Somehow somebody got enough information to attempt to open a line of credit in my name. Thankfully it was declined for some reason even though I ha e a good credit score but I am left with a refusal on my report. Still working on getting that cleaned up. Not sure how it was done but having a credit card in my name could be a good step in phishing.
I believe credit reports don't show refusals, only inquiries. If it's just a single inquiry, it likely isn't worth your time. They have a negligible impact on score, unless you have a lot of them. I believe they drop off after 2 years as well.
It's not a non-issue. I've been a victim of identity theft 3 times already.