Eva Velasquez

Eva Velasquez | National Crime Victim Service Award
Identity Theft Resource Center
San Diego, California

Eva Velasquez, President and CEO of the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), is continually educating the public and developing innovative solutions to reach those most affected by the crime of identity theft. Based in San Diego, Calif., Ms. Velasquez has more than 20 years of experience in the consumer protection arena and has a passion for educating the public about identity theft, privacy, scams, and fraud. She has more than 30 years in public service and has seen, firsthand, the devastating impact that identity theft can have on its victims. She stresses the importance of providing the best victim assistance and consumer awareness to help minimize the hardships faced by identity theft victims, while strengthening education efforts to decrease an individual’s risk of becoming a victim. 

As a nonprofit leader, Ms. Velasquez is always eager to extend ITRC’s resources and information to other nonprofit associations and individuals. Since 2006, ITRC has provided personalized assistance to more than 100,000 people – and unfortunately children are victims too often. According to some reports, more than 1 million children were victims of identity theft or fraud last year. 

Youth in foster care face a range of unique risks regarding identity protection and cybersecurity, as this population is particularly vulnerable to identity theft. Because they often move from one home to another, an expanding group of adults have access to the child’s private, personally identifiable information, like Social Security numbers and birth certificates. In particular, Ms. Velasquez’s stalwart advocacy afforded the ITRC a unique opportunity to partner with cyber-security company, Symantec, for a campaign to give foster youth a more solid platform as they transition out of the foster care system. Teaming with Promises2Kids and Symantec, ITRC helped launch FAST—Fostering A Secure Tomorrow—in March 2018. 

Ms. Velasquez has elevated this issue to Capitol Hill as a voice for foster youth victims of identity theft. She is able to translate traditional victim statistics into anecdotes that help government officials, thought leaders, and consumers better understand the severity of this issue. She continues to influence best practices in providing victim services, and aims to change the paradigm of victim helplessness through empowerment.