Watch out! India now second among nations sending pre-Valentine day spam

After WhatsApp spam , here’s yet another spam-alert. Just a week before Valentine’s Day, some malicious minds have started working at luring users looking for lucrative Valentine’s Day offers online. According to security expert Trend Micro, cybercriminals have already started sending malicious Valentine-related spam to users in the form of bogus advertisements, promotions, and offers. In fact, India stands second among spam sending nations this Valentine season, says the report. This doesn’t come as a surprise as not-so-long ago a Trend Micro report had revealed that  twenty percent of the spam mails that were sent out worldwide originated in India. “Trend Micro found 117 unique sender IPs related to this spam run. Most of the spammed emails primarily came from the United States, followed by India, Ukraine, Canada, and the Netherlands.  This slew of Valentine’s Day-themed emails came in different languages such as German and Chinese. Instead of flowers or candy, spammers gifted their recipients with emails about dating sites, scams, and spam-vertisements (advertisements seen inside spammed emails),” said Dhanya Thakkar, Managing Director, India & SEA, Trend Micro. Researchers at Trend Micro have found several spam emails with Valentine’s Day used as keywords within parts of the messages. These emails lead users to malicious links instead of official sites. It’s quite obvious that users will start looking online for possible gift ideas for their Valentine a week prior, and such users could fall prey to the tricks like fake ads on social media or malicious email attachments. Trend Micro has also put forth a list of precautions that one can take to avoid being prey to such spams. Firstly, one should avoid links, attachments, or sources accompanied by promises that are too good to be true. Be alert and accept any offers online from ads, post or messages, from unknowing users. Finally, keep your apps and operating system updated, and avoid third-party invitations.