Greeting Card Virus Scam
By Bob Peters, WEBtech
Sending electronic greeting cards has become a popular way of keeping in touch with distant friends and relatives. Of course, whenever something gets popular, the virus geeks find a way of ruining the party for everyone.
Example Virus E-Mail Message:
Hello friend !
You have just received a postcard Greeting from someone who cares about you...
Just click here to receive your Animated Greeting !
Thank you for using www.Greetings.com services !!!
Please take this opportunity to let your friends hear about us by sending them a postcard from our collection !
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The latest virus effort will appear in your e-mail inbox as a notification from an online greeting card company (see the example provided). Like legitimate notices from real companies like Hallmark or American greetings, the e-mail message invites you to click on a link to see the greeting card.
However, in this case, clicking on the link will launch a virus program!
In some cases, you can determine what website is linked to by holding your cursor above the link and watching for the tool tip, but many of the messages have disabled the feature. In the example above, the link takes you to .PIF file, which is a common virus executable file.
Examples of company names used by these types of messages include:
- greetings.com
- greet2k.com
- All-Yours.Net
- Hallmark
- americangreetings.com
This new attack on people's sensibilities is very clever, but you can protect yourself.
Be extra suspicious if (a) the greeting card doesn't address you by name; (b) the card sender's name isn't included in the body of the email or the name isn't familiar; (c) the link is an IP address (eg. 155.155.55.5) as opposed to normal web address (eg. www.companyname.com); and (d) it's not a holiday, a birthday, or any other occasion that might warrant a card. If the card requires that you install a special viewer program or tries to download a file to your system, cancel the download immediately and scan your system with up to date anti-virus software.
Remember the following safe computing habits:
- Never click on a link in an e-mail message without first carefully examining it:
- Are you sure the message came from your friend (was their name included)?
- Was it properly addressed to you (was your name included)?
- Is the language used in message seem like your friend?
- Did the message include information that only your friend would know?
- Were you expecting a message like this?
- Where does the link take you?
- Make sure your virus protection program is running:
- Is your anti-virus program installed and active?
- Have your recently updated the virus definitions?
- Make sure your software is up-to-date:
- Have you updated your Windows operating system?
- Have you updated your e-mail program and browser?
In the example above, the obvious mistake is that the e-mail is not personally addressed, and does not mention who the "friend" is that sent the greeting. But beware, the fake messages may become more sophisticated. Remember, if you are ever unsure about whether or not an e-mail is legit, send a quick note to the sender and ask them to confirm that they did indeed send you the message.
These messages bypass e-mail spam and virus filters because they do not actually contain the virus, but rather invite you to activate one when you click on a link that takes you to a webserver somewhere on the internet. This means that you and your computer are the last line of defense.
Virus Defense Checklist
Click on the following link to view a simple and easy to use checklist that you can use at home or at the office to ensure that you have taken all of the correct steps to protect yourself against viruses.
- Virus Defense Checklist
The above file is in PDF format. You will need Acrobat Reader installed in order to view it. You can download the program for free from Adobe.com
Additional Articles
Here are some links to additional information on viruses, e-mail scams and identity theft:
Read more articles in the Library section.
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