In today’s post, Intersections’ Consumer Security Adviser, Neal O’Farrell shares some very important advice on how to help the elderly, the baby boomer population, protect themselves from consumer fraud and identity theft. This is a very helpful article if you have aging parents, or if you yourself of of that AARP age! Read on!

Just last week I spoke at an identity theft seminar in the affluent Silicon Valley town of Palo Alto, CA. The event was organized by local County Supervisor Liz Kniss and the District Attorney’s office.

While anyone was welcome to join the free two-hour event, most of those who attended were seniors. And a couple of things jumped out at me that reminded me why we need to keep addressing the issue of identity theft among seniors.

The first thing I noticed was the size of the audience. The crowd looked like it topped 100, and there wasn’t an empty seat in the house. That at least suggested that there is still great concern over identity theft and a need for answers.

The second thing that jumped out at me was the very visual answer to a very simple question. When asked how many in the audience had fallen victim to identity theft or fraud, more than half of the audience raised their hands.

While there are lots of statistics about the number of victims of identity theft every year, I was still surprised to find that about one-half of the people in that audience believed they had been victimized by this crime.

This got me thinking. Were they victimized because they live in a very affluent community, surrounded by other affluent communities? After all, we know that identity thieves are increasingly targeting what they refer to as “whales” – higher net worth individuals who have more access to wealth, better credit, and less time to think about protecting themselves.

Or could the answer be even simpler, that these individuals experienced a higher rate of identity theft simply because they are older. I have a feeling I may be on to something there. Financial abuse and identity theft among the elderly are on the rise, and in many cases the thieves are those the victims trust most – caregivers, relatives, and even their own children or family members.

As a result of my presentation, I thought this might be a good time to revisit some sound advice we’ve given in the past, advice you should take to heart if you have elderly relatives, friends, or neighbors:

• The best thing you can do is to be around and in touch. Scammers are less likely to focus on an elderly victim if they know a family member is close by and vigilant.

• If you know and trust their neighbors, ask them to get more involved and keep an eye open.

• If the individual is in a nursing home or retirement community, do your homework on the community, talk to the operators or managers about security, and encourage the individual to keep as little personal or financial information with them as possible.

• If the individual is in a nursing home, suggest that all mail be forwarded to you.

• Talk to them about the risks, give them a simple checklist of warning signs to watch out for, and encourage them to always call you before they buy something new, sign any legal or loan documents, or are pressured or harassed by any stranger. They should be especially careful about telephone solicitations, which often target the elderly.

• Conduct a regular home audit, making sure that all financial documentation is safely locked away, and that any computers have adequate security in place and working.

• If home help or caregivers are involved, let them know that you’re watching out for that individual and will encourage the prosecution of any crime. If you can, do a criminal background check on any caregivers, home help, or anyone else that might have regular access to the home. If you hire a home-care professional, seek out licensed employmen agencies who will perform such background checks.

• If appropriate, offer to handle all financial transactions and account management for the individual, and have them refer any financial enquiries, proposals, or problems directly to you.

• Work with their bank and credit card providers so that they are also alert to any unusual activities or transactions on their accounts.

• Offer to check their incoming mail for suspicious offers, and to check their monthly bank and credit card statements to ensure there are no fraudulent charges or suspicious payments.

• Regularly check that the individual is receiving any Social Security benefits, pension payments, and health care they’re entitled to, and that these entitlements or payments are not being diverted or misused.

• Offer to remove them from direct mailing lists to reduce the amount of junk mail they receive. Also offer to place them on national “do not call lists” to reduce the risk of unwanted telephone solicitations

• Help them make regular payments for things like utility bills so that checks are not stolen in the mail.

• Consider placing a credit freeze on their credit reports to prevent any unauthorized credit. This freeze can easily be lifted if the individual wants to take out new credit.

• Check for any financial or utility accounts that are no longer used or needed and close them if possible.

• Help them to regularly check their credit reports and if possible set them up with a credit monitoring service with alerts sent directly to you

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According to the recently released 2012 Javelin Strategy & Research Identity Fraud Report, the number of identity fraud incidents increased by 13 percent in 2011, totaling 11.6 million adult victims. The report also found that certain social media behaviors and increasing number of data breach incidents contributed to the overall amount of identity fraud instances in the United States over the past year.

Intersections’ is pleased to provide the following recommendations and insight into this year’s report:

The findings in this year’s study indicate that fraudsters are taking advantage of consumers’ increased use of social networks, and hacking into large businesses where many identities are housed in one place. As these criminals continue to evolve in finding new ways to retrieve personal information, it is imperative that consumers remain consistent and committed to protecting their identity.

Protect Your Information. Exposing common information like birthdates and addresses puts consumers at a greater risk as these elements are commonly used by financial institutions for security questions and validation of identity to access accounts. Even such seemingly harmless information could be valuable to experienced identity thieves.

Be Social, But Be Smart. Knowing that social networks are a hotbed for identity fraud activity, consumers should take extra care when deciding who to connect with and what applications to accept. Users that approve friend requests from strangers and use GPS/location based applications are far more susceptible to fraud.

Take Caution with Mobile Computing. The convenience of online and mobile banking is here to stay, but consumers need to take the extra step of ensuring their network connection is secure and their devices have updated security.

Be an Active Party in Detection. Consumers must take the responsibility of protecting their identities into their own hands. By enrolling in a comprehensive identity protection service like IDENTITY GUARD® TOTAL PROTECTION(SM), consumers have the extra security they need to help keep them protected.

Act Quickly. The sooner a victim learns of the fraud, the sooner their road to recovery can begin, so consumers must remain alert and act quickly in the event that they notice suspicious activity, reporting it to their financial institutions and law enforcement.

Read more about the 2012 Javelin Strategy & Research Identity Fraud Report.

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The recent Zappos data breach has highlighted the need to protect your computer passwords. We have written about the need to protect your computer passwords, and the importance of having different passwords for every online account. But, how do you keep track of all of those passwords? How many of you are sitting here reading this post, with all of your computer passwords written down on Post-It® notes sticking all over your desk or on your computer monitor? Gotcha!

Today, The Daily Shield welcomes back Identity Guard® product manager Lindsey George and she tells us about a tool called ID Vault®, which is included with IDENTITY GUARD® TOTAL PROTECTIONSM. ID Vault stores all of your computer passwords and will sign you on to all of your online accounts. Watch the video below as Lindsey explains how to use this important tool.

Follow Lindsey on Twitter!

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It was a story that made the national headlines last year. A former Wells Fargo Bank executive was arrested and charged with stealing her own identity. Now, after nearly two years, charges against her have been completely dropped as the police finally capture the real identity thief. Watch the video and hear her amazing story.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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It’s that time of the year when we get to polish our crystal ball and take a look at what might happen in 2012. Intersections’ Consumer Security Adviser and master predictor of all things security Neal O’Farrell, dusts off his magic wand, adjusts his turban and takes a peek into the future with his 2012 security predictions.

Christmas is a time for tradition, and in the security world one of those traditions is predicting what’s in store for us next year from hackers, scammers and all the other things that go bump on the net.

Perhaps the best way to summarize next year’s threats is more of the same, and here are just a few of my predictions:

• More friends and family fraud, as continued economic hard times force otherwise honest individuals to exploit family credit to pay bills.

• An increase in existing account fraud as financial institutions get better at preventing new account fraud and force thieves to focus on low hanging fruit.

• An increase in child identity theft as thieves become more aware of how hard it is to stop it, and a similar increase in elder financial exploitation as social services for the elderly are cut back.

• An increase in skimming, especially in supermarkets, as thieves rush to take advantage of this vulnerability before chip-and-pin is more widely adopted and makes skimming more difficult.

• A shift from street-level drug dealing to identity theft. This is a worrying trend because it could fuel the growth in identity theft for another decade. The recent Operation Rainmaker in Florida, where local drug dealers joined forces to learn about identity theft and defraud the IRS out of more than $130 million using stolen identities, is a perfect example of this trend.

• A growth in super thieves – low level thieves, like those involved in mail theft or check washing – who are never arrested or investigated, stay off law enforcement’s radar, and only become better, more sophisticated, and able to steal larger amounts without being caught. They take advantage of the fact that law enforcement has largely given up on identity theft.

• An increase in attacks against small businesses because of the wealth of identity information they possess with little protection.

• An increase in tax-related identity theft, as crooks realize how lax IRS security controls are and how easy it is to get a refund using a stolen or “deceased” identity.

• An increase in identity theft malware especially banking Trojans, keyloggers, and Android malware.

• An increase in legislation to protect consumers, and especially data breach legislation.

• Lots of opportunities for hackers to poison search results and take advantage of some big events next year, especially the 2012 Olympic Games starting in July in London, and of course the Presidential election. Both events will provide hackers and scammers with endless opportunities to trick unwary users into falling for some scam or another.

• More hactivisim, but much of it by copycat hackers rather than by the original Anonymous or Lulz crew.

• More infrastructure attacks, targeted at everything from power stations to water treatment plants. Most of the attacks will be probes to test the resilience of these systems to attack.

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Your smartphone is more than just a phone – it’s a small, personal computer. And that makes it an attractive target for criminals and identity thieves. In today’s Daily Shield article, Intersections’ Consumer Security Adviser, Neal O’Farrell gives us the scoop on smartphone safety for the holidays. Our advice: Hang on to your smartphone this holiday season!

A smartphone is not really a phone, and that’s a fact you should keep in mind over the coming holidays. A smartphone really is an ultra-powerful, ultra compact computer with a phone thrown in for convenience. And it’s that computing power that has millions of users running their lives around that tiny, pocket-sized device. And why thieves around the world want those devices too. Maybe yours.

With power comes storage, for lots of personal and work information, and so to lose a smartphone could be the first step towards losing your identity. Which might explain why we’re seeing such a spike in the theft of smartphones, in public places and crowds and in broad daylight.

According to a recent study by the New York Police Department, of the 16,000 or so robberies reported in New York in the first ten months of this year, half involved mobile devices and most of those were phones. The iPhone is one of the most popular, accounting for more than 70% of phones stolen on buses and subways, and often snatched out of the hands of the user. And computers, MP3 players, and tablets were taken in nearly half the reported burglaries in the city.

There are a number of explanations for this trend. Personal tech gadgets have a good resale value and will fetch more money when fenced. And many thieves will steal a smartphone or iPad simply because they want one.

The smartphone and the iPad are the new wallets and purses, yet imagine if you sat on a busy subway with your wallet held close to your ear for everyone to see, while at the same time your mind is already home and sitting down to dinner? That’s just too much of a temptation for opportunist thieves.

But more thieves are turning to gadget theft as a way to steal the owner’s identity. Your phone alone could be a treasure-trove of information that thieves can use to piece together your identity, including:

• Personal and family information, including names and addresses, contained in email and texts.

• Personal, family, and work phone numbers

• Work information including computer logins and passwords.

• Financial information and financial apps.

• Location information that can tell the thief where you go and where you hang out.

• Downloaded books and music that clues the thief into your musical tastes.

• Photos of you, your friends and family that can help the thief identify you or impersonate you.

And while there are moves towards a national standard that will instantly disable a phone or device so it can’t be used with any carrier, thus turning into little more than a sleek brick, thieves are easily able to replace a SIM card in a phone and being using it immediately.

In a recent blog on CIO magazine, security writer Tom Kaneshige spoke about how as he sat on a train in San Francisco he got the eerie feeling that two passengers, aged only around 10 or 11, were paying just a little too much attention to him and his phone as they worked their way down the carriage in his direction. He trusted his instincts and put the phone in his pocket, and turns out he made the right decision. Minutes later the two kids snatched a phone from the ear of a passenger and dashed away into the rush-hour crowd.

As he said in his blog “Smartphone owners bury their noses into phone screens and plug their ears with earbuds, making themselves easy targets. Lost in our own virtual smartphone worlds, we’re just not aware of our surroundings anymore. Can you ask for a better victim profile?”

He added “As the holiday shopping rush ramps up, smartphone owners will be whipping out their phones more than ever. Smartphones in crowded places are becoming a common sight, as holiday shoppers tap the power of apps to keep track of Christmas gifts, get directions, compare prices, check into bars and restaurants.”

If you don’t want to gift your favorite phone to a complete stranger over the holidays, here are a few tips to keep in mind:

• Less is more. If you don’t really need to use your device in a public place, or you’re just bored, put it in your pocket and find some other way to distract yourself.

• Eyes up. If you’re using a phone or tablet on a train, a bus, subway, or park bench, keep an eye on the people around you so you’re not surprised by a quick grab-and-dash.

• Be especially vigilant if you’re on your phone on a busy street. It’s no uncommon for thieves to run past a target, snatch the phone from their ear and disappear back into the same crowd.

• Keep as little personal information as possible on your phone. Here’s a revolutionary idea – use the phone as a phone, and not a portable data locker. If your phone is stolen, your life doesn’t go along with it.

• Consider using one of the growing number of free apps, like Lookout, that will backup and restore your phone’s contents, disable your phone, and even help locate it if it’s stolen.

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Fox 5 News DC recently interviewed Intersections’ Vice President Joe Mason. The topic? How to avoid credit card skimming. Check out the video below for his expert advice.

Experts Provide Tips on Avoiding Credit Card Skimmers: MyFoxDC.com

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In today’ post, Intersections’ Consumer Security Adviser Neal O’Farrell reminds us that “low-tech” methods used by identity thieves and criminals are sometimes the most effective.

As the busiest season for identity thieves approaches, one of the greatest vulnerabilities for all consumers will be their incoming mail. Mail is a magnet for identity thieves because it usually contains all the ingredients to commit anything from simple fraud to full-out identity theft. And all that priceless information is usually left right at the side of the road for any thief to simply pluck from your mail box.

When an identity thief looks down a street, he or she sees no one watching or protecting the stacks of personal information lining both sides of the streets. Hardly surprising that mail theft is one of the most lucrative forms of identity theft and the most popular for low level or novice identity thieves.

And these thieves know that the Holidays always bring with them a treasure-trove of personal information, and especially financial statements. Mail theft has become so lucrative it’s almost an organized crime with professional mail gangs actively roaming neighborhoods looking for unattended mail that they can grab, run, and sell to other thieves. And we’re already beginning to see a seasonal spike in this kind of crime. Just recently, police in the Northern California city of Chico discovered that mail thieves had ransacked more than twenty seven mail boxes in one spree. And stories like that are now cropping up all around the country.

But it wasn’t on some dark street in an isolated neighborhood under the cover of night. The brazen attack was actually at a Post Office, in plain sight where thieves crashed through a plate glass window, emptied all the mail boxes and sorted out the valuable from the valueless right there on the post office floor.

And some thieves will stop at nothing to get their hands on your mail. One thief was recently charged with hiring two women to attack a postal employee so they could steal the master key he used to open mail boxes. In a vicious assault the thieves actually tazed the postal worker.

So what can you do to protect yourself?

• Collect your mail every day as soon as it arrives.

• Never leave mail out in your mail box to be collected. That’s quite literally a red flag for thieves.

• Consider switching to online banking and bill paying. Most experts believes that online banking is much safer than traditional banking, and by going paperless with your bills and statements you can dramatically reduce the amount of information thieves can steal from you.

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In a recent report by the firm ID Analytics, more than 140,000 children across the United States were found to have been victims of child identity theft. The report supported other studies that have found the same troubling trend, as well as a growing awareness in the cybercrime community of the value of child identities and the ease with which they can be compromised.Today, the Daily Shield welcomes Steve Schwartz, Intersections’ Executive Vice President, Consumer Services. In today’s video presentation, Steve shares some thoughts on how parents can help protect their children from identity theft. It starts with parents understanding how and why their child’s personal information is used by schools, at the doctors office, etc.

Learn more about the growing problem of child identity theft and what you can do about it.

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Intersections’ Consumer Security Adviser Neal O’Farrell uncovers the secret contained in the recent 2011 Microsoft Intelligence Report. What’s the secret? It’s the user’s fault!

There are two schools of thought on the topic of consumer security awareness. One school suggests that all the malware and scams in circulation are far too advanced for consumers to understand and therefore prevent, and consumers should instead entirely trust technology to protect them. The most vocal proponents of that side of the argument are, not surprisingly, the companies that sell security technologies.

The other side of the house believes that consumer education, awareness, and vigilance are key to preventing or avoiding many, if not most, attacks. That’s the side of the argument I sit on, and so should you. Your vigilance, and your acceptance that you have significant responsibility for your own protection, are key to avoiding some of the most common attacks.

Think about it for a moment. Would phishing emails – the ones that pretend to be from your bank to try and trick you out of your password – even work if people just ignored them? Would infected email attachments work if users never just opened them? And would passwords still be a weak link if people made them stronger.

There are so many examples of just how important user awareness, vigilance, and participation really are. And one of the key words is vigilance. Awareness is no longer enough, because I think it’s safe to assume that most consumers are aware that there are risks and that there are something they should and shouldn’t do.

But vigilance is about being aware at exactly the moment that counts – thinking security before you create or use a password, before you respond to an email, before you open an attachment, or before you visit a web site.

And there’s plenty of evidence out there to how a lack of awareness and vigilance are being exploited. A recent study by Microsoft found that nearly half of all malware Microsoft detected when it scanned more than 600 million computers used tricks on the user in order to succeed. With security firm Trend Micro reporting one new type of malware every half second, that’s a lot of focus on user exploitation.

The study also found that that around 90% of all exploits targeted vulnerabilities that were known about and patched for more than a year. Which probably means that most users are just forgetting to update their software – one of the easiest way to protect yourself. In fact, although users are warned repeatedly about the need to update their browsers, Microsoft reports that nearly half of Internet Explorer users still use vulnerable out-of-date browsers.

And if the security experts recognize this weakness, so do the bad guys. Cybercrooks across the world are experts at social engineering – creating tricks that consumers are likely to fall for. These crooks expect you to make the wrong choice, whether it’s to forget about updating your browser or security software, falling for phony emails or Facebook requests, or letting your caution overcome your curiosity.

They won’t waste a moment taking advantage of a mistake you can make in a split second. So they’re worst fear is that you take a moment – to stop and think before you make a decision and use that pause to make the right decision instead of the wrong one. If you pause, think, and chose the other, safer path, you win and they’ve just wasted all that time and money.

Network World said what many others might want to. In a recent article on Microsoft’s report, they simply concluded “wise up stupid users!”

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