Last summer, Agent Derek M wrote a post for this blog on a popular “infected computer” phone scam. It turns out that there’s a new, more costly twist on this con. Because this new twist is dangerous and more costly to remediate, we thought we would reach out and reiterate some of the points Derek made in his post on the subject last June.

Mobile computing devices are letting us access the Web (and take care of business) from just about anywhere. Wireless technology now lets us pay our bills at the coffee shop, check our email while waiting for the kids after soccer practice, or take a conference call while getting our oil changed. Tablets and smartphones make it easy to manage our lives and stay in touch with the office while we are out and about.

According to a recent study, more than 8,000 mobile devices were left behind at just seven of the country’s largest airports in the last year. The most common places mobile devices were left behind? Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoints and restrooms.