Judge Rules Against Identity Theft Victims

Tens of thousands of Old National Bancorp customers
whose personal and financial information was
hijacked by a computer hacker cannot recover
damages from the Indiana banking institution
who lost the data in 2005, a federal appeals
court ruled Thursday.

As reported in an original story by Wired:

"a proposed class action against Old National
Bancorp, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
said damages were unavailable to victims of
data theft if those victims did not suffer
economically."

Illustrating just how frustrating it can
be for an identity theft victim to get
relief after the crime has been committed
against them, the story continues with an
example of why federal court ruled issued
a ruling against the consumers and not the
bank:

"Without more than allegations of increased
risk of future identity theft, the plaintiffs
have not suffered a harm that the law is
prepared to remedy."

Pointing out the need for banks to institute
their own monitoring solutions instead of
consumer's having to carry that burden,
the story continues with:

The bank's customers also demanded a
"monitoring procedure to insure prompt
notice to plaintiffs of any attempt to
use their confidential personal
information stolen from the
defendants."

So, our tip for today is to take full control
over your financial safety. One effective
measure to help prevent against identity
theft is to enroll in automatic credit monitoring.

Also, make sure to take advantage of the often
times free account monitoring services your
bank may provide.

Finally, get your credit profile and background
checked out 2 - 3 times per year to make sure
an identity theft criminal has not already made
you a victim.