Postcard or Greeting Card Emails Bring W32/Zhelatin.gen!eml Virus
Beware when wants to pick up online electronic greeting cards or postcards (e-greeting cards or e-postcards) that appears to be sending by your friends, colleagues from relatives in your inbox, as these pick up links spread virus. These appear-to-be-legitimate but actually spoofed sender email spam email is actually a scam to entice users into clicking the link in the email and visiting sites hosting exploits that would result in a drive-by download.
A typical postcard or greeting card email has the following messages as its text:
Hi. Family member has sent you a postcard. See your card as often as you wish during the next 15 days.
SEEING YOUR CARD
If your email software creates links to Web pages, click on your card’s direct www address below while you are connected to the Internet:
Or copy and paste it into your browser’s “Location” box (where Internet addresses go).
We hope you enjoy your awesome card.
Wishing you the best, Postmaster, Postcards.Org
The emails seem to have plenty of title too, such as the following long list:
You’ve received a greeting card from a admirer! You’ve received a greeting card from a class mate! You’ve received a greeting card from a class-mate! You’ve received a greeting card from a colleague! You’ve received a greeting card from a family member! You’ve received a greeting card from a friend! You’ve received a greeting card from a mate! You’ve received a greeting card from a neighbor! You’ve received a greeting card from a neighbour! You’ve received a greeting card from a partner! You’ve received a greeting card from a school friend! You’ve received a greeting card from a school mate! You’ve received a greeting card from a school-mate! You’ve received a greeting card from a worshipper! You’ve received a greeting ecard from a admirer! You’ve received a greeting ecard from a class mate! You’ve received a greeting ecard from a class-mate! You’ve received a greeting ecard from a colleague! You’ve received a greeting ecard from a family member! You’ve received a greeting ecard from a friend! You’ve received a greeting ecard from a mate! You’ve received a greeting ecard from a neighbor! You’ve received a greeting ecard from a neighbour! You’ve received a greeting ecard from a partner! You’ve received a greeting ecard from a school friend! You’ve received a greeting ecard from a school mate! You’ve received a greeting ecard from a school-mate! You’ve received a greeting ecard from a worshipper! You’ve received a greeting postcard from a admirer! You’ve received a greeting postcard from a class mate! You’ve received a greeting postcard from a class-mate! You’ve received a greeting postcard from a colleague! You’ve received a greeting postcard from a family member! You’ve received a greeting postcard from a friend! You’ve received a greeting postcard from a mate! You’ve received a greeting postcard from a neighbor! You’ve received a greeting postcard from a neighbour! You’ve received a greeting postcard from a partner! You’ve received a greeting postcard from a school friend! You’ve received a greeting postcard from a school mate! You’ve received a greeting postcard from a school-mate! You’ve received a greeting postcard from a worshipper! You’ve received a postcard from a admirer! You’ve received a postcard from a class mate! You’ve received a postcard from a class-mate! You’ve received a postcard from a colleague! You’ve received a postcard from a family member! You’ve received a postcard from a friend! You’ve received a postcard from a mate! You’ve received a postcard from a neighbor! You’ve received a postcard from a neighbour! You’ve received a postcard from a partner! You’ve received a postcard from a school friend! You’ve received a postcard from a school mate! You’ve received a postcard from a school-mate! You’ve received a postcard from a worshipper! You’ve received an ecard from a admirer! You’ve received an ecard from a class mate! You’ve received an ecard from a class-mate! You’ve received an ecard from a colleague! You’ve received an ecard from a family member! You’ve received an ecard from a friend! You’ve received an ecard from a mate! You’ve received an ecard from a neighbor! You’ve received an ecard from a neighbour! You’ve received an ecard from a partner! You’ve received an ecard from a school friend! You’ve received an ecard from a school mate! You’ve received an ecard from a school-mate! You’ve received an ecard from a worshipper!
Worse, the sender email address is spoofed and the sender can be from webmaster of 1LoveCards.Com, administrator of greet2k.com, webmaster of FunnyPostcard.com, postmaster of Postcards.Com, Mail Delivery System of 2000greetings.com, postmaster of VintagePostcards.Com, webmaster of E-Cards.Com and etc.
However, receiving these infectious spam mail does not mean that your system is infected with the virus, although most virus scanner now stop the mail in inbox and direct them to bulk folder. Only when you click and visit the URL link, then a cocktail of browser and application exploits that attempts a drive-by install of malware on the users machine is performed. If your system is not secured with anti virus and patched with latest security hotfixes, the chances to get infected will be higher.
Most anti virus and security suites can now detect and remove this threat. Simply update the virus signatures to latest version, or if you haven’t yet, install a antivirus software.
LK is a technology writer for Tech Journey with background of system and network administrator. He has be documenting his experiences in digital and technology world for over 15 years.Connect with LK through Tech Journey on Facebook, Twitter or Google+.
