September 18, 2007 by abby.

  Still getting all those “You’ve Received and e-Card” emails?? A reader asked how she can tell if someone is sending her a real e-card - or if it’s another one of those fake ones. So I thought I’d share a few pointers on how to tell if an e-card notice that you’ve received is valid or not:
* The Subject Line - bad ones usually say something vague, like “You’ve received an ecard from a class-mate!” or “You’ve received a postcard from a family member!”. A legitimate card should have the sender’s name and/or email address in the subject line.
* The ‘From’ Line - most often bogus senders just put the name of an e-card site (egreet.com or greetings.net, something like that). A legitimate e-card most often mentions the senders name and/or email address in the from line.
* The body of the email - Two things: 1) A legitimate e-card email will mention a card ID number and some sort of time limit… the phony ones I’ve seen just want you to click their link. 2) On the ‘View your e-card’ link itself, you can mouse-over the link and (depending on your email program you may have to right-click) you see the website address of the link… a legitimate e-card will show something like “http://www.EcardSiteName.com/show-card/sender-bob1235@aol.com-123546-52145412.php” or something like that, which indicates that it’s one card of thousands…. a bogus link, on the other hand, usually looks something like this when you mouse-over it: “http://121.521.655.010/” or maybe “http://121.521.655.010/play-card.exe”, which is just plain scary…
  What to do if you’re not sure it’s safe ~ if you’re not sure of the sender, it’s better to not risk it. Just ask my daughter; her PC had serious problems after she clicked on a fake e-card link.

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September 18, 2007 by abby.

My pal Terry, (The guy who wrote “Living Within Your Means - The Easy Way”) has a new site where he sells high-quality ebooks for only two bucks each (even less if you want several and get them in a bundle). It’s called, appropriately enough, Two Dollar Online Books, and he’s got a bunch of good cookbooks, craft & how-to books, money-saving & money-making books… and at two bucks (or less) each, that’s a huge savings off retail! I’m very happy with my books and I’m sure you will be too ~ check it out.

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