Fake E-Cards

Every so often on the net, I read about someone being infected by something they got on a fake e-card. It’s not surprising that there are fake e-cards, e-cards are very popular and my cheapo family love sending them on special occasions. Not that I can blame them, have you seen the prices of greeting cards lately?

My boss tells his clients never click the link on an e-card but delete the email instead. I think this a little extreme as most e-cards are legit and you don’t want pissed off rellies and friends wondering they haven’t received an e-card receipt.

scambusters.org have the following suggestions for detecting fake ecards.

- Spelling mistakes — e.g. congratulation! Or your name is misspelled.

- Errors in the message — e.g. it says you sent a card, not received one.

- The sender isn’t someone you know.

- The sender has a bogus name (Joe Cool, Agatha Tragonawar, Card Sender, Secret Admirer, etc.).

- A URL that appears odd — e.g. www.http:// rather than http://www. (If the link points to an exe, delete the email immediately)

If you are taken to an e-card website that asks you install something to view the e-card , DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT click install. I have had far too many clients fall for things like that.

Once again I highly recommend you use Spyware Doctor to protect your computer from fake e-cards and other nasties. If you open an exe that Spyware Doctor detects is trying to install malicious software on your computer, it will quarantine the exe before it has a chance to do anything. That’s just one of the reasons the company I work for try to put Spyware Doctor on every machine we get in.

For more information of fake e-cards, be sure to read Tips for sending and receiving ecards safely: Internet ScamBusters™ #152

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