HALLMARK POSTCARDS ~ VIRUS

[Beguile's Mistress]

I receivedand email from a friend who received it from their friend who supposedly has a brother that works for Microsoft.  It is as follows:

Subject: Fwd: FW: computer virus

    FYI  TO ALL.

                D's brother is a very advanced  programmer who does computer work for a living and  has a high up status with Microsoft.  He  doesn't send these if they aren't real.   If  he  says this is for real, it for sure is.   Be  aware.


               VIRUS  COMING !

             
              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 your contacts  ASAP.

              PLEASE  FORWARD THIS WARNING AMONG 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 of your  computer.

             
              This  virus will be received from someone who has your  e-mail address in his/her contact list. This 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 though  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.


              COPY  THIS E-MAIL, AND SEND IT TO YOUR  FRIENDS.

             
              REMEMBER:  IF YOU SEND IT TO THEM, YOU WILL BENEFIT ALL OF  US
     
     
     

[Oniya]

And for the full story, including how to safely retrieve genuine postcards sent by friends and family members:

http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/postcard.asp

Although the Postcard virus is real, it isn't a "BIG VIRUS COMING" (it's already been around in multiple forms for a long time now), it will not "burn the whole hard disc" of your computer, CNN didn't classify it as the "worst virus" ever, and it doesn't arrive in messages bearing a subject line of 'Invitation.'

[Beguile's Mistress]

Thanks, Oni. 

[Oniya]

I remember the 'Good Times' virus.   ;)  Once anything hits 'friend of a friend', I start looking for more primary sources.  The advice not to randomly click on links just because they say they're from a friend/family member is excellent, but knee-jerk 'deletes' are often unnecessary.

[Beguile's Mistress]

It's good to investigate the way you do.  I know the person who sent me the email and I know that the brother of his friend does work for Microsoft.  It's all the breakdowns in communication in between I'm not sure about.

I got caught during the summer by that YIM virus that started sending messages from your contact list if you opened a picture sent to you by a friend/contact. 

I was just hoping people would stop before clicking like I should have done.

[Haibane]

If the warning says something about Microsoft, CNN, Fox News, BBC, McAfee or Norton saying its real and/or the virus 'will destroy your HDD as soon as you click on it', you can guarantee its a hoax ;)

In cases like these the virus is the message itself, being sent round the internet to 'everyone in your address book' and wasting people's time.

Best thing to do when you get any virus warning is first, don't open it and second, Google search for it.

Not having a go at you at all BM, just hoping to spread the word on how to stop these silly chain messages going round and round (although I doubt that's possible).

[Beguile's Mistress]

I understand and appreciate it, Haibane. 

I don't know how true it is but I've been burned by this type of virus before and even if this is a hoax this thread may make people thing twice up opening that message that makes them think "Who is that?" or "Why are they sending me someing?"

[Oreo]

I received that message last year and opted to write the sender to verify that they sent a card before I open any Emails of that sort. It seems a simple enough solution and heads off any potential problem.