Spammers gearing up for Valentine’s Day

A spam run that supposedly offers flowers to send to your loved one is currently landing in inboxes around the world, but a click on the “Order Now” button takes you to an empty page.

If that makes you suspicious, just delete the message and do an AV check of your computer just in case. But, whatever you do, don’t unsubscribe from receiving further messages from that party unless you are 100 percent positive you actually subscribed yourself to the service.

Sometimes these kind of messages are simply used to confirm the existence and the validity of the e-mail address in order to use it for further spam runs, and Trend Micro researchers think this is the case with this one.

Also, if you were wondering how the e-mail got past your spam filters, the answer lays at the bottom of the message:

Written in the same color as the background and invisible until highlighted with the mouse, there is a list of so-called “salad words” – words not relevant to the message but designed to trick the spam filters into thinking the e-mail is legitimate and important.

In any case, you should know enough by now to report and erase spam as soon as it lands in your inbox. If you really want to send a gift to someone, it’s best if you search for it by yourself – preferably on reputed sites.