A computer virus is set to attack America’s lonely hearts just ahead of Valentine’s Day. According to IBM, an aggressive robot network of six-million “zombie bots” will be let loose this week. IBM’s X-Force, which tracks down cyber threats says 230-million spam messages dressed up as dating ads have been slamming email inboxes with the virus.
During Valentine’s week, X-Force suspects the bots to increase. This attributed to a notorious botnet, Necurs. In a statement, the folks at X-Force say, “Preying on seasonal trends is probably the top characteristic of email spam. Those behind this campaign will likely lure their victims to share revealing photos and extort them, ask for money to come visit, or end up infecting them with malware.”
- How can you avoid getting scammed? Look for bad grammar and spot if an email return address differs from the arrival email address. The New York Post also says to look for too-good-to-be-true come-ons. If an email offers something like “I must say you are very cute and I would like to know you more,” sorry you’re not getting lucky...its just a scam.
Source: NY Post