Avoid Valentine Day scams in search for love

McAfee, the online security company, said the percentage of spam emails with the word “Valentine” in the subject heading spiked dramatically between Jan. 20 and Feb. 14 last year. Love, romance and dating are some of the more common words used by scammers to separate victims from their money. As Valentine’s Day approaches, these scams will become more common, and consumers need to beware.

Identity thieves

Valentine’s Day scammers are after the same thing they are any other time of the year: Your personal information so they access your money.

David Marcus of McAfee, said:

“The thieves are looking for credit card information, or your username and password to use on other sites to make purchases.”

Here is a sampling of some — but by no means all — of the scams you may see between now and Valentine’s Day.

Social media rogue apps

Rogue app scams will be rampant on Facebook between now and mid-February. These scams involve links with romantic come-ons. But once the link is opened, the user is taken to a phony splash page asking for permission to post status messages and to access personal information.

After the app is on the user’s wall, all of his or her friends are then vulnerable to its lure. Chester Wisniewski of Sophos said:

“The exposure on social media is fast. If you have 500 friends who see the message on your wall, they’re tempted to click on it because they think it came from you.”

Search engine scams

Valentine’s Day is one of the largest gift-giving holidays. Scammers use bogus websites on popular search engines to lure in victims. Often these sites will offer unheard of discounts on romance-themed gifts. Users who order from these sites never receive their merchandise; they just witness their credit card balances rising.

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E-card scams

Generally, e-card scams involve a link that users are told will send an e-card they have selected or allow them to view one sent by somebody else. The link will direct the user to a form that the scammers hope users will fill out with their personal data.

Online dating scammers

For those seeking romantic partners over the Internet, MoneyGram warns that romance scams are among the most common types of financial fraud. They involve a scammer who feigns romantic interest in order to bilk money out of a victim.

Kim Garner of MoneyGram said:

“Any time someone asks for money before they’ve met in person or developed an honest, long-term relationship, it’s typically a warning sign that something isn’t right.”

What can you do?

Use caution when clicking on unfamiliar links. Pay special attention to emails with grammatical and capitalization inconsistencies in the heading. Links with WoRds wriTTen lIkE tHesE should be avoided 100 percent of the time. Avoid offers that seem to good to be true. Only send e-cards from branded sites like Hallmark.com or Americangreetings.com.

If in doubt, Internet security sites like Sophos, Symantec or McAfee, will post what scams are abundant on the Web at any given time. Before clicking on anything questionable, check those companies’ websites.

Sources

The Wall Street Journal
Sophos
Daily Finance