The warning comes from PandaLabs, which has noticed an increase in Valentine's Day spam emails containing malicious content and links. Offenders are coupling traditional methods of sending malware with new techniques, such as using social networking sites including Facebook and Twitter, as a vehicle to spread spam.

Cyber criminals are using social engineering to convince users into disclosing personal information. These social engineering scams are often well disguised and seem legitimate to the untrained eye. Technical director of PandaLabs , Luis Corrons, believes that the methods are effective: “The continued use of social engineering by cyber-crooks is a good indication of the infection ratios that this technique for tricking users returns. Otherwise, they would simply have stopped using it.”

In order to decrease spam threats, PandLabs advises users to avoid opening emails from unknown senders and stay clear of shared computers when making online transactions.