Spammers seem to be taking advantage of the Christmas holiday season to spread viruses and malwares. Today, I received a message "You've received A Hallmark E-Card!" but after opening the email, I realized the ecard may not have come from one of my friends. Why?
1. The ecard does not contain any of my friends' name.
2. My email gave this warning: "Warning: This message may not be from whom it claims to be. Beware of following any links in it or of providing the sender with any personal information."
Anyway, I tried sending myself a legitimate hallmark ecard and realized what I have previously received is indeed a fake hallmark ecard. Links from these hallmark email cards may contain malware and hallmark card virus. I am not sure though if this is what they call as the hallmark postcard virus or the "postcard from hallmark virus".
Anyway, I made a comparison between the real hallmark email greetings ecard and the fake one. Hopefully this will help people distinguish a real hallmark ecard from the fake one:
| Real hallmark ecard | Fake Hallmark ecard | |
| Subject | A Hallmark E-Card from John Doe* | You've received A Hallmark E-Card! |
| Sender | Sender's email (example, johndoe@ymail.com) | hallmark. com <notifications@hallmark.com> |
| Body Content | John Doe has sent you a Hallmark E-Card . If you recognize this name, click the link to see your E-Card. http://www.hallmark.com/ECardWeb/ECV.jsp?a=EG0246331000080M115271Y&product_id= If this name is not familiar to you and you're concerned about online security, please use the following steps: Visit http://www.hallmark.com/getecard Enter your e-mail address in the Original Recipient's E-Mail Address box. Enter EG0246331000080 in the Confirmation Number box. Click Display Greeting. Want to send an E-Card too ? Visit www.hallmark.com/ecards To view Hallmark's privacy policy or for questions, visit www.hallmark.com, and click the links at the bottom of the page. | A Friend has sent you a Hallmark E-Card. If you recognize this name, click the link to see your E-Card. http://www.hallmark.com/ECardWeb/ECV.jsp?a=EG0694272732475M245925860Y&product_id= If this name is not familiar to you and you're concerned about online security, please use the following steps: Visit http://www.hallmark.com/getecard Enter your e-mail address in the Original Recipient.s E-Mail Address box. Enter EG0694262772475 in the Confirmation Number box. Click Display Greeting. Want to send an E-Card too ? Visit www.hallmark.com/ecards To view Hallmark's privacy policy or for questions, visit www.hallmark.com, and click the links at the bottom of the page. |
* Assume sender's name is John Doe
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