Tennessee Identity Theft Laws: Treble Damages Under TCA 39-14-150

Tennessee's identity theft law does more than criminalize the offense. Victims can sue, but the civil remedy is not in the criminal statute: under the Tennessee Identity Theft Deterrence Act of 1999, Tenn. Code Ann. Section 47-18-2104, a court may award three times actual damages and reasonable attorney's fees when the victim proves the identity theft was willful or knowing. The criminal statute, Section 39-14-150, adds its own victim protections: prosecution may be brought in the county where the victim lives, and a victim can obtain a new driver's license number. This page covers Tennessee's criminal statute, the civil treble-damages remedy and the deadlines attached to it, the state's own minor credit freeze law, and where Tennessee residents report identity theft.

This article addresses Tennessee state law on identity theft alongside the federal framework under 18 U.S.C. Section 1028 and the Fair Credit Reporting Act. For the parent overview of identity theft law generally, see our identity theft laws hub.

Tennessee's Identity Theft Statute

Tennessee's criminal identity theft law, Tenn. Code Ann. Section 39-14-150, carries the formal title Identity Theft Victims' Rights Act of 2004. The name describes its victim-protective features, expanded venue, restitution out of forfeited property, and formal crime-victim status, rather than a civil damages remedy; the section creates no private cause of action. Subsection (b) defines identity theft as knowingly obtaining, possessing, buying, or using another person's personal identifying information without consent or lawful authority, with intent to commit any unlawful act, including fraudulently obtaining credit, goods, services, or medical information. Subsection (c) separately defines identity theft trafficking as knowingly selling, transferring, or delivering another person's personal information intending that others commit unlawful acts with it.

Tennessee grades the two offenses as flat felony classes with no dollar-amount tiers: identity theft is a Class D felony, and identity theft trafficking, the more serious offense involving distributing stolen identities to others, is a Class C felony. The Tennessee Attorney General's own consumer-law summary describes identity theft as carrying sentences of 2 to 12 years and fines up to $5,000.

The Civil Treble-Damages Remedy

The civil remedy does not come from the criminal statute. Section 39-14-150 creates the offenses, the forfeiture scheme, and the record-destruction duty, but its text contains no private cause of action, no treble damages, and no attorney's fees. The remedy sits in a separate act: the Tennessee Identity Theft Deterrence Act of 1999, Tenn. Code Ann. Section 47-18-2101 and following, which makes it unlawful to engage in identity theft under Section 47-18-2103 and gives victims a private right of action under Section 47-18-2104.

Three limits shape that remedy. First, treble damages are discretionary and fault-conditioned: under Section 47-18-2104(d), if the private party establishes that identity theft was engaged in willfully or knowingly, the court may award three times the actual damages. It is not automatic on proof of the theft alone. Second, attorney's fees under subsection (g) are likewise discretionary, available upon a finding that the Act was violated. Third, subsection (c) sets a two-year limitation period from the date the liability arises, extended to two years from discovery where the defendant concealed the liability, and subsection (a) requires the plaintiff to provide a copy of the complaint and all other initial pleadings to the Tennessee Attorney General. Subsection (e) sets venue for the civil action, including the county where the identity theft took place.

Section 39-14-150 does address victim losses, but in a different register. Its subsection (f)(1) findings recognize both measurable losses, such as replacing cards and documents, credit-repair expenses, and lost wages, and immeasurable harm such as stress and anxiety. Those findings support the declaration at (f)(2) that a person whose identity is stolen is a crime victim under Article 1, Section 35 of the Tennessee Constitution; they do not by themselves make those losses recoverable in a private action. Separately, subsection (h)(3)(B) directs that when property is forfeited in an identity theft case, the court order restitution to the person whose identity was stolen out of the auction proceeds before the remaining funds are distributed. Restitution from a criminal forfeiture depends on there being forfeited property to sell, and is not a substitute for the civil suit.

Additional Victim Rights Under Tennessee Law

Tennessee gives identity theft victims several procedural and practical rights beyond the civil remedy. A victim who presents proof of identity theft, such as a law enforcement report, can obtain a new driver's license with a different license number under Tenn. Code Ann. Section 55-50-331, removing a compromised number from circulation entirely rather than leaving the victim to dispute fraudulent uses of the old one indefinitely.

Tennessee also treats identity theft as a continuing offense committed wherever the victim resides or is found. Under Section 39-14-150(j)(4), venue for the offense lies in any county where an essential element was committed, including any county where the victim resides or is found, regardless of whether the defendant was ever actually in that county. For a crime frequently committed remotely, sometimes from another state entirely, that rule makes it meaningfully easier for a Tennessee victim to participate in the prosecution. It governs the state's criminal case; venue for a victim's own civil suit is set by Section 47-18-2104(e) instead.

Separately, Section 39-14-150(g) requires businesses to securely destroy a customer's personal identifying information before discarding records. A violation is treated as a violation of the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act and may carry a civil penalty of $500 for each record wrongfully discarded, with a cap of $10,000 for any one customer, subject to an affirmative defense for a business that used due diligence. Tennessee's data breach notification law, Section 47-18-2107, gives victims a further layer of protection by requiring companies to notify affected consumers within 45 days of discovering a breach, an early warning that lets victims act before fraud actually occurs.

Tennessee's Own Minor Credit Freeze Law

Tennessee enacted its own protected-consumer security freeze statute, Tenn. Code Ann. Section 47-18-2111, in 2015, effective around December 2015 or January 2016, predating the comparable federal minor-freeze law by about three years. It applies to protected consumers under age 16 and to incapacitated persons under guardianship or conservatorship. A parent or guardian acting as representative must provide identification for both parties and proof of their authority to act.

On fees, the state text and federal law point in different directions, and federal law wins in practice. Section 47-18-2111(j) lets a credit reporting agency charge a reasonable fee of up to $10 for each placement or removal, with exceptions where the representative supplies a police report of identity fraud naming the protected consumer as the victim, or where the request concerns a protected consumer under 16 for whom the agency already holds a consumer report. Since the 2018 federal amendment, however, 15 U.S.C. Section 1681c-1(i) requires the agency to place and remove a protected-consumer freeze free of charge, so a Tennessee parent freezing a child's file at the nationwide credit bureaus should not be charged. Section 47-18-2108 separately bars any consumer-reporting-agency fee to place, temporarily lift, or permanently remove a security freeze for Tennessee consumers generally.

Reporting Identity Theft in Tennessee

Tennessee residents report identity theft to the Attorney General's Division of Consumer Affairs, the state's central coordinating agency and clearinghouse for complaints about unfair or deceptive business practices, which maintains an online complaint portal. The Division cannot represent individual consumers directly in a private dispute, but it may pursue restitution on behalf of consumers generally through state enforcement actions. The Attorney General's office also publishes a dedicated identity theft victim resource kit for Tennessee residents working through the recovery process.

A 2025-26 Bill to Watch

A bill working through the 114th Tennessee General Assembly during the 2025-26 session, HB 1542 and its companion SB 1920, would amend Tennessee's general theft provisions in Title 39 to criminalize using a telecommunications device to fraudulently obtain or control another person's property, with a minimum classification of a Class E felony. As of this session's research, the bill was not yet law and remained pending in committee. The bill amends Tennessee's general theft title and sits adjacent to, but does not directly amend, Section 39-14-150 itself. No direct 2025-26 amendment to Section 39-14-150 was found.

Federal Rights That Apply Regardless of State Law

Every Tennessee identity theft victim also has rights under federal law that apply on top of the state protections above. A credit freeze and a fraud alert are both free under 15 U.S.C. Section 1681c-1, added by the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act of 2018. A free report at IdentityTheft.gov also unlocks the right under FCRA Section 605B, 15 U.S.C. Section 1681c-2, to have fraudulent information blocked from a credit report. For the full mechanics, see our guides on how to report identity theft and credit freeze vs. fraud alert.

Information last verified on 2026-09-02 against the statutory text itself: Tenn. Code Ann. Section 39-14-150, as enacted by 2004 Public Chapter 911, and Tenn. Code Ann. Sections 47-18-2101 through 47-18-2111 in the official Tennessee Code. The Tennessee Attorney General's consumer-law summary page states that a civil court may award a victim three times the actual damages and attorney's fees; that remedy is in the 1999 civil act, Section 47-18-2104, and not in Section 39-14-150, so this page follows the statutory text rather than the summary. 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

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Last updated: 2026-09-02.