Valentines's Day & Getting Scammed

It's February 14th and you get a few emails, one of them is is a Valentine's card!
It's February 14th and you get a few emails, one of them is is a Valentine's card!

It could be from a loved one, admirer or sadly even more likely from a scammer, so beware! Don't automatically open it as they're a perfect way to get phished or infected with malware and pose a serious risk of ID theft.

If you get an ecard this Valentine's Day - check out our top tips to stay safe and keep your data and private information from being compromised.

  • Check the sender of the email, do you recognize them? Do a quick Google of the sender to check if there are any reports online about them.
  • Is there an attachment you didn't ask for? Don't touch it, as this is a common way for malware to get delivered to your machine (beware of .exe files and macro-enabled files!)
  • What is the email asking you to do? Does it make sense? Phishes play on your emotions, and around Valentine's, emotions are running high!
  • Any links in the email? Be very careful clicking on these, as they often they take you to sites which are owned by scammers.
  • Don't log in to these websites; you never know where your credentials will end up. You can check in the URL bar to see if the site is safe- look for a little padlock on the far left.

Click here and learn more on how to protect yourself from ID theft.