When you allow a social media application to access your profile information, you open yourself up to a wide variety of scams. The more applications you use, the easier it becomes for tricky marketing schemes or malware to slip through. It's safest to avoid these types of games altogether, but if you just can't quit, be very careful when downloading files, clicking on ads, or agreeing to any type of offer. Be sure to install Internet security software on your computer, and set it to update automatically. And consider investing in an identity theft protection service, to help prevent the worst possible result of an Internet scam.

Mules are relatively unaware people who get hooked into a "small business" or employment that is a function of a criminal enterprise. The mules often respond to "help wanted" ads from online job placement sites. Shipping scams are a common tactic criminals use in which they employ mules to receive goods bought with stolen credit card numbers, who then ship to people who buy them in online auctions. The mules in this process are essentially facilitating selling hot goods and money laundering.

An RSA study revealed laptops, iPods, iPhones, Nokia smartphones, digital cameras, Sony PlayStation 3 devices, and DJ equipment were among the items shipped to addresses in Russia and Belarus. RSA estimates that more than $36,000 worth of merchandise was cashed out every month before one scam ended earlier this year.

These scams generally have a virtual store front posing as a shipping company, giving the ruse a legitimate appearance. The efficiency of money mule operations has increased due to the amount of money being generated from data breaches and scams.

There have been dozens of significant data breaches over the past few years, in which millions of credit card numbers have been compromised. Once the data is in the hands of a criminal, they scheme to turn it into cash.

Credit card numbers are often bought and sold by "carders" who sell thousands of cards numbers for pennies each. In many cases when a PIN is present the criminal hacker will use the card number as a debit card at any ATM.

But when turning the data into cash isn’t so easy, they will burn the data to a white card and make in store purchases using mules. That can sometimes be a slow and riskier process. Recently, fake shipping scams have proven to be a profitable model that involves leveraging hundreds of naive people.

The mules are often baited into setting up bank accounts that the criminal controls. These bank accounts will be set up under the name of the mule to avoid detection and generally programmed to transfer money overseas in increments of less than $10,000 to avoid detection.

Most mules end up pulling money out of their pockets to front shipping costs with the promise of a big payoff. In the end the mule is often bilked and ends up with an empty bank account.

These scams hurt a lot of people. The banks and retailers lose because money and goods go out the door. The mules often end up losing thousands. And worse, many organized criminals are associated with terrorists groups who use the money to fund violence.

If the credit card companies and banks would adopt widely available technologies that make the data useless to the thief in the form of effective authentication of the user, then none of this would be happening. But until the industry changes its ways, they will keep tossing fuel on the fire.

Generally my readers don’t need to be told the following, but maybe someone you know is naive enough to fall for one of these ruses. So keep in mind, if you are looking for a job online and see “shipping manager” or “buy and sell products on eBay with no inventory or money” or anything involving virtual transactions that involves shipping any thing overseas, then chances are it’s a scam. Also, never be suckered into opening a bank account that you don’t control. That’s just plain dumb.

And protect your identity by investing in identity theft protection. While not all forms of identity theft can be prevented, identity theft protection services can dramatically reduce your risk.

Robert Siciliano, identity theft speaker, discusses money mules on Fox News.

Robert Siciliano is CEO of IDTheftSecurity.com, an identity theft expert, professional speaker, security analyst, published author and television news correspondent. Siciliano works with Fortune 1000 companies and startups as an advisor on product launches, branding, messaging, representation, SEO and media. Siciliano's thoughts and advice on all these matters appear often in both the televised and print news media including CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, FOX, Forbes and USA Today. He has 25 years of security training as a member of the American Society of Industrial Security. He is the author of two books, including The Safety Minute: Living on High Alert; How to take control of your personal security and prevent fraud. He's also partnered with Uni-Ball to help raise awareness about the growing threat of identity theft and to provide tips on how you can protect yourself.

After the DefCon ATM debacle, in which hackers hacked hackers by setting up a fake ATM in front of the facility's security office, I needed to find out how stupidly easy it is to buy and install an ATM. So my search began.

I found plenty of new and used ATMs at prices ranging from $500 to $2500 on eBay, but quickly decided that I didn’t want to pay another $300 for shipping. Next was Craigslist, where anyone can rent an apartment, buy a boat, get an erotic massage, or buy an ATM.

I quickly found an ad from a bar north of Boston. They were selling pool tables, neon Budweiser signs, and an ATM. I took my hacker friend with me to meet Bob, who lived above the bar and was taking care of the sale on the owner's behalf. The bar was closing and liquidating its assets. The ATM was sitting right next to the bar, sticky with beer. Fortunately, the keypad was protected by clear plastic. While Bob was giving us the history of the ATM and explaining how to operate it, he farted.

Needless to say, I wanted to unbolt this thing as quickly as possible, get out of there, and douse myself in hand sanitizer. After my hacker friend played with the manual, got it working, and determined that it was worth the financial risk, we loaded it on my trailer, paid $750 (negotiated down from a grand), and brought it back to my garage.

There’s something about having an ATM in your garage that makes for a restless night of sleep, as if the next day is Christmas. Around 5 AM the next morning, I used an entire bottle of Windex, a whole roll of paper towels, and four pairs of rubber gloves to give this thing an enema.

My hacker friend came over to my garage, manual in hand, all giggly, and says, “Watch this.” He punched in the master codes to access the machine's stored data, and hundreds of credit and debit card numbers began falling all over the floor. A few days later, another friend and I devised an evil plan to scam millions of dollars from unsuspecting suckers and then spend the rest of our lives island hopping and buying a villa in Sicily. But my wife said no.

Here's the first of a few upcoming videos of what happened next. I'll share more of my ATM adventures as they occur. There's a lot more to this story, so stay tuned!

To protect yourself from these types of scams, pay attention to your bank and credit card statements, and refute any unauthorized charges within 60 days. You might consider never using a debit card again, since credit cards are safer. When using an ATM, pay close attention to details and look for anything that seems out of place. If your card gets stuck or you notice anything odd about the machine's appearance, such as wires, tape, error messages, or a missing security camera, or if the machine seems unusually old and run down, don’t use it. Try to use ATMs in more secure locations. Cover your PIN as you enter it.

And invest in identity theft protection. Not all forms of identity theft can be prevented, but identity theft protection services can dramatically reduce your risk.

Robert Siciliano, identity theft speaker, discusses ATM scams on Fox.

Robert Siciliano is CEO of IDTheftSecurity.com, an identity theft expert, professional speaker, security analyst, published author and television news correspondent. Siciliano works with Fortune 1000 companies and startups as an advisor on product launches, branding, messaging, representation, SEO and media. Siciliano's thoughts and advice on all these matters appear often in both the televised and print news media including CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, FOX, Forbes and USA Today. He has 25 years of security training as a member of the American Society of Industrial Security. He is the author of two books, including The Safety Minute: Living on High Alert; How to take control of your personal security and prevent fraud. He's also partnered with Uni-Ball to help raise awareness about the growing threat of identity theft and to provide tips on how you can protect yourself.

Try not to let desperation cloud your judgment. Don't share your Social Security number up front. Legitimate employers don't need this information until they are on the verge of making you an offer. And no company should ever request your banking information until you become an employee. No matter how badly you need a job, remember that if something seems too good to be true, it probably is. And consider investing in an identity theft protection service, just in case.

It's interesting that this study comes out in a week when both Apple and Microsoft released massive security updates, and a week after a series of Facebook and MySpace exploits came to light. Just when you thought it was safe to go in the water.

It is suggested that a possible end to the economic downturn has resulted in the ease of anxiety. People still remain concerned about some areas, however. According to the study, "when it comes to Internet and personal security, people in the countries where the bi-annual survey was done showed the most worry over bank cards and identity theft." The countries where people showed the most concern? Brazil, the United States, and Germany.

If you're one of those that's concerned about identity theft, check out our reviews and comparisons of identity theft protection services.

According to Shawn Henry, the assistant director of the FBI's cyber division, "More money is stolen electronically or [in] data breaches than through bank robberies." RBS customers have been reimbursed for the stolen funds, but a class action lawsuit is pending against RBS WorldPay, alleging that the company failed to adequately protect consumer data. RBS WorldPay has acknowledged that the breach impacted 1.5 million cardholders, and that 1.1 million Social Security numbers may have been compromised.

There's no way to ensure that your Social Security number or other sensitive personal data remain safe from these types of hackers. But identity theft protection services like TrustedID, LifeLock, and Identity Guard scan the Internet's black market websites to find out whether your information is being bought or sold. They'll also alert you if anyone attempts to create new accounts in your name. To learn more about TrustedID, LifeLock, Identity Guard, and other identity theft protection services, see our reviews and comparison chart.

Pay stubs, balance sheets, and client account information were all dumped into the street. The client account information came from the window of Liberty Street financial firm A.L. Sarroff, and included Social Security numbers.

Documents containing sensitive personal information or confidential company data should be shredded before they are disgarded. Conscientious handling of your own personal information is one way to avoid identity theft. But since you never know when an overenthusiastic Yankees fan might fling your Social Security number out of an office window, consider investing in an identity theft protection service.

a active session, or a “auto login”-cookie and a URL which hosts a exploiting Flash file. For example when accessed, a automatic “post update” could be made, that would lure friends of the user to access the exploit URL, and the exploit would spread virally.(sic)

Basically, it works like this: you decide to share some awesome new Flash site (such as a browser-based game), not knowing that it's an exploit. You hit "share." If you have auto-login enabled, your Facebook login data is transferred to the nefarious referring site. Since you're sharing that site, others click on it. It steals their info, ad-infinitum.

It's important to note that so far there's no evidence that this has actually happened. The potential was discovered by a concerned developer and reported so the hole would be closed. The folks at Facebook are aware of the problem, and they claim that no one's data has been compromised. They gave the following statement to TechChrunch:

The security of our users is a top priority for Facebook and we worked with the researcher who identified the issue to fix it. We have not received any reports that it was ever exploited.

MySpace has apparently fixed the bug, and from Facebook's statement it seems that a fix is either in-place or imminent. But it may make you wonder if there's any way, other than cutting your Internet connection, that you can protect yourself. You don't have much control over Facebook's vulnerabilities, but identity theft protection is a good way to protect yourself in the online and offline world.

If you recieve an email that appears to be from the FDIC and prompts you to visit a website or download a file, delete it. Do not click on any links within the email and do not download any attachments. The FDIC is working to uncover the details of this scam, but in the meantime, recipients are instructed to "consider the intent of the software as a malicious attempt to collect personal or confidential information, some of which may be used to gain unauthorized access to online banking services or to conduct identity theft."

To protect yourself from this and other phishing scams, be cautious when downloading attachments or clicking on links in any unexpected email from an unknown source. These emails often appear to be from banks or other trusted institutions. You should also be sure to install Internet security software on your computer, and you may wish to consider investing in identity theft protection, since identity theft is often the ultimate goal of phishing scams.

While we weren't completely in love with ZoneAlarm's virus warning system, we did appreciate many of the other new features. The inclusion of Good Start is a sweet bonus. All-in-all, this is a good deal for those looking to try out basic identity theft protection and anti-virus software, but aren't ready to make a huge investment in either. You can read our complete review of ZoneAlarm and see how it compares to the competition with our Internet security software reviews.