Single surfers looking for love should watch out for spam email offering romantic liasons, security experts warn.
According to security company Sophos, an increasing number of spam emails are 'promising relationships with pretty girls' and could led to internet fraudsters stealing personal details.
These emails can lead to a confidence trick that sees the recipient build up a 'relationship' with their new electronic friend and ultimately hand over money or personal information, perhaps to pay for a ticket for the young woman to visit, Sophos claims.
According to Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos, love-hungry surfers should think twice before answering spam.
"If you do reply to a message like this, the danger is that you will not just be confirming your email address is 'live', but you could also be pulled into a circle of deception designed to separate you from the contents of your wallet," he said.
An example of a spam claiming to come from a pretty young woman reads:
'Hello my dear bfriend, I was looking through the web few weeks ago and found your prbofile. Now I decided to email you to get to know you better. I am coming to your country in few weeks and thought may be we can meetb each other. I am pretty looking girl. I am 25. Do not reply to this email address directly. Email me back at xxxxxxxxxxx'
