Ford is the latest automaker subject to industrial espionage. FBI agents raided the home of a former employee seizing listening equipment and her email accounts.

Until recently, the biggest concerns U.S. automakers had about industrial espionage came from China counterfeiting their vehicles; however, a recent spate of U.S.-based employees caught using a variety of means to secure information has automakers on high alert.

The most recent incident involves a former Ford engineer, who’s home was recently raided by the FBI as part of an ongoing investigation. The agents also seized her personal email account and removed secret listening devices she planted in various places in Ford’s World Headquarters, according to a Detroit News report.

A search warrant filed Friday in federal court shows the FBI seized Sharon Leach’s Gmail account, including all emails, drafts, photos, phone numbers, contacts and bank accounts tied to the account. Google provided the information Wednesday, the News reported.

The engineer, a 17-year-employee, used the listening devices in conference rooms to ensure she was taking thorough notes during meetings, said Marshall Tauber, Leach’s attorney.

“It didn’t involve anything of a spying nature,” he told The News. “She wanted to record conversations of meetings she attended but didn’t know how to do it. She was insecure about her note-taking.”

At this point, Leach has not been charged with any crimes, but her case is the most recent in a series of high-profile “spying” events for a Detroit-area automaker in recent years.

Former GM engineer Shanshan Du and husband Yu Qin were found guilty of offering Chinese carmakers, including Chery Automobile Co. trade secrets the U.S. government contends were worth $40 million.

(Chinese couple on trial for espionage against GM. For more, Click Here.)

The couple was indicted in July 2010 on three counts of trade theft and wire fraud, the U.S. Dept. of Justice also charging Win with obstruction of justice.

The investigations are part of federal efforts to crack down on Chinese spying and came about a year after a Ford engineer was also found guilty of spying on his employer for the Chinese. In all, economic espionage costs the government and companies $400 billion a year or more, according to estimates in a 2011 report to Congress.

(Click Here for details about how to keep your car from being stolen.)

Concerns about China and industrial espionage have been an ongoing issue. The country has shown a general disregard for intellectual property rights, with pirating of software, music and films a common occurrence. The Chinese have been accused of supporting a vast network of hackers who have broken into U.S. computers, both those operated by businesses and government.

(To see more about the problems Ford, GM face in Russia and South America, Click Here.)

Over the last five years, U.S. prosecutors have brought more than a dozen Chinese industrial espionage cases to court, including the GM and Ford incidents. However, Russia also represents a threat to proprietary information and technology, according to the 2011 report to Congress.

“Chinese actors are the world’s most active and persistent perpetrators of economic espionage,” the report concluded. “U.S. private sector firms and cyber security specialists have reported an onslaught of computer network intrusions that have originated in China…”