Internet security leader McAfee Inc. reminds us that cyber crooks don’t miss a beat. In this case, a heartbeat.

McAfee Avert Labs says it started receiving reports of Valentine’s Day-related spam and e-cards as early as January 22, this year, and the problem has been steadily increasing since. McAfee estimates that the volume of Valentine’s-related spam this week is running between one and two percent of all e-mail sent, worldwide.

Valentine’s Day is seen as a prime opportunity for cyber crooks because sending cards and love letters is central to the celebration — and more and more people are sending greetings online these days.

The current wave of Valentine’s Day spam contains links to domains that carry the Waledac Trojan, McAfee notes.

Subject lines on Valentine’s these malware messages often begin with: ‘Deeply in love with you’ ‘I Knew I Loved You’, and I Love Being In Love With You’. When the reader opens the message, a URL is available to click on and that takes the reader to a site where malware is downloaded to their computer. Other spams contain graphic displays that entice the viewer to ‘click on one of the hearts’. A trojan bug is downloaded if any heart is selected.

For full details on the war on Valentine’s spam, visit the McAfee Avert Labs Web site.