How Stupid Do They Think I Am?

I checked my e-mail today after a week of feeling bad and was not at all surprised to find a Hallmark e-card in there. Of course, I do not know anyone that would send me a Hallmark e-card, and no one has said they were sending me one, so… easy to spot as a scam even before you see the sender is some admin at xs.ac92 dot com website.

(click to see full size image)

These are usually the sorts of e-mails that carry along a little trojan program looking to steal your information. What ticks me off about this one is that the thing is circulating around just before Mother’s Day, which means there are a lot of senior citizens out there that are going to assume their kids sent them an e-card and open it up.

Don’t fall prey to these suckers, if you have no idea who a sender of an e-card is - *DO NOT OPEN IT*. Make it clear to everyone that you know that might send you something like that, that you will only open such things if they have told you in a separate manner that they are sending it to you. I have made it clear to all of my friends that unless they tell me over AIM (AOL’s Instant Messenger) that they have sent me an e-card or other e-mail with some sort of website link or attachment, then I will not open it, even if I recognize the sender. It’s better to miss out on a cutsey card than to have your personal financial information compromised by a scammer.

Okay, this one just raises the hairs along the back of my neck and says “No! Don’t Click That!” It looks innocent enough, but I’m not about to get snared by them morons.

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Subject: Hey, you have a new Greeting !!!

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Hello friend !

You have just received a Greeting from someone who cares about you!

Just click here to receive your Animated Greeting !

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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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In posting this here, I have replaced their link (which goes to a virus download) with the link to the Hallmark.com information on this e-card scam.

DO NOT click on any greeting cards you are not expecting, and particularly not on one that just says “from a friend” or something similar.

Hallmark.com says in part:

“A fraudulent e-mail flooding the Internet claims to have a link to an E-Card from a family member, friend or neighbor and uses major greeting card company names such as Hallmark. Clicking on the link downloads a virus onto your computer that compromises personal data.”