Yes it that time of year again. How nice to receive a romantic wish from a secret admirer; but that admirer may want to remain secret for a very good reason – it’s your money he/she is in love with not you!  Here are some scams to look out for.

Emails that link to a supposed online greeting card or Valentine’s Day website that attempt to download malware onto your PC. One website shows a number of heart icons and invites victims to click one for a message. That click triggers the download.

If you get a Valentine’s Day email from someone you don’t know, don’t follow the link. If you do know the sender, email them back before you follow the link to check that they sent the card. Not very romantic, we know, but safe!

Instant messages inviting you to become involved in a romantic online chat. This includes the infamous “Flirt-bot,” an automated chat program that works with instant messaging sites, trying to get victims to provide details about themselves, then taking them to a website page that requests a credit card number supposedly as proof that the person is over 18.

This is blatant phishing.

Another phishing trick comes as an email warning that the gift or flowers you ordered can’t be delivered because of a problem with your credit card. It then directs you to a spoof site where you have to re-enter your credit card details.

Although this seems a bit hit or miss for the crooks, just by the law of averages, some of these emails end up in the inboxes of people who really did order gifts or flowers online and are fooled into thinking the message is real.

Happy Valentines Day