February has always been looked upon as the month of love and romance where friends become lovers and lovers become soul mates.

As February 14th approaches, whether you’re a devotee or a hater of this day, people are busy seeking and buying gifts from flowers, chocolates to an endless array of everything red and heart shaped items. It’s easy to get caught up in moment… Well, guess what… Cyber criminals are also taking their part in the hysteria.

Some common phishing scams that routinely emerge during Valentine’s Day are:

E-Cards

E-cards are the most popular 'special occasion' scams and that includes during Valentine’s Day. If you open an e-card you receive unexpectedly, you could put your computer at risk for vulnerabilities such as malware. So, always remember that you need to be on the lookout for phishing and spam messages that are designed to look legitimate, and ultimately infect your computer with malware or get you to divulge sensitive personal information through social engineering tactics. If you are an e-card enthusiast, legitimate providers usually have accommodating information on their websites that you can use to check the legitimacy of electronic greetings. Take time to read these types of tips before opening e-mail attachments or clicking the URLs within the message.

Emails

When you receive email promotions, be very wary. Do not open unsolicited e-mail or click on any links in messages unless you know where it came from, and what the message contains. Don't let your curiosity put you at risk; no matter how tempting it is to know who your 'secret admirer' may be, there's a great chance that in reality it is none other than a cyber criminal! Remember, curiousity killed the cat!

Quick Tips:

• Trust your judgments and examine the message if something seems suspicious.

• Use ONLY trustworthy and reliable websites for online shopping and sending e-cards to your loved ones.

• Make sure your antivirus and antispyware are up to date! If you do not have an antivirus and an antispyware, you can download Ad-Aware Free by clicking here.

Doesn’t matter how romantic or infatuated you feel, just watch out for these traps and make sure you don’t fall for it.