I am suddenly getting quite a few emails with pdf attachments. I never opened any of them and wonder if this could be a new way of Phishing or planting a virus or spam ware.

   Some are just spam messages.  Some are viruses.
   Any type of file can be embedded in a pdf file, so it is possible that they contain a virus.  There is a virus out there which is a pdf attachment.
   By all means, do not open a pdf attachment unless you are 100% sure what it is.