BATON ROUGE, La., April 17 (UPI) -- Criminals can imitate public and private WiFi wireless local area networks to lure users into identity-theft nightmares, a U.S. computer security firm says.

Hotel WiFi networks are an easy place for identity thieves to ensnare unsuspecting guests who unwittingly logon to the WiFi service of a thief in a nearby room, TraceSecurity Chief Technology Officer Jim Stickley says.

Once a guest has logged onto the thief's WiFi service, the criminal can gain access to the guest's laptop and Internet communications. The thief can even logon to the guest's company network.

"WiFi connections are just another sweet spot for ID thieves to exploit," Stickley says.

He warns users to be on alert "when it comes to protecting not only their personal information but also their employer's data too."

Identity theft and cyber spying scams are becoming "too commonplace," he says.