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"A Card for
You"- "Virtual Card For You"-or "Postcard" Virus Warning-Fiction!
&
Truth!
Summary of the eRumor The eRumor warns of a
virus just discovered by Mcafee and classed by Microsoft as the most
destructive ever.
It says the virus destroys "Sector Zero" from the heard
disk, sends itself to all the names in your email address book,
wipes out the hard disk, and has caused a panic in New York,
according to CNN.
It says that the subject will be "A Card for You",
"Virtual Card for You", or "Postcard."
The Truth
This email is a hoax.
It has circulated continuously on the Internet since at least 2001.
There is no known virus called "A card for you" or "A
virtual card for you."
In July, 2007, someone added "Postcard" to the story and
said that it had been verified as a true virus.
Note:
It is true that there was a virus that appeared in the summer of
2007 with a subject line of: "You've received a postcard
from a family member." There were several other
variations of the subject line that talked about a "card"
or a "greeting card." But that virus had nothing to
do with this false warning about "A card for you" or
"A virtual card for you" and the warning that CNN had
termed it the worst virus ever.
Neither Microsoft nor McAfee has had anything to say about it except
that it is a hoax.
The CNN part of the eRumor was added by someone along the way.
Updated 8/1/07
A real example of the eRumor as it has
appeared on the Internet:
To All,
A new virus has just been discovered that has been
classified by Microsoft as the most destructive ever. This virus was
discovered yesterday afternoon by McAfee. This virus simply destroys
Sector Zero from the hard disk where vital information for its
functioning are stored.
This virus acts in the following manner: It sends itself automatically
to all contacts on your list with the title: "A Card for You".
As soon as the supposed virtual card is opened the computer freezes so
that the user has to reboot. When the ctrl+alt+del keys or the reset
button are pressed, the virus destroys Sector Zero, thus permanently
destroying the hard disk. Yesterday in just a few hours this virus
caused panic in New York, according to news broadcast by CNN.
This alert was received by an employee of Microsoft itself. So don't
open any mails with subject: "A Virtual Card for You." As soon
as you get the mail, delete it, even if you know the sender.
Please forward this to everyone in your address book. I'm sure most
people, like myself, would rather receive this notice 25 times than not
at all.
