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Someone tried opening a credit card in my name. I did everything right. Still happened. Throwaway for obvious reasons. Last month someone used my SSN and info to apply for a Chase card. Chase denied it (address mismatch apparently) so no actual account was opened. But still. I found out because I got a letter in the mail, not because Chase called me or anything. Here's what I've already done - fraud alert with all three bureaus .Froze my credit at Experian, Equifax, TransUnion .Pulled my annual credit reports (nothing else suspicious) ,Filed an identity theft report with the FTC .Made a police report (felt pointless but did it anyway) My question is not about what to do now. I've read the wiki. I know about PINs with the IRS, checking my Social Security statement, all that. my question is how much does data broker removal help for identity theft prevention? i keep seeing ads for services like DeleteMe, Incogni, Iolo.com, etc. They all say they remove your personal info from people search sites like Spokeo, Whitepages, Radaris, etc. But does that actually reduce your risk of ID theft? or is that mostly for spam calls and doxxing? the way I see it - if someone already has my SSN (which they clearly do), does it matter if my address is on Whitepages? arent fraudsters getting my info from breaches and the dark web, not people search sites? Or do data brokers actually sell to shady companies that then sell to fraudsters? I'm trying to figure out if paying $100-150/year for one of these services is a smart move financially or just throwing money at anxiety. Anyone here who had their identity stolen and then used a data removal service afterward? Did it help with anything? Or did you just feel better but nothing changed? Really just trying to separate actual risk reduction from marketing hype.

Someone opened a credit card in my name. Now what? [Two](https://www.iolo.com/products/removeme/) weeks ago I got an email from Chase about a new card application. Except I didn't apply for anything. Called them immediately. Someone used my name, SSN, and current address to try and open a card. They caught it before it went through (probably because the address didn't match some verification thing), but still. This is real now. I've spent the last two weeks doing all the stuff the FTC says to do. Fraud alert on credit reports. Police report. IC3 complaint. Froze all three bureaus. Checked my credit report for other stuff. Here's what I haven't figured out - how do I stop this from happening again? The credit freeze helps prevent new accounts. I get that. But fraudsters can still use my existing info for other stuff, right? Synthetic identity fraud? Tax fraud? Medical fraud? I've been looking into data removal services because people keep telling me -get your info off people search sites but I honestly don't know if that helps with identity theft or if it's just for spam calls. Stuff I'm trying to figure out - do data brokers actually contribute to identity theft or is that just marketing? Has anyone here paid for a removal service AFTER getting their identity stolen and felt like it made a difference? What's the difference between services like Incogni, DeleteMe, iolo, Optery? They all sound the same when you read the websites I'm not looking for perfect. I know my data is already burned. But I'd like to at least make it harder for whoever has my info to keep using it.Would love to hear from people who've actually been through this. What helped you sleep better after identity theft?