Objective

Established in 1999, the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) is the only national non-profit in the U.S. to provide live, direct identity crime advice and victim assistance at no cost. The ITRC serves as a voice for victims and maintains the largest U.S. aggregate of data breach information, provides public research on victim impact, advises legislation, speaks to the media on public issues, works with businesses to develop educational materials, provides webinars and presentations for organizations, etc. 

In the past year, the ITRC launched a vulnerable populations social media and marketing campaign. The campaign aimed to raise awareness for the ITRC’s additional support for vulnerable populations, including older adults, youth in foster care, immigrants and refugees, individuals with disabilities, survivors of domestic violence, and survivors of human trafficking. 

The goal of this campaign is to provide education and resource information to vulnerable groups, including older adults, youth in foster care, immigrants and refugees, individuals with disabilities, survivors of domestic violence, and survivors of human trafficking. This goal was achieved by tapping into existing group partnerships, educational outreach, and the delivery of services.

Strategy

The ITRC understands that identity crime isn’t one-size-fits-all. Each group faces unique risks, from data exposure to coercion. The ITRC’s campaign aimed at closing the gaps in identity protection of these vulnerable groups by launching this educational campaign, including website content, videos, and social media posts, across YouTube, Facebook, and Google.    

Through the vulnerable populations campaign, ITRC offers prevention and protection strategies, including:

• Community partnerships & outreach
  • Partner with local service providers, shelters, libraries, or domestic violence centers to distribute identity protection tools and resources.
  • Use trusted messengers, advocates, caseworkers, and cultural leaders to build trust and engagement.
• Education and training
  • Include identity safety in life skills education, such as managing personal info and spotting scams.
• System and policy safeguards
  • Train caregivers and agencies on secure data practices and identity protection protocols.
• Identity protection tools implementation, including:
  • Credit freezes
  • Account monitoring
  • Complex passwords and multifactor authentication 

A lot of these vulnerable groups were not aware of the services available to them to provide them with identity protection. The campaign informed partnership organizations that work with these vulnerable groups and then worked with these organizations to provide services to help. The campaign was funded by a grant from the Department of Justice to help the underserved populations who are at the greatest risk. 

The biggest challenge for the Communications Department was understanding these vulnerable populations, which we have never worked with before. What is the best way for us to communicate with them? How can we help them the most in the role of this communications campaign? The first year and a half of this three-year campaign, we focused on listening and learning from these groups. Last year, we implemented a stronger campaign based on the things we learned. 

Results

The vulnerable population campaign was one of the most successful campaigns for the ITRC to date. From August 2025, when the campaign launched, to Q1 2026, the campaign drove over 200,000 unique visitors to the vulnerable population landing pages (foster youth, domestic violence survivors, and human trafficking survivors) and included more than 225,000 pageviews. 

The social media portion of the campaign reached 3,958,917 views on Facebook and 1,000 views on YouTube.

Media