Be Careful With Online Greeting Cards

Internet users are becoming more sensitive to the possibility that viruses can arrive in spam mail. But those who want to send viruses in spam mail are coming up with new schemes to overcome the wariness that is developing among users.

The latest danger comes from viruses sent under the guise of e-greeting cards, those ubiquitous messages usually coupled with graphics that many Internet users have come to rely on for expressing themselves to their online friends and family.

Those in the business of spreading viruses have found that creating spammed messages and disguising them as e-greeting cards is a good way to spread their malicious attacks around the world. It's estimated that since the first of July, about 300 million spammed messages sent announcing e-greeting cards but in fact baiting the recipient.

The problem has become so severe that the FBI has warned consumers about this online greeting card scam.

"Like many other Internet fraud schemes, the perpetrators use social engineering tactics to entice the victim, claiming the card is from a family member or friend. Although there have been variations in spam message and attached malware, generally the spam directs the recipient to click the link provided in the e-mail to view their e-card. Upon clicking the link, the recipient is unknowingly taken to a malicious Web page," the FBI alert says.

In most instances, the subject line of the e-mail says that the recipient has received a greeting card or a postcard from an unnamed friend, family member, schoolmate or secret admirer. When the e-mail is opened, there's a link to a Web site. If the recipient accesses it, a virus is uploaded to the recipient's computer.

The viruses might do one of many things. It might search your computer for personal information and send it to the person who created the virus. In other instances, it might corrupt your computer - causing a crash.

Some of the recipients of these cards are told to download certain software to read their message. If that happens, the program they download sends e-mails to everyone in that person's address book. Strangely enough, some of the scammers actually ask permission to install the software on your computer using an End User License Agreements, something that most folks don't bother to read.

What do you do? First and foremost, be skeptical of every e-mail you receive that announces you have a greeting card waiting for you. If it simply says that the e-mail was sent by a nameless friend, neighbor or whomever, don't open it. If it says that the e-card comes from someone who is named and you know that named person, it's probably safe to open the card.