Consumers are being plagued by another thread of fraudulent emails, and the American Greetings Corp online division, American Greetings Interactive, wants to be sure that e-card users and recipients know how to ensure their safety. The most important advice, according to the e-greetings site, is to never open any attachments in an email if you are not completely certain of who sent the email, and what is included in the attachment. 

Most reputable sites, including AmericanGreetings.com, do not include attachments with e-card notifications and suggest recipients go to their main page by directly typing in the site URL in their browser. Once there, users can enter the code found in the original email to retrieve their greeting.

The newest strand of fraudulent emails contain a malicious executable attachment called "e-card.zip" or "e-card.exe," opening the attachment can result in your computer being affected by the virus currently being spread. As the FBI Internet crime division works to put an end to this threat, AmericanGreetings.com has updated its email protection page, as well as those on other sites powered by AmericanGreeting.com including the electronic greetings on Yahoo! MSN and Egreetings.com.

"This is a very frustrating issue for consumers and we want to be absolutely sure that we are doing everything in our power to educate them on how to maintain the safe receipt of their e-cards," said James Chou, CTO AG Interactive. "We want e-card senders and recipients to know that they can still safely enjoy electronic greetings as they always have, but they just need to be absolutely sure that what they are being sent is in fact a legitimate e-card."

Chou offers these other tips to ensure safe receipt of e-cards:

• Always be sure that you recognize the sender. The name and/or email address of the individual sending the card will always be in the subject line. If you do not recognize the name or address, proceed with caution or immediately delete the email.
• Be especially cautious of any emails with "secret admirer" in the "from" field, as many of those affected by the recent scam have noted this.
• If you receive an email stating that you have sent an e-card that you do not recognize, please know that your email address and account were not compromised through your membership.
• Make sure to always use the latest version of your Internet browser, as they will check for potentially fraudulent websites when browsing the web.

For more information on ensuring safe receipt of your e-cards, visit the AmericanGreetings.com email protection resource center. Visitors to the page can find additional suggestions on what to look for to tell if the greeting you received is legitimate, as well as actual examples of the fraudulent emails.

If you feel you have received a fraudulent email please report it to AmericanGreetings.com at security@americangreetings.com, as well as the FBI Internet crime complaint center.