New Hampshire Identity Theft Laws: RSA 638:26 and Your Security Freeze Rights

New Hampshire prosecutes identity theft as a class A felony under RSA 638:26, and it has had its own state-law security freeze statute since 2007, several years before the 2018 federal freeze law. New Hampshire also gives victims a statutory right to a police report, something not every state guarantees in writing, and a separate civil chapter, RSA 359-I, that lets a victim sue for damages and clear their records.

This article addresses New Hampshire's criminal and civil identity theft statutes and its state-specific security freeze and victim-rights laws, together with the federal layer of protections that applies nationwide. It does not cover every state's law; see the identity theft laws hub for other states.

New Hampshire's Identity Fraud Statute: RSA 638:26

New Hampshire's identity theft law, titled "Identity Fraud" and codified at RSA 638:26, prohibits four categories of conduct: posing as another person with the purpose of defrauding that person in order to obtain money, credit, goods, services, or anything else of value; obtaining someone's personal identifying information without authorization to impersonate them; obtaining that information to help someone else commit an impersonation; and posing as another person, without that person's express authorization, with the purpose of obtaining confidential information.

Unlike states that tier identity fraud penalties by the dollar amount involved, New Hampshire treats identity fraud as a single-tier class A felony. The statute also directly requires restitution: a convicted person must provide restitution for the economic losses their victims sustained, in addition to any other sentence the court imposes.

New Hampshire's Civil Identity Theft Chapter: RSA 359-I

Separate from the criminal statute in RSA 638:26, New Hampshire has an entire chapter of its statutes titled "Identity Theft," RSA 359-I, enacted in 2007 and effective January 1, 2008. This is the part of New Hampshire law that lets a victim act on their own behalf instead of waiting for a prosecution that may never happen.

RSA 359-I:2 sets out the prohibited conduct. It reaches obtaining, recording, or accessing another person's personal information or financial device without authorization, obtaining goods or services using another person's identity or financial device, possessing someone else's identifying documents or financial devices with intent to use them unlawfully, using personal information to obtain government-issued documents, creating false documents containing another person's personal information, and making false statements to obtain someone's identity information. The section carves out a minor who misrepresents their age to get an age-restricted item.

RSA 359-I:3 supplies the remedy, and it is the provision most worth knowing. A victim may recover the greater of $5,000 for each incident or 3 times their actual damages, along with reasonable attorney's fees and court costs. Venue is written in the victim's favor: suit may be brought in the victim's own county of residence or any county in which any part of the act took place, regardless of whether the person who committed the violation was ever actually present in that county. That matters in identity theft cases, where the person misusing your information is frequently in another state.

RSA 359-I:4, titled "Correction of Public and Private Records," adds a records-clearing route. A victim can use a court order or a conviction to set aside a judgment entered against them in a civil proceeding, and to demonstrate to government entities and businesses that an unauthorized account was not created by them. This reaches something the criminal restitution requirement does not: restitution under RSA 638:26 depends on somebody being convicted, while RSA 359-I gives the victim a path that does not.

New Hampshire's State Security Freeze Law

New Hampshire is one of the states that enacted its own security freeze statute, RSA 359-B:22 through 359-B:29, predating and running parallel to the 2018 federal freeze law. Under RSA 359-B:24, a consumer reporting agency must place a freeze within 3 business days of a written or mailed request, or within 24 hours of an electronic or phone request, and must lift an electronic or phone-requested freeze within 15 minutes. New Hampshire's law goes further than the federal floor on fees: it charges no fee for placement, removal, or even a temporary lift of a freeze.

New Hampshire's general freeze statute does not include a separate definition or provision for minors or protected consumers. RSA 359-B:26, titled "Persons Not Required to Place Security Freeze," is not a minor-specific provision. Because New Hampshire has no state-specific minor freeze carve-out, minors and their parents or guardians in New Hampshire rely on the federal Protected Consumer Freeze provision within 15 U.S.C. § 1681c-1(j), which lets a parent, guardian, or person with valid power of attorney freeze a minor's credit file, even before one exists.

Your Right to a Police Report in New Hampshire

RSA 359-B:29 gives New Hampshire identity theft victims a specific statutory right: a person who has learned of or reasonably suspects that they are a victim of identity theft may contact the local law enforcement agency with jurisdiction over their residence, and that agency shall take a police report and provide the complainant a copy, even if investigative or prosecutorial jurisdiction over the underlying offense lies elsewhere. The statute does preserve the local agency's discretion over how it allocates investigative resources, and it states that a complaint filed under this section is not required to be counted as an open case for statistical purposes. In practical terms, this means a New Hampshire police department cannot simply turn you away because the suspect or the crime falls outside its jurisdiction; it must still take your report.

The New Hampshire Department of Justice's Consumer Protection Bureau, which handles identity theft consumer guidance, walks victims through contacting credit bureaus, creditors, and banks, reporting the incident to local law enforcement to obtain a police report, since some creditors require a copy of that report before removing fraudulent debts, and confirming conversations in writing. The Department also links out to the FTC's federal recovery guidance.

Federal Protections That Also Apply in New Hampshire

Beyond New Hampshire's own statutes, federal law adds protections that apply regardless of state law. 15 U.S.C. § 1681c-1 entitles every consumer, including New Hampshire residents, to a free security freeze and free fraud alerts nationwide, a 1-year initial alert and, with a copy of an FTC Identity Theft Report, a 7-year extended alert that requires a creditor to actually contact you before extending credit. 15 U.S.C. § 1681c-2 lets a victim with an FTC Identity Theft Report get fraudulent information blocked from their credit report within 4 business days of the credit reporting agency receiving the required documentation.

What To Do If You're a Victim of Identity Theft in New Hampshire

Start at IdentityTheft.gov to create an FTC Identity Theft Report and a personalized recovery plan. Contact your local New Hampshire police department to file a report, which RSA 359-B:29 entitles you to even if the department does not have jurisdiction to investigate. Place a free security freeze with each of the three credit bureaus under New Hampshire's own no-fee freeze law, and review the New Hampshire Department of Justice's Consumer Protection Bureau guidance for the state-specific steps that follow.

If you have identifiable losses, RSA 359-I:3 lets you bring a civil suit in your own county of residence, and RSA 359-I:4 gives you a mechanism to set aside a judgment the theft produced and to prove to agencies and businesses that an account was not yours. Because the civil chapter carries statutory damages and attorney's fees, it is worth asking a New Hampshire attorney whether your situation fits before you write the loss off.

Information last verified on 2026-09-02, drawn from the live text of RSA 638:26, RSA 359-I:1 through 359-I:4, and RSA 359-B:22 through 359-B:29 on the New Hampshire General Court's website, the New Hampshire Department of Justice's Consumer Protection Bureau, and federal law under 15 U.S.C. §§ 1681c-1 and 1681c-2. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

Related Resources

• Identity Theft Laws: Federal Rules and State Penalties
• How to Report Identity Theft
• Credit Freeze vs. Fraud Alert
• Child Identity Theft
• Tax Identity Theft: When to File IRS Form 14039

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Last updated: 2026-09-02.