You've received A Hallmark E-Card!
If you’ve been following this blog, you might have read the entry titled “A postcard from Hallmark”. This contains a hoax virus warning – warning about a dreadful virus that will do horrible things. That email is a hoax.
Today though, I’ve received a “real” piece of malware in an email title “you’ve received a hallmark e-card”. How do I know this – because my antivirus software warned me of an infected attachment. (Compare this with the shock, horror warning telling you there is no cure and the virus will erase your C drive, etc) This attachment is actually a trojan that will attempt to attempt to steal passwords from your computer.
Delete the email and don’t open the attachment. If you do accidentally install the trojan, don’t panic. Download and scan your computer with Malwarebytes.
Hello!
You have recieved a Hallmark E-Card from your friend.
To see it, check the attachment.
There’s something special about that E-Card feeling. We invite you to make a friend’s day and send one.
Hope to see you soon,
Your friends at Hallmark
Your privacy is our priority. Click the “Privacy and Security” link at the bottom of this E-mail to view our policy.
December 10, 2008 @ 11:25 pm
With the holiday season upon us, people will be sending their greetings via paper and electronic greeting cards. While paper cards will consist majority of this tradition, ecards have their places. Sending ecards are much more environment friendly. It is also economical, particularly during our current financial downturn.
However, there are a few precaution that one needs to be aware of when one receives ecards.
* Make sure you recognize the sender’s name. The sender’s FULL name should ALWAYS be included in the subject line (and sometimes in the “from” field) of the email.
* The web site should be easily identified in one or more of the following places: the “from” field, the subject line, or in the email itself.
* Do NOT click any links with simple IP address. In a fake ecard email, the IP address may be hidden and can only be seen by hovering your cursor over the link or right clicking on the link to view properties. The link should not be a series of number (e.g. 169.180.1.15, commonly referred to as an IP address).
* An ecard email should NOT have any attachment of any kind. The recipient will go to the web site to “pick up” (i.e. view) the ecard.
* Legitimate ecard emails will always include an option to pick up the ecard by typing the web site address and enter a code.
* Use a webmail or email application that has good spam filter. My experience with Gmail has been very good. It filters out almost all spam mail.