Real Life Lack of Common Sense

Just a little while ago I received the following email from a concerned customer of mine. I know it’s quite a mouthful but I believe it’s worth reading all the way through it so you understand my conclusions at the end.

> To:
> Subject: Bad virus
> Date: Fri, 6 Jun 2008 11:34:57 -0500>
> ---------- Forwarded Message ----------
>
> http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/postcard.asp
>
> Hi All, I checked with Norton Anti-Virus,
> and they are gearing up for this virus!
>
> I checked Snopes (URL above:), 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,' 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 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.
>
> Snopes lists all the subject lines this email
> could come with.
></UNDISCLOSED-RECIPIENT:;>

So far so good, all that is nothing new.

As you can see at the bottom of the Snopes page this thing is known at least since August 13th, 2007.

Somebody just got scared all over again and there goes the next avalanche of spam emails; yes, SPAM emails!

I try to explain to all my customers that greeting cards, even right around your birthday, anniversary or the like should ALWAYS be met with high suspicion; and that even if you know the supposed sender.

For those of my customers that listen it should be a question of honor NOT to give in to natural curiosity and click on a link in a “Postcard” or greeting card or the like.

In the example on Snopes the reader is asked to go to www.123greetings.com. A simple check with SiteAdvisor will show that 123greetings.com is a malicious web site.

My conclusion:

If you trust any old greeting card or postcard or the like it is your own fault when your computer gets wrecked! I’d love to help you getting it going again.

It is so easy to check these things out yourself that I am hard pressed to feel sympathy if anyone’s computer gets “nailed” because they forgot to check; it tells me that again somebody had taken their “common sense coat” off before they sat down at their computer.

As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog. Thank you in advance.

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