Exactly. Let's take a look at what "Identity Theft" actually is. You go to a bank, give them your property, with the agreement that they will keep it safe and

Exactly. Let's take a look at what "Identity Theft" actually is. You go to a bank, give them your property, with the agreement that they will keep it safe and only allow you to access it, in return they get to lend it out and make interest with it. Then the bank just starts handing your property out to random people. They shrug and go, "Your identity has been stolen, it's your fault, best of luck getting it sorted out." That's insane. The bank failed to uphold their end of the deal, they failed to keep your property safe and guarantee that only you could access it, they should have to pay to fix their mistake. If financial institutions were responsible for erroneously dispensing money, establishing lines of credit, etc the incentives would align correctly and this problem would be solved. As long as they are allowed to push this responsibility onto the consumer we will have to keep dealing with a patchwork of locks, freezes, dark-web scans, vigilance in checking your credit report, and even if you do everything right, you will be to blame if a dedicated attacker tricks the bank. It's your fault, no matter how careful and diligent you are, that the bank made a mistake, they have no incentive to make this better.