PC-Armor Computer Security News Blog

Watch those Valentine offers with a weary eye!

February 13, 2008 on 4:36 pm | In E-Mail Scams | No Comments

Certain holidays bring the cyber criminals out like mosquitoes from stagnant water in the summer and Valentines day is one of those times.  Today I received an email with the subject of “February 72% OFF” and included an offer for Roses from $19.99 with Guaranteed Delivery.  All I had to do was click a link in the email that would have redirected me to who knows where!  For all I know, it would have dropped a Trojan or some other type of harmful code onto my system for some obvious malicious purpose, such as compromising my personal information, stealing my files, or use my computer as a zombie in a botnet!

Well I researched the originating IP address and it came from the Russian Federation in Moscow and one interesting piece in the email was the disclaimer at the end of the message stating:

“You are receiving this e-mail because you subscribed to MSN Featured Offers. Microsoft respects your privacy. If you do not wish to receive this MSN Featured Offers e-mail, please click the link below. This will not unsubscribe you from e-mail communications from third-party advertisers that may appear in MSN Feature Offers. This shall not constitute an offer by MSN. MSN shall not be responsible or liable for the advertisers’ content nor any of the goods or service advertised. Prices and item availability subject to change without notice.”

Somehow, I don’t believe any Microsoft featured offer would be coming from the Russian Federation…

Your best protection would be to simply delete all email offers without opening them, and make sure you clean your deleted items folder.

If you follow the SAN Internet Storm Center Diary or the F-Secure Weblog, you will find that there is a spike in malicious activity tied to Valentine’s Day.

Protect yourself and steer away from any offer that looks too good to be true…because it probably is!