The idea for the Identity Theft Council originated in 2009, when the Hayward Police Department, in the San Francisco East Bay, asked council founder Neal O'Farrell for help in counseling local victims of identity theft.

That conversation let to the creation of the first Identity Theft Council, in Hayward in February 2010. In March 2010, it was decided to launch the first ever county-wide Identity Theft Council in Alameda County, one of the bay area's seven counties and including the cities of Oakland and Berkeley. This council is a partnership between the Alameda County District Attorney's office and more than a dozen police departments.

Identity Theft Councils are now springing up in all bay area counties, creating a model for Identity Theft Councils that will soon be launched across the country. In June 2010 twenty five organizations came together in San Francisco to discuss making San Francisco the first major city in the nation to launch its own Identity Theft Council.

Organizations that participated in this exploratory meeting included:

Patelco Credit Union
Provident Credit Union
Merriwest Credit Union
San Francisco Federal Credit Union
SF Fire Credit Union
Spectrum Federal Credit Union
Redwood Credit Union
KeyPoint Credit Union
Union Bank of California
US Treasury
Visa
PayPal
Bay Cities Credit union
JP Morgan Chase Bank
Hayward Police Department
San Francisco Police Department
San Mateo Police Department
REACT – The Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer team
California Police Chiefs Association
San Mateo Police Department
Northern California Fraud Investigators
US Secret Service
FBI
District Attorney Kamala Harris' office
Consumer Action
United States Postal Inspectors
The Elder Financial Protection Network