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

Tennessee's identity theft law does more than criminalize the offense. The Identity Theft Victims' Rights Act of 2004 gives victims a direct civil right to recover three times their actual damages plus attorney's fees, the right to sue in the county where they live rather than where the thief acted, and the right to a new driver's license number. This page covers Tennessee's criminal statute, that treble-damages remedy, 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 identity theft law, Tenn. Code Ann. Section 39-14-150, carries the formal title Identity Theft Victims' Rights Act of 2004, and that framing matters: the statute was built around victim remedies, not just criminal punishment. 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 Treble-Damages Civil Right

Tennessee's identity theft statute gives victims a direct civil right built into the criminal law itself: the right to recover three times their actual damages plus attorney's fees from the person who committed the identity theft. The statute explicitly recognizes both measurable losses, such as the cost of replacing cards, credit-repair expenses, and lost wages, and immeasurable harm, such as stress and anxiety, as compensable. It also provides for restitution to victims from any criminal proceeds forfeited in the case. This civil remedy, confirmed directly through the Tennessee Attorney General's own consumer-law page, is one of the strongest state-law financial remedies for identity theft victims in this batch of states.

Additional Victim Rights Under Tennessee Law

Tennessee gives identity theft victims several procedural and practical rights beyond the treble-damages 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 lets prosecution proceed in the county where the victim resides, not only in the county where the defendant committed the offense, under Section 39-14-150 itself. For a crime that is frequently committed remotely, sometimes from another state entirely, this venue right makes it meaningfully easier for a Tennessee victim to participate in the prosecution of their own case.

Separately, Section 39-14-150(g) requires businesses to securely destroy a customer's personal identifying information before discarding records, backed by a civil penalty of up to $10,000 per customer if a business fails to do so. 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, and the credit reporting agency may charge a fee for placing the freeze. Separately, Section 47-18-2108 bars any consumer-reporting-agency fee to place, temporarily lift, or permanently remove a security freeze for Tennessee consumers generally, meaning the general adult freeze in Tennessee is free while the protected-consumer freeze process may still carry a fee.

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; it had passed the House Criminal Justice Committee 8-0, the House Judiciary Committee 18-0, and the Senate Judiciary Committee 9-0, and remained pending in the House Finance, Ways and Means Subcommittee. 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 2026-08-13, drawing directly on the Tennessee Attorney General's own consumer-law summary page for Tenn. Code Ann. Section 39-14-150 and Section 47-18-2111, the federal OVC-affiliated VictimLaw database's entry on Section 39-14-150, and the Tennessee General Assembly's own bill-tracking page for HB 1542. 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.