Electronic greeting cards (ecards) are an inexpensive way to tell someone how you feel. They’re great for birthdays, holidays, or other special occasions. But they’re also spammy, annoying, and few of your recipients really care to read them! There are other unfortunate things about ecards that put them on the list of items labeled Do Not Use… EVER.

First, an ecard notice in your inbox is usually assumed as a completely harmless thing; when you see the words “Someone sent you an eCard,” or some other derivative, you immediately start to open it and wonder who the “someone” is and why you are so special. You don’t pay attention to the URL and quickly find yourself clicking on links to view the card… enabling whatever malicious code lies underneath. Congratulations! Your computer has now likely been hijacked to carry out some sinister purpose.

To the unsuspecting and totally trusting computer user, they think it’s all legitimate. Some experienced users are even getting fooled. What’s worse, greeting card seasons will always see a large rash of malicious ecard spam incidents. Trust me on this: sending an ecard for Christmas is NOT a good idea.

Looking for alternatives? Here’s a list of things that not only you don’t have to put a stamp on to send, they are FREE:

• Phone calls – nobody calls anymore. You’ll be surprised how happy you will make someone by a simple phone call. You’ve already paid for the service, the minutes you’ll use and your phone – nothing else to buy!
• Text, picture, or video messages – use your phone, digital camera or camcorder to send a personalized greeting.
• Tweets – use Twitter to send your holiday greetings in 140 characters or less. What could be simpler?
• Zazzle pizazz – Create neat, one-of-a-kind Zazzle products and give your friends and family the opportunity to purchase your beautiful picture mug, t-shirt or handbag. At least give them the option to refuse rather than receiving the gift and never using it.

Do you have more free ideas for sending holiday greetings to friends, colleagues and loved ones? Remember, no stamps allowed!

• Zazzle Coupons
• Want Your Face on a Color-Changing Mug or T-Shirt?
• Where to Make and Sell Merchandise
• Spam Fighting Tools: Desktop or ISP Hosted?
• Greeting Card Spam

http://live.pirillo.com/ – QBack in the early days of the Internet getting a greeting card via e-mail used to be a cool event; but, in recent years, greeting card spam has become very prevalent, especially during a holiday season.

How can you identify these messages?

• It use a generic name instead of your real name
• It asks you to visit a website that you've never heard of
• It tells you that you need to download some custom software
• It asks for your bank or credit card information
• It doesn't list who the card came from
• It lists one of your friends' names, but your friend did not send the card

Do you have any advice on avoiding getting scammed?

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