Tulsa Police Issue Email Virus Alert

NewsOn6.com

TULSA, OK -- The police department's Cybercrime Unit has issued an alert concerning a Valentine's Day email virus that is being sent out by cybercrime criminals.

Tulsa Police Sgt. Tim Stadler says the method of spreading the virus is by way of a "Greeting Card sent for Valentine's Day" to the targeted user.

The email message includes a link to download the card. However, if the user clicks the link and accepts the subsequent file download they will actually be letting the "Virus Worm" into their computer.

Stadler says these malicious files have Valentine's Day related romantic names such as "youanme.exe", "onlyyou.exe", and "meandyou.exe".

Once it has infected the computer, the worm uses the affected users email to send out spam. To do this, it collects all the email addresses stored on the user's computer, and sends them an email like the one above in order to trick the other users into downloading the malware strain.

Stadler says the Cybercrime Unit recommends computer users do the following:

1. 1. Do not open any emails that you do not personally recognize the sender.
2. 2. Even if you do recognize the user, be very leery of opening attachments around Valentines Day.
3. 3. Always keep your virus software updated and make sure it runs a scan on a regular basis of your entire computer.
4. 4. Keep your Spyware Software updated and make sure it runs a scan on a regular basis of your entire computer.
5. 5. If you suspect you have become a victim of this scam, immediately update your virus and Spyware software and run a complete scan.