Trend Labs researchers were alerted to the discovery of spammed messages that are doing the rounds which contains a Link that leads to a fake gift card promotion site on the Pretext of Valentine’s Day.

February has already begun and Valentines Day, the most awaited occasion for the love buddies, is just round the corner. Lover’s dont want to lose a single chance to woo their beloved’s and thereby visit the best gift shops/gift websites to pick the best possible gift’s or cards.Here come the spammers and their malicious activities. It is only the first Ten Day's  of the so-called “love month” but we have already seen at least two spam samples leveraging one of the most-celebrated special occasions when people flock to websites that advertise gifts they can give to their loved ones. These spammed messages contained links that led users to a fake gift card promotion site and a site that advertised and sold replica watches, respectively

Similarly, every special occasion and/or holiday is, in today’s threat-laden Internet landscape, not just a time for people to celebrate but also a time for spammers to scam unwitting users with their devious scams

Spammed messages come in many forms and with varying payloads, some redirect users to sites that sell anything and everything under the sun, most especially pharmaceutical and replica items; some lead to links to malicious or malware-ridden sites; some lead to sites that advertise bogus promotions; and some carry malware as attachments. That is why users should always be wary of opening email messages, particularly those that come from unknown sources

Trend Micro researchers have earlier detected a spam run randomly targeting people to donate for Haiti Earthquake Victims. A number of people received emails asking for money through Malicious Website that leads to fake page which than asks for the personal information to get the money transferred.

There are various ways through which spammers attack the internet. Mr. Abhinav Karnwal, Product Marketing Manager APEC Trend Micro advices users  to be wary of opening any suspicious-looking emails. Trend Micro protects users via the Trend Micro Smart Protection Network, which detects and blocks this kind of spam. Non-Trend Micro product users can use free tools like eMail ID to stay secure.