Fighting malware and spam

A virtual card for you

The following is the text usually shown in the A virtual card for you hoax email. There may be other variations on a similar theme, as well as other language versions.

Hoax text

Subject: Fw: VIRUS ALERT!!!!!! PLEASE READ!!!!!!!

Subject: A new virus has just been discovered that has been classified
by Microsoft ( www.microsoft.com ) and by McAfee (www.mcafee.com ) as
the most destructive ever! This virus was discovered yesterday afternoon
by McAfee and no vaccine has yet been developed. 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 Virtual 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 (www.cnn.com ). 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.

Please pass on this mail to all your friends.
Vice EeveeVice Eevee
	

VB reminds users: if you receive a virus warning message, do not forward the message to all your friends/colleagues, as it may suggest in the text. If you have verified that the message is a hoax, simply delete it. If you are unsure, forward the message to your IT administrator. Failing that, forward it to hoax@virusbtn.com. It is possible that you may receive a hoax email with a file attachment. Since it is possible that these attachments could be infected VB advises such files to be be treated with the same caution as any other unexpected message attachment and urges users not to open them.

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