Guidelines Created to Help Consumers Avoid Fake Emails, Preparing for Busy
Holiday Season
CLEVELAND, Nov. 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- AG Interactive, the new
media subsidiary of American Greetings, announced today that the company
has established a campaign to help consumers differentiate legitimate
ecards from fraudulent emails. The announcement coincides with the kick-off
of the online holiday shopping season, when millions of electronic holiday
greetings are sent and received.
AG Interactive has created a set of guidelines that outline for
consumers how to retrieve online greetings safely, how to detect bogus
emails, and how to report false emails to the authorities. The company is
also working with industry groups, government organizations, and security
experts to eliminate the aggravating false emails that can spread computer
viruses or even "phish" for information such as online passwords.
"Millions of people send ecards to their friends and families and we
want to make sure the online community remains a safe place for them to
express themselves," said Sally Babcock, SVP of AG Interactive. "We have
launched this campaign to educate consumers and to let them know that we
are working hard to eliminate these online nuisances. Sending and receiving
online greetings is meant to be a fun and easy experience and we intend to
make sure it stays that way."
The guidelines for the AG Interactive family of sites, including
AmericanGreetings.com, are:
1. If you are suspicious of an email, do not click on any of the links
within the email. If the link within the email prompts you to open an
EXE file, it is most likely not from a legitimate sender and you
should not click on any links within the email.
2. The ecard provider will have a standard "from" email address and
display name. If the "from" line is different than usual, be more
cautious. For example, the "display name" field for an
AmericanGreetings.com ecard email will always read "Ecard from
AmericanGreetings.com" and the email address for an ecard email from
AmericanGreetings.com will always read .
3. The sender's name and email address should be in the subject line and
the body of the email. You should recognize this individual before
retrieving your card. In an ecard from AmericanGreetings.com ecard
emails, for example, it will read "Subject: John Smith has sent you an
ecard from AmericanGreetings.com".
4. If the pickup link in an ecard email is an IP address - that is, a
string of numbers such as 127.0.0.1 - rather than a website, the email
is probably fake. For example, the pickup links for
AmericanGreetings.com start with the domain name
http://www.american-greetings.com.
5. If the pickup link looks like an official website, you should still
hover over the link with your cursor. If the display states an IP
address, this is a "masked link" and is not a legitimate ecard pickup
link.
6. If you have any doubts, you can always go directly to the ecard
website and visit the ecard pick-up section to retrieve your card.
AmericanGreetings.com has made the ecard pickup link more noticeable
on the homepage to make this option easier.
7. If you feel you have received a fraudulent ecard email claiming to be
from any of the AG Interactive sites, please submit your example to
security@americangreetings.com to help in their investigations.
8. You can also report any false emails to the Internet Crime Complaint
Center of the FBI at http://www.ic3.gov/.
The guidelines above apply to all of the sites of AG Interactive,
including AmericanGreetings.com, Egreetings.com and BlueMountain.com. As
attacks and guidelines evolve very quickly, AG Interactive encourages
people to visit the newly released Email Protection Resource Centers now
available on its sites, such as: http://www.americangreetings.com/emailprotection
for the complete set of guidelines and information, or to get more
information on recent attacks and tips on how to protect your computer.
About AG Interactive
AG Interactive (AGI) is a global leader in licensing and creating
original self and social expression products for online, instant messaging
and mobile platforms. To create its premier content, the company leverages
one of the world's largest creative studios and digital library of
award-winning expressive content as well as an extensive international
distribution capability.
AGI attracts more than 30 million unique visitors per month in 18
countries to its popular websites AmericanGreetings.com, BlueMountain.com,
and Egreetings.com as well as through Instant Messaging and online
partnerships with AOL, MSN, and Yahoo!. The company has one of the largest
online subscription services with over 3.6 million paying subscribers.
AG Interactive is a subsidiary of American Greetings Corporation (NYSE:
AM), one of the world's leading manufacturers of social expression products
generating annual revenue of approximately $1.7 billion. For more
information, please visit http://www.aginteractive.com.
SOURCE AG Interactive
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Related links:
http://www.ag.com
http://www.aginteractive.com
CONTACT:
Kelly Fitzgerald, +1-212-616-6006,
kfitz@breakawaycom.com, Alicia Mickelsen, +1-212-616-6002,
amick@breakawaycom.com, both of Breakaway Communications for
AmericanGreetings.com
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