Years ago credit freezes and alerts were a front of line defense against identity theft. However, things have changed. With the advent of the dark web in 2014, identity thieves now have a ready marketplace to buy and sell stolen identities. Identity thieves have become much more sophisticated and a simple alert or credit freeze is simply not enough to protect you. They will use your information to hack into your bank and savings accounts, your credit card accounts as well as you retirement and investment accounts. They can also get into your social security and file false tax returns with the IRS. A simple credit alert or freeze will not protect you against these forms of identity theft.