Contact

The National Identity Theft Authority maintains a public contact channel for provider network provider inquiries, professional submissions, and research or editorial correspondence related to the identity theft services sector. This page describes the types of communications handled through this office, what information to include for efficient processing, and the realistic timeframes for response. Questions outside the scope of provider network operations — including legal advice, active fraud investigations, and law enforcement matters — are outside the remit of this office and are directed elsewhere by policy.

What to include in your message

Effective correspondence begins with clear classification of the inquiry. The office handles four primary message types, each requiring specific information:

1. Provider Network provider submissions — Professionals and organizations seeking inclusion in the Identity Theft Providers should include the business or practice name, primary service category (credit monitoring, fraud remediation, forensic accounting, identity restoration, legal representation, or insurance), applicable state licensing information, and any professional credentials recognized by the Federal Trade Commission's identity theft framework or the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC). Submissions that omit licensing jurisdiction or service scope are returned without review.

2. Provider correction requests — Existing entries believed to contain outdated or inaccurate information require the provider name, the specific field in dispute, and documentation supporting the requested correction. Changes to regulatory or licensing data require reference to the issuing authority — for example, a state bar number, a state insurance department license number, or a registered investment adviser number issued under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.

3. Editorial and research inquiries — Journalists, academic researchers, and policy analysts requesting background on the identity theft services sector should identify their institutional affiliation, the scope of the inquiry, and whether the request involves a publication deadline. The FTC's Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book and the ITRC's annual Data Breach Report are the primary public datasets cited in editorial correspondence; inquiries that reference these or equivalent named sources receive priority routing.

4. Technical and operational issues — Reports of broken links, misdirected providers, or search failures within the network should include the page URL, the nature of the error, and the browser and device used.

Messages that combine multiple inquiry types without clear separation between them are processed at the pace of the most complex element. Separating distinct requests into individual submissions accelerates resolution.

Response expectations

Response timelines differ by inquiry classification. Provider Network provider submissions undergo an editorial and compliance review against the standards described in the Identity Theft Provider Network Purpose and Scope before any confirmation is issued. That review process operates on a rolling basis and does not run on a fixed calendar interval.

Provider correction requests tied to verifiable regulatory data — license numbers, FINRA BrokerCheck entries, state insurance department records — are prioritized over corrections involving subjective characterizations of service scope. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the FTC both maintain public registries that are cross-referenced during corrections review.

Research and editorial inquiries receive an acknowledgment as processing allows of receipt. Substantive responses depend on the scope of the request and whether the subject matter falls within provider network operations proper or requires referral to primary source agencies such as the FTC, the Social Security Administration (SSA) Office of the Inspector General, or the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) operated by the FBI.

Technical issue reports are logged and addressed on an operational priority basis. Issues affecting provider network navigation or provider accuracy are treated as higher priority than cosmetic rendering concerns.

No response from this office constitutes legal advice, regulatory guidance, or professional recommendation. Individuals seeking guidance on active identity theft incidents are directed to the FTC's IdentityTheft.gov, the ITRC hotline, or local law enforcement consistent with 18 U.S.C. § 1028 (identity fraud statutes) reporting protocols.

Additional contact options

For matters that fall outside provider network operations, the following named public agencies and resources handle direct consumer and professional needs:

• Federal Trade Commission (FTC) — IdentityTheft.gov is the federal government's centralized identity theft recovery platform. The FTC also maintains the Consumer Sentinel Network, a law enforcement database exceeding 25 million reports used by more than 2,500 law enforcement agencies (FTC Consumer Sentinel Network).
• Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General — Handles reports of Social Security number misuse; reachable through oig.ssa.gov.
• Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) — The FBI's IC3 accepts complaints involving cybercrime-facilitated identity theft at ic3.gov.
• Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) — A nonprofit organization providing victim assistance; the ITRC published data showing 1,862 data compromises in 2021, a 68 percent increase over 2020 (ITRC 2021 Annual Data Breach Report).
• State attorneys general offices — All 50 states maintain consumer protection divisions empowered to investigate identity theft under state statutes; jurisdiction varies by state.

How to reach this office

Correspondence addressed to the National Identity Theft Authority is accepted through the contact form embedded on this page. Physical mail and telephone channels are not maintained for public correspondence at this time.

When completing the contact form, the message category field directly routes the submission to the appropriate review process. Selecting the wrong category is the leading cause of delayed responses — choosing "provider correction" for what is functionally a new submission, for example, routes the message to a queue with different review criteria.

All submissions become part of the provider network's editorial record. Personally identifying information submitted in correspondence is handled consistent with applicable federal privacy standards, including the safeguards outlined under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) to the extent they apply to provider network operations, and FTC guidance on commercial data handling practices.

References

• FTC Consumer Sentinel Network
• ITRC 2021 Annual Data Breach Report