The risk of getting a virus-laced Valentine’s Day e-card is on the rise. The FBI has issued a warning about cards carrying the Storm Worm virus.

“With the holiday approaching, be on the lookout for spam e-mails spreading the Storm Worm malicious software,” the FBI said in an alert posted to the home page of its Web site yesterday. “The Storm Worm virus has capitalized on various holidays in the last year by sending millions of e-mails advertising an e-card link within the text of the spam e-mail. Valentine’s Day has been identified as the next target.”

Categorized as malicious software or “malware,” the e-mail directs the recipient to click on a link that will retrieve the e-card. Once the link is clicked, malware is automatically downloaded to the user’s computer.

More and more of this virus-laden e-mail love is coming from Russia. According to Sophos, Russia has overtaken China to become the second largest sender of spam, behind the United States.

The general rule is do not open e-mail when you are not familiar with the sender. Then again, if you haven’t been following this rule since the beginning of the Internet, then Valentine’s Day greeting cards are the least of your concerns, and you should really get your PC checked out.