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’s article, Intersections’ Consumer Security Adviser Neal O’Farrell writes about an alarming trend – identity thieves reaching out from beyond the grave to steal identities. The scariest part about this story? It’s true!

In yet another sign of the heartlessness of many identity thieves, there is a worrying growth in identity theft scams that target the sick, the terminally ill, and even the dead.

A recent case highlights just how unscrupulous many thieves can be. A couple of estate planners were recently accused of swindling more than $20 million out of a variety of insurance companies by stealing the identities of elderly and terminally ill victims. The individuals were alleged to have forged signatures and other documents that allowed them to purchase a type of death benefit in the victim’s name. When the victim passed way, the thieves were able to collect on the benefits.

The thieves were so confident they could make money from the scam; they found their victims by placing ads in local Catholic newspapers offering a $2,000 charitable gift to terminally ill patients. Once they had made the introductions and gained their trust, the thieves stole the identities of their victims and began defrauding insurers.

Not only do thieves prey on the elderly and the sick, they also prey on the dead. And stealing from the dead can be very lucrative. I wrote recently about Operation Rainmaker, where street-level drug dealers in Florida managed to swindle the IRS out of more than $130 million by filing false tax returns using the identities of dead people they found on web sites like Ancestry.com

What many people don’t know is that as soon as you die, your Social Security number becomes publicly available. It’s called the Death Master File and is a database maintained by the Social Security Administration (SSA) that includes details on most deceased Americans. And for some strange reason that includes their Social Security numbers. According to a recent statement by the SSA, a court ruling in 1980 requires them to publish these numbers, even though they admit they know it leads to identity theft.

The Death Master File is used by a variety of organizations, including financial institutions to detect fraud and even genealogists to conduct research. But there’s growing concern that it can also be abused by identity thieves. And for obvious reasons – it contains more than 87 million personal records that include names, addresses, dates of birth, and Social Security numbers.

The Huffington Post recently ran a story about the tragic death of a four-year-old girl who lost a valiant battle with brain cancer. While her family was still grieving her loss, they discovered that thieves had stolen their deceased child’s identity using information from the Death Master File. Someone had simply fraudulently claimed their dead daughter as a dependent and no red flags had been raised.

And while there are calls to make this massive database of personal information off-limits to the public, few experts see any real changes any time soon. This is another of the many reasons why identity theft is such an unusual crime, and one of the few that can follow you beyond the grave.

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In today’s post, Intersections’ Consumer Security Adviser Neal O’Farrell shares 10 very important tips that could help keep your personal and employment information out of the hands of cyber spies. Read on!

Could corporate spies be stalking you?

It’s been more than thirty years ago since I followed a surge in corporate spying in Ireland, where corporate thieves were being paid small fortunes to steal data from businesses, tap telephones, and even break into offices.

Fast forward thirty years and while the game remains the same, the players and tools have changed. And there’s clear evidence over the last few years that criminals, corporations, and governments around the world are targeting employees who may be careless with what they say or how they guard corporate secrets.

In a recent story in the Washington Post, business travelers heading to China were warned not to bring with them anything that might give competitors a competitive advantage. The Post warned that China, Russia, Israel and even France were hotbeds for corporate espionage, in many cases sanctioned by their own governments in an effort to give home-grown companies a competitive or technical advantage.

According to the Post “Travelers there often tote disposable cell phones and loaner laptops stripped of sensitive data. Some U.S. officials take no electronic gear. And a few corporate executives detour to Australia rather than risk talking business in a bugged Chinese hotel room.”

Corporate and personal data are the new world currency and the thieves will stop at nothing to get their hands on whatever data you’re carrying. As far as thieves are concerned, everyone has as story worth telling and data worth stealing. If they can’t use it themselves, they can still make money selling it to someone else.

And there have even been reports of governments placing bounties on the laptops of senior executives of a long list of companies, paying handsomely for any who steals and turns over these laptops.

The risks are two-fold: that in an effort to steal company data from you while you’re travelling, the thieves end up with your personal information and identity; and you become the unwitting backdoor through which corporate spies steal invaluable data that could do serious damage to the company you work for.

American identities are considered especially valuable on the black market because, in spite of the recession and credit crunch, it’s still relatively easy to access credit lines quickly if you have the basic identity information of the victim.

Here are ten ways you can protect your personal and employer information from the sticky fingers of cyber spies.

1. Travel “data light.” Take as little sensitive information with you, both corporate and personal. It means less for you to guard and worry about, and less harm if you fall victim.

2. Encrypt everything. Encryption is the best and easiest way to protect data that has been lost, stolen, or accessed by malware. Without the proper key the data is useless to the thief.

3. Watch your laptop like a hawk and turn your back on it down for a moment.

4. Think twice about using free Wi-Fi networks when travelling, and especially at conference venues and your hotel room.

5. Avoid bringing thumb drives with you or transferring information from your laptop to thumb drive when travelling.

6. Treat your smart phone like it’s a laptop and take as many precautions as possible. Store as little information as possible on it, use the password locking feature, and don’t leave it lying around.

7. Make sure you make regular online backups of everything that’s on your laptop and phone. If they’re lost or stolen, at least you’ll still have an accessible copy.

8. Practice safe computing. A common way to steal data and breach security is to target busy employees with emails, text messages, and Facebook messages that hide dangerous Trojans and other malware. Always be vigilant when clicking on any link or opening any attachment, but give everything double scrutiny and skepticism when you’re travelling.

9. Don’t leave files or data storage devices in your hotel room. Carry everything with you, even if it’s a little inconvenient.

10. Consider using a laptop or smartphone tracking system. It can help locate a lost or stolen device.

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