They’re popular to send and receive, but the next time your inbox reads “you’ve got mail,” you may want to make sure you know who it’s coming from. With Valentine’s Day approaching, be on the lookout for a Valentine’s Day e-card that’s spreading what’s being tagged as the “Storm Worm Virus.”
The e-mail directs the recipient to click on a link to retrieve the electronic greeting card (e-card). Once the user clicks on the link, malware is downloaded to the Internet-connected device and causes it to become infected and part of the Storm Worm botnet. A botnet is a network of compromised machines under the control of a single user. Botnets are typically set up to facilitate criminal activity such as spam e-mail, identity theft, denial of service attacks, and spreading malware to other machines on the Internet.
The Storm Worm virus has capitalized on various holidays in the last year by sending millions of e-mails advertising an e-card link within the text of the spam e-mail. Valentine's Day has been identified as the next target.
BBB Advises you to be wary of any e-mail received from an unknown sender. Do not open any unsolicited e-mail and do not click on any links provided. Just delete the email.
If you ever receive an e-mail scam, you should notify the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) by filing a complaint online at www.ic3.gov .
For more information on internet scams, go to www.bbb.org.