We just received an e-mail with the subject line “This card just for you. Check it now !!!”, reportedly from Hallmark, that we had been sent an E-Card from “a friend.” The e-mail went on to state: “If you would like to return an Ecard to him simply go to (a different e-mail address).”
While flattered that we had received the E-Card, there was something suspicious about it and we went to the Hallmark website to check it out. On the site we found the following:
“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.
It further stated: If you do click on the link in the bogus e-mail, you will launch a variant of the Zapchast Trojan virus. Zapchast installs an Internet Relay (IRC) chat client and causes the infected computer to connect to an IRC channel. Attackers then use that connection to remotely command your machine.”
You’ve been warned!