Identity thefts can result in drained bank accounts, benefits stolen, and health insurance encashed to name a few. Regaining life after being victim to such a crime is the sole purpose of a identity theft attorney.

After all, credit cards offer zero liability, meaning fraud victims don’t pay the bills incurred by their imposters. And in many well-publicized identity thefts, magnanimous financial institutions — acting above and beyond their federally-mandated responsibilities — refund the money lost by patrons to crooks.

But not always. Other victims are finding out the hard way that consumers really can lose their money to imposters, and that to get it back they must square off against financial institutions that can take a hard line. In fact, banks often put up a “damn good argument,” said Linda Foley, founder of the Identity Theft Resource Center in San Diego, Calif. “And how does Joe Consumer fight a big bank? If you come out whole, you should consider yourself really lucky.”

Getting an identity theft attorney on your side can be a big help. Without one, you may be at the mercy of your financial institution. If you don’t know the law or even the right questions to ask, you may be losing unneccessary battles with financial institutions.

Identity theft attorneys can also help by placing a fraud alert on an individual’s credit file, close tampered or fraudulent accounts and FTC complaint and suggest ways for further such instances. One can also find online identity theft attorneys who provide service for online review of each case.

Do not open files sent to you by strangers, click on hyperlinks, or download programs from people or companies you don’t know. Be cautious about using file-sharing programs. Opening a file could expose your system to a computer virus or a program known as “spyware,” which could capture your passwords or any other information as you type it into your keyboard.

Update your virus protection software regularly; install patches for your operating system and other software programs to protect against intrusions and infections that can lead to the compromise of your computer files or passwords. Ideally, you should set your virus protection software to update automatically. The Windows XP operating system also can be set to check for patches automatically and download them to your computer.

If you need to provide your personal or financial information through an organization’s website, look for indicators that the site is secure, like a lock icon on the browser’s status bar or a URL for a website that begins “https:” (the “s” stands for secure). Unfortunately, no indicator is foolproof; some fraudulent sites have forged security icons.

You should also make sure that trusted users of your computer are practicing identity theft prevention as well. Children should protect themselves from identity theft by never using their real name in an email account and limiting personal details on social networking sites. Being that children are often prime targets of internet predators, it is very important to protect the contents of your computer to prevent identity theft and ensure their safety.

Try not to store financial information on your laptop unless absolutely necessary. If you do, use what experts call a “strong” password: a combination of letters (upper and lower case), numbers, and symbols. A good way to create a strong password is to think of a memorable phrase and use the first letter of each word as your password, converting some letters into numbers. For example, “I love Felix; he’s a good cat,” would become 1LFHA6c. Don’t use an automatic log-in feature that saves your user name and password, and always log off when you’re finished. If your laptop is stolen, it makes it harder for a thief to access your personal information.

If you replace your computer, delete all the personal information it stored. Deleting files using the keyboard or mouse commands or reformatting your hard drive may not be enough because the files may stay on the computer’s hard drive, where they may be retrieved easily. Use a “wipe” utility program to overwrite the entire hard drive.

All of this work to fix a problem that someone else created foryou! Yet if you fail to take action, the alternative is grim. You could be turned down for loans, held responsible for paying off accounts you never opened, and even face jail time for crimes committed by someone else in your name.

Luckily, there are plenty of experts who can help you do the legwork and paperwork required on the path to recovery.

When you’re dealing with a complex identity theft case, hiring an identity theft lawyer can be invaluable in helping you clear your name. For example, if you’re dealing with a criminal or medical identity theft incident, it’s extremely important to erase errors from your criminal and medical records. A lawyer can help you navigate the criminal justice system or use medical privacy laws to thoroughly clean up your medical records.

An attorney who specializes in identity theft can also make certain the identity theif is punished by the full force of law. The severity of the punishment for identity theft will typically be based on two things. Most importantly, it will be based on the amount of property or goods that were stolen. This is measured in monetary value. Second, the punishment is also likely to be based on previous conviction records. Because the charges can vary, the right criminal defense for you will be determined by the specific charge against you.

You will need to get yourself an identity theft lawyer who has lots of experience dealing with identity theft cases. These already know a lot about the laws involved and will be able to make sure your case runs as smoothly as possible. An identity theft attorney also needs to be very patient and able to explain the charges in a language that you understand. The laws are continually changing and this means that it can be very difficult to get the information you so desperately need to defend yourself. However by hiring an identity theft lawyer you should be able to get all of this information.

A lawyer can also help you determine whether to take legal action against creditors, credit bureaus, or debt collectors if they’re not cooperative in removing fraudulent information from your credit report.

To find an identity theft lawyer experienced in such matters, contact the National Association of Consumer Advocates, a nationwide organization of more than 1,000 attorneys who specialize in consumer advocacy and litigation.