As the Festive season approaches - be more vigilant when opening emails (Hallmark e-cards)

Edit (by Bubbles19)- Added the following link from the Hallmark website - This Virus has been around for some time but with it coming into the festive season is likely to show up again - be extra vigilant if you receive emails.

In particular the following text has been lifted from their website which gives guidance of how to tell if the email if genuine or a virus/hoax.

How to tell if a Hallmark E-Card notification is real:

1.
The subject line of legitimate E-Card notifications from Hallmark will say, "A Hallmark E-Card from (name of the sender)" not a generic term like "friend," "neighbor" or "family member.
2.
The e-mail notification will come from the sender's e-mail address, not Hallmark.com.
3.
The notification will include a link to the E-Card on Hallmark.com as well as a URL that can be pasted into a browser.
4.
The URL will begin with http://hallmark.com/ followed by characters that identify the individual E-Card. Hover your mouse over the words "click here" in your e-mail. If you do not see the URL above, it is not a legitimate Hallmark E-Card.
5.
Hallmark E-Cards are not downloaded and they are not .exe files.
6.
In addition, Hallmark.com will never require an E-Card recipient to enter a user name or password nor any other personal information to retrieve an E-Card.

http://www.hallmark.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/article|10001|10051|/HallmarkSite/LegalInformation/FAQ_ECARD_FRAUD_ALERT





Just received this e-mail from a friend so I thought I'd pass it on.

HUGE VIRUS COMING ! PLEASE READ & FORWARD !

Hi All,

I checked with Norton Anti-Virus, and they are gearing up for this virus!
I checked Snopes, and it is for real. Get this E-mail message sent around to all your contacts ASAP.

PLEASE FORWARD THIS WARNING AMONG YOUR FRIENDS, FAMILY AND CONTACTS!

You should be alert during the next few days. Do not open any message with an attachment entitled 'POSTCARD FROM HALLMARK,'regardless of who sent it to you. It is a virus which opens A POSTCARD IMAGE, which 'burns' the whole hard disc C drive of your computer.

This virus will be received from someone who has your e-mail address on his/her contact list. That is the reason why you need to send this e-mail to all your contacts. It is better to receive this message 25 times than to receive the virus and open it!

If you receive a mail called' POSTCARD,' even if it is sent to you by a friend, do not open it! Shut down your computer immediately. This is the worst virus announced by CNN.

It has been classified by Microsoft as the most destructive virus ever. This virus was discovered by McAfee yesterday, and there is no repair yet for this kind of virus. This virus simply destroys the Zero Sector of the Hard Disc, where the vital information is kept.