Beware Fake Valentines Warns ESET

Cybercrime Analysts at ESET Expect St. Valentine's Day Massacre as Scam Sites Send Fake Cards

Cybercrime analysts at ESET expect St. Valentine's Day to be as lucrative as ever for cybercriminals so they've  issued a warning about the latest online scams and included a list of malware-infected sites to avoid at all costs.

A typical approach  seen by the antivirus specialists every year is spam mail telling victims that they've "Received a Valentine greeting card" and should click a link to retrieve it.

These links usually lead either to websites that will  infect them with rogue software which is then used to extract their money, or to fake dating sites which are also used to extract money.

Cybercriminals constantly put up new fake dating/relationship/flirting sites containing imaginary profiles of attractive women and men.  The con artists count on people to be drawn to them and to pay a  "registering" or "joining" fee to the site for a chance of meeting them.  Once credit card details are given to people with less than honest intentions many unusual things can happen.

ESET's Valentines  Tips 4 Staying Safe

• Do not open e-mails if you don't recognize and know the sender.

 

• Do not open any attachments, even from known senders, unless you confirmed what they sent you and why.

 

• Scan any e-mailed or downloaded files with your antivirus, before opening them.

 

• Do not click on ANY links in emails, unless you know exactly who sent them to you and where they lead.

 

• Remember that links can also be faked to look like they're leading somewhere familiar, but actually lead somewhere else!

 

• Do not forward or reply to chain-letters (no matter what sort of luck or fortune in love they promise you :)

 

• Make sure your operating system and your antivirus have the latest patches and updates installed.

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  • Many  fake sites are accessible from banners on forums, various download and porn sites, but some are also advertised through links in spam mail, masked as flirty letters from mysterious ladies.

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  • Recently hitting Irish mailboxes in great numbers are spam mails with subject lines such as "I want to come to you from Russia", "A lovely girl for you" or "Call me on my cell!" and message content like "We were talking on the forum, remember me? I am Maria from Russia!" followed with a link to click on. Plenty of temptation for lonely hearts hoping to find love there, but a real danger of ending up finding their credit cards charged with unauthorised international purchases.
  • Here are some domains ESET labs have flagged, that are best avoided as they include malware-populated pages with  Valentine's Day themes.
  • *hxxp://holidays.prosperity66.com/
    *hxxp://obscurepop.com/
    *hxxp://www.webfetti.com/
    *hxxp://www.3wishes.com
    *hxxp://www.whatstruehealth.com/
    *hxxp://my-vogue.com/2009/01/st-valentine-sexy-and-trendy-apparel/
  • Visit   Reflex - ESET Distributor in Ireland

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