Just in time for summer vacation, 'cybercrooks' have a new destination, your frequent-flyer miles.

According to internet security watchdog Kaspersky Lab, the newest email scam is stealing your frequent flyer miles.  Tim Armstrong, a computer security expert at Kaspersky Lab, said  it's done by sending out millions of spam emails that pose as flight confirmations, special offers or travel alerts.  Each one requests reward program membership numbers and passwords.

"A sense of urgency is important, and that'll make people log in to those sites and give up their details," Armstrong said.  "They can use these schemes to collect people's miles, to buy tickets, and then resell those tickets to third parties.  And they'll collect money that way."

If there are enough miles to redeem, scammers can cash in!  Plus, when links provided in these bogus emails are clicked, they will infect the computer with malware and just steal money out of people's accounts directly.

Read the entire story at CBS News

What can you do to protect yourself?  Armstrong advises "When in doubt, directly contact your airline to verify the authenticity of any travel-related email you may get."  And NEVER EVER provide any personal information, including passwords, in an email!  EVER!

And if you think that is sneaky here is another one to look out for:

When you're staying at a hotel, pizza delivery flyers may be slipped under your room's door.  It's late at night, you just got back from a long day of sight seeing, you're hungry -- pizza delivery directly to your room sounds like a great idea!  But wait....

Ordering from a photocopied flyer, which may only provide a telephone number but no address of the restaurant and you may be asked to give a credit card number.  Don't do it!  No reputable pizza delivery company will ask for this information on the phone.  Scammers will charge you for the pizza and never delivery plus they will steal account information and make fraudulent, big money charges.  Protect yourself, if you're hungry for pizza, ask the front desk for reputable pizza delivery companies and pay only in cash for the delivery!

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