What would your Valentine like this year? Perhaps a shopping spree or a watch? And how can you prepare for the big day – do you need more cash or… an assortment of weight loss pills?
Less than two weeks before 14th February, Valentine’s Day spam’s already in full swing. Spammers have been busy making sure they have the ‘perfect’ gift for your loved ones this year.
Researchers at Symantec have compiled a list of the top 10 Valentine’s Day spam headlines.
Holding the top three subject line spots is the ‘male enhancement’ spam crowd who have really taken to this holiday and quickly adjusted their spiel to exploit it. Right behind them is the fake gift card gang and then the replica watch gang; after all, who could refuse a street-quality timepiece for Valentine’s Day!
The top 10 Valentine’s Day-related subject lines:
- Increase your length, the best Valentine’s gift
- Show off your length for Valentine’s
- Get it before Valentine’s day and watch her smile
- You have been invited to partake in a shopping spree with [Removed] This Month for Valentine’s!
- Happy Early Valentine’s Day, You have been selected to go on a $1000 Shopping spree to [Removed]
- The Best Valentine’s Day Present Ever…
- Your Valentine’s Day is about to get a lot better
- Enjoy your Valentine’s Day with a Grand Cash from us =)
- [Removed] invites you to take a $1000 shopping spree for Valentine’s Day
- Great watches for your Valentine
- We have also seen an increase in other Valentine’s Day-related spam with the following words in their subject lines:
Feb 14
February 14
Cupid
With all of this preparation it is pretty obvious that there will be no shortage of fine romantic gifts this Valentine’s Day!
Here are a few tips to steer clear of spam:
- Employ an email security solution. This solution should protect your network from spam and viruses while still allowing legitimate email through. Symantec’s Norton Internet Security 2009 is the latest all-in-one security solution that will help defend your PC against the evolving online threats.
- Educate yourself on secure email practices. Be on the lookout for suspicious email messages. Never fill out forms in email messages that ask for personal or financial information or passwords. Remember that legitimate companies will never ask for this type of information via email. Avoid opening suspicious emails and clicking on suspicious links.
- Remember never to respond to spam. A response will let the spammer know he has reached an active email address, and this just leads to even more spam. Likewise, clicking on links within a spam email that promises to remove you from the sender’s mailing list will again reaffirm the email address is active for the spammer. Delete suspicious email without reading it.
- Watch out for social-engineering tricks. These often trick or tempt individuals to enable malicious code attacks.
- Get multiple email addresses for multiple purposes. Have one email address specifically for personal use, known only to family, friends and colleagues. Another email address could be used for mailing lists and newsletters, and still another for online inquires and orders.
- Watch where you post your email address. To avoid being caught by bots collecting email addresses, don’t post your full email address on any publicly accessible Web page.
- Do not forward chain emails. This special type of email is considered spam. It is unsolicited, intrusive and may clog up email servers and slow down Internet traffic.
Thanks to the folks at Symantec for the information above.
