Montana Identity Theft Laws: Penalties and the Identity Theft Passport

This page covers identity theft law in Montana under Mont. Code Ann. Section 45-6-332, plus Montana's own minor credit-freeze statute, its mandatory police-report duty, and its Identity Theft Passport program, one of a small number of similar programs nationwide. It does not cover federal identity theft law in depth; for that layer, see our identity theft laws hub and our guide to reporting identity theft.

Montana's Identity Theft Statute

Mont. Code Ann. Section 45-6-332, «Theft of Identity,» prohibits purposely or knowingly obtaining another person's personal identifying information, including a Social Security number, driver's license number, financial account numbers, credit card information, date of birth, employment details, and comparable data, and using it for any unlawful purpose, including to obtain or attempt to obtain credit, goods, services, financial information, or medical information in the other person's name without consent.

The penalty splits into two tiers based on economic benefit, each with a further enhancement if the victim belongs to a protected category. The lesser offense, no economic benefit or a benefit under $1,500, carries a fine of up to $1,500 and up to 6 months in county jail, enhanced to a fine of up to $3,000 and up to 1 year in jail if the victim is a minor, incapacitated person, or vulnerable adult. The greater offense, an economic benefit of $1,500 or more, carries a fine of up to $10,000 and up to 10 years in state prison, enhanced to a fine of up to $20,000 and up to 20 years in state prison under the same victim-category enhancement. The statute also authorizes restitution covering the victim's attorney fees and the costs of clearing their credit history or rating.

The Identity Theft Passport Program

Montana runs a genuine, statutory Identity Theft Passport program, one of only a handful of states with a comparable mechanism. Under Mont. Code Ann. Section 46-24-220, the Attorney General may issue a card or certificate that a victim can present to law enforcement, to help prevent wrongful arrest, to creditors, and to consumer reporting agencies, which must treat it as a direct dispute conveyance. That mandatory-acceptance duty runs specifically to consumer reporting agencies; acceptance of the passport by a law enforcement agency or a creditor is, by the statute's own terms, at that agency's or creditor's discretion. The passport application filed with the Attorney General, including any supporting documentation, is confidential criminal justice information as defined in Mont. Code Ann. Section 44-5-103, and knowingly giving a false report to obtain a passport is a felony that also costs the applicant the passport.

To get a passport, a victim must first file a police report with a Montana law enforcement agency and then submit a completed passport application, available as a PDF on the Department of Justice's website, along with photo identification, to the investigating agency. That agency forwards the report and application to the Attorney General's Office of Consumer Protection and Victim Services for issuance.

A separate, and often more consequential, right flows from having the passport: under Mont. Code Ann. Section 46-24-219, a victim may apply to Montana district court to expunge fraudulent charges or convictions entered in their name as a result of the identity theft, using the passport as supporting proof, and the court cannot charge the victim a fee for that process. For a victim wrongly saddled with a criminal record because a thief used their identity during an arrest, this is one of the more meaningful state-specific rights available anywhere in the country.

Mandatory Police Report and Investigation Duty

Montana law enforcement carries a specific statutory duty under Mont. Code Ann. Section 46-24-218 once a person reports suspected identity theft: request identification, begin investigating immediately based on whatever proof is currently available, provide the victim a copy of the report within 72 hours, and take the complaint even if the underlying crime occurred in a different jurisdiction. This mandatory intake duty is what makes the Identity Theft Passport program practically usable, since the passport application depends on having already filed that initial police report.

Montana's Own Minor and Protected-Person Credit Freeze Law

Montana's security-freeze statute, part of what the state calls «Impediment of Identity Theft,» was enacted in 2007 and amended in 2011, predating the federal minor and protected-consumer freeze provision under 15 U.S.C. Section 1681c-1(j), which took effect in 2018, by more than a decade. Mont. Code Ann. Section 30-14-1726(1) defines «consumer» to include «a parent or guardian in the case of a minor or of an incapacitated person» and «a conservator in the case of a protected person,» broader than the purely age-based approach some other states take. Section 30-14-1727(2) lets that representative request a credit-report freeze for the minor, incapacitated person, or protected person in writing. Montana's statute does not itself state an explicit numeric age threshold for «minor» in its freeze definitions; it appears to rely on the state's general age of majority, though that cross-reference was not independently confirmed during this page's research.

A consumer reporting agency that willfully or negligently violates the freeze statute, for example by improperly disclosing a frozen file, faces civil liability under Mont. Code Ann. Section 30-14-1736: actual damages or statutory damages between $100 and $1,000, plus possible punitive damages and attorney's fees. This is an independent state-law right layered on top of, and now largely overlapping with, the federal freeze protections. See our guide to credit freeze vs. fraud alert for the mechanics of placing a freeze in practice.

Civil Remedies

Restitution to an identity theft victim is built directly into Section 45-6-332: courts may order the offender to pay restitution covering the victim's attorney fees and any costs incurred clearing the victim's credit history or credit rating as a result of the offense. No standalone general civil lawsuit right against the identity thief personally was found in Montana law. The one civil-damages provision located, Section 30-14-1736 described above, runs against a consumer reporting agency or a person who violates the security-freeze statute itself, such as someone who fraudulently requests or lifts a freeze, rather than against the identity thief for the underlying theft. Whether a broader Montana civil action exists elsewhere in the state's civil-actions code remains an open question.

Reporting and Data Breach Notification

The Montana Department of Justice's Office of Consumer Protection maintains an identity theft and security freeze resource page describing identity theft, how to protect personal information, a ten-step recovery guide, the security-freeze process, fraud-alert guidance, and the Identity Theft Passport Program described above, including a sample security-freeze request letter. No dedicated identity theft phone hotline was found on that specific page. The same office takes consumer fraud complaints, and our guide to Montana scam and fraud laws explains how to file one over a scam and what Montana's consumer protection law lets you recover. Separately, Mont. Code Ann. Section 30-14-1704 requires a business holding a Montana resident's unencrypted personal information to notify affected residents without unreasonable delay after discovering a breach, and to simultaneously notify the Attorney General's consumer protection office.

2025-2026 Legislative Currency

Montana's identity theft statute was amended during the 2025 regular session. The official history line for Mont. Code Ann. Section 45-6-332 on mca.legmt.gov records an amendment at Sec. 14, Ch. 321, L. 2017 and three 2025 amendments: Sec. 6, Ch. 484, L. 2025, and Secs. 7 and 9, Ch. 583, L. 2025. The offense definition and the penalty tiers described above reflect the current text as published after those amendments.

The other Montana statutes discussed here are older. The protected-person freeze definition at Section 30-14-1726 was enacted in 2007 and last amended in 2011, and the Identity Theft Passport statute at Section 46-24-220 was enacted in 2005 and last amended in 2007. The remaining sections cited on this page were not individually re-checked for 2025 session activity, so treat them as current as published on mca.legmt.gov rather than as a confirmed «no changes» finding.

The Federal Layer

Regardless of state, identity theft is also a federal crime under 18 U.S.C. Section 1028. The Federal Trade Commission's free recovery site, IdentityTheft.gov, walks victims through reporting what happened and building a personal recovery plan. Federal law has also required free credit freezes and free fraud alerts at all three credit bureaus since 2018, and FCRA Section 605B lets a victim with an FTC Identity Theft Report get fraudulent information blocked from their credit report. See our identity theft laws hub for the complete federal picture.

Information last verified on 2026-08-13, drawn directly from Mont. Code Ann. Section 45-6-332, Sections 30-14-1726, 1727, 1736, and 1704, and Sections 46-24-218, 219, and 220 on mca.legmt.gov, and the Department of Justice's Office of Consumer Protection page. 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: 2026-08-13.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is identity theft a felony in Montana?

It depends on the economic benefit involved. Under Mont. Code Ann. Section 45-6-332, an economic benefit under $1,500 is a lesser offense punishable by up to 6 months in county jail; $1,500 or more is a greater offense punishable by up to 10 years in state prison, or up to 20 years if the victim is a minor, incapacitated person, or vulnerable adult.

What is Montana's Identity Theft Passport?

It is a card or certificate issued by the Montana Attorney General to a documented identity theft victim who has filed a police report. It can be shown to law enforcement to help prevent wrongful arrest, and to creditors and consumer reporting agencies, which must treat it as a direct dispute conveyance.

Can I clear a fraudulent criminal record created by an identity thief in Montana?

Yes. Using an Identity Theft Passport as supporting proof, a victim can apply to Montana district court to expunge fraudulent charges or convictions entered in their name because of the theft, and the court cannot charge the victim a fee for the process.

Does Montana have its own minor credit freeze law?

Yes. Montana's protected-consumer freeze statute, enacted in 2007, predates the 2018 federal minor-freeze law by more than a decade and covers minors, incapacitated persons, and protected persons under a conservatorship, not just minors.

How quickly must Montana police investigate my identity theft report?

Immediately, based on whatever proof is currently available. Officers must request identification, begin investigating right away, provide a copy of the report within 72 hours, and take the complaint even if the crime occurred in another jurisdiction.

Can I sue the person who stole my identity in Montana?

Restitution covering attorney fees and credit-repair costs is built into the criminal statute. No standalone civil lawsuit right against the identity thief personally was found; the one civil-damages provision located reaches a consumer reporting agency or person who violates the security-freeze statute, not the thief directly.