 billion in 2020. In response to this growing problem, all 50 states have enacted some form of data […]

Luguri & Strahilevitz paper on how online companies manipulate consumers using dark patterns–and UDAP laws

Jamie Luguri and Lior Strahilevitz, both of Chicago, have written Shining a Light on Dark Patterns. Here is the abstract: Dark patterns are user interfaces whose designers knowingly confuse users, make it difficult for users to express their actual preferences, or manipulate users into taking certain actions. They typically exploit cognitive biases and prompt online consumers […]

Phishing Emails Now Purporting to Come From Law School Deans!

by Jeff Sovern Phishing emails purporting to come for financial institutions and others have long been an unfortunate fact of life for consumers (for a reports of phishing emails supposed to be from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, go here, and the concept of phishing has even shown up in the title […]

Holding Equifax Accountable

Last week, in an opinion piece in the Washington Post, WashU law professor Danielle D'Onfro proposed one way to hold Equifax accountable: "some old-fashioned judge-made doctrine." According to D'Onfro, "the data economy has outgrown our consumer protection regulations and we are on our own." She refers to a "Swiss cheese system of regulations that carry […]

Experian ID Theft Survey Reveals Troubling Information

Here.  According to Experian, in "2016, over 15 million Americans were victims of identity theft, up 16 percent from the previous year."  Some upsetting findings: • Only half (49 percent) of respondents feel they are likely to become a victim of identity theft * * * • A significant majority of respondents (72 percent) think […]

Philadelphia Fed Authors on What Consumers Learn From Identity Thefts

Julia S. Cheney, Robert M. Hunt, Vyacheslav Mikhed, and Dubravka Ritter all of the Philadelphia Fed, have written Identity Theft as a Teachable Moment.  Here is the abstract: This paper examines how instances of identity theft that are sufficiently severe to induce consumers to place an extended fraud alert in their credit reports affect their […]