Virtual Card (A Virtual Card For You)

Classification		Status
Hoax		True
Urban Legend		False
Chain Mail		Unknown
Joke/Spoof		Aliases
Scam		Related to
"Dim bulb" Rating (Click here for details)

Virtual Card is not a virus. It is a hoax. The "virus" does not exist. There is currently no virus that has the characteristics ascribed to Virtual Card. It is a sham, meant only to panic new or inexperienced computer users.

It is currently doing the rounds again (March 2002).

Here's yet another new variant that appeared in August 2001.

   WORST EVER VIRUS (CNN announced)

   PLEASE SEND THIS TO EVERYONE ON YOUR CONTACT LIST !!

   A new virus has just been discovered that has been
   classified by Microsoft 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 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.

   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 this mail to all of your
   friends.

   Forward this to everyone in your address book.

   I would rather receive this 25 times than not at all.
   Also: Intel announced that a new and very destructive
   virus was discovered recently.

   If you receive an email called "An Internet Flower
   For You," do not open it. Delete it right away! This
   virus removes all dynamic link libraries (.dll files)
   from your computer. Your computer will not be able to
   boot up!!

Here's another new variant that also appeared in January 2001.

W A R N I N G !
IF YOU RECEIVE AN E-MAIL WITH SUBJECT
" A VIRTUAL CARD FOR YOU "
DO NOT OPEN !!!
IT CONTAINS A VERY, VERY DANGEROUS VIRUS.
IT WAS CLASSIFIED YESTERDAY BY MICROSOFT AND MCAFEE AS THE MOST DESTRUCTIVE VIRUS OF ALL TIMES. VIRUS DESTROY HARD DISK. WITHOUT POSSIBILITY TO REPAIR. PLEASE SEND THIS MESSAGE TO EVERYBODY YOU KNOW !

Not sure whether it's genuine as it isn't listed as a virus (or as a hoax). Please watchout anyway.
Thanks,
Bill.

PLEASE READ THIS !
A new virus has just been discovered that has been classified by Microsoft

and by McAfee 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, the ctrl+alt+del keys or the reset button are pressed, the virus
destroys Sector Zero thus permanently destroying the hard disk. Please
distribute this message to the greatest number of people possible.
Yesterday in just a few hours this virus caused panic in New York,
according to news broadcast by CNN. This alert was received by an
employee of Microsoft itself, Antony Joseph, Chief Systems Network
Engineer, Bond House, Chiswick High Road, London, UK

Recently a new virus was discovered that was classified by MICROSOFT www.microsoft.com and by MCAFEE www.mcafee.com to be the most damaging of all time! This virus was discovered late yesterday by MCAFEE and still there is no development of a vaccine!

This virus simply writes zeros on the hard drive, where the vital information for the operation of the PC is kept. The virus activates in the following manner:

1. By email it is received with the title 'A VIRTUAL CARD FOR YOU', when opening the message, it sends itself to all in the address list soon...

2. It hangs the machine, forcing the user to reboot the system.

3. AT the moment in which the keys ctrl+alt+del or the RESET button is pressed, it writes zeros to the hard drive making it unusable forever.

By the previous information, please, take precaution with the use of electronic mail and, of course, if you receive an email which you do not know the origin of, simply delete it without opening.

Please, send this message to the most people possible!!!!

In a few hours yesterday, this virus caused panic in New York, according to CNN www.cnn.com.

WARNING

DO NOT OPEN THE VIRTUAL CARD. There is a virus
spreading through the lists of roots web. One
of the was is gets around the filters and other
protection devices that roots web has is through
ruses like this. It's a virus that mails itself
using names it pickup up from the computers it
gets into.  Do Not Trust this simply because it
mentions Cynthia's name. It is also using her
e-mail address. This is one of those viruses
Cynthia has been warning us about.  I've been
seeing it on other lists that I belong to.
I can't type the name of the virus. According
to the semantic sight just typing certain word
will send this insidious thing along to others.
I've seen it happen once tonight in a message
I sent to another list. I am not going to put
that on this list. I've already updated my
anti virus program since then, but I'm not going
to take the chance.

There are two ways this virus is being spread.
One is through a specific web address, the other
is through a greeting card invitation like this one.
The web address appears as a hyper link. Another of
the things that is happening is people are getting
e-mails sent to them from themselves. These
e-mails contain the virus.

This is another variant posted in 2001.

PASS THIS ON TO ANYONE YOU HAVE AN E-MAIL ADDRESS FOR.

******* IT IS REAL AND NOT A JOKE: If you receive an email titled "blue horseshoe loves Harrison" DO NOT OPEN IT!!! It will erase everything on your hard drive. This information was announced yesterday morning from IBM; AOL states that this is a very dangerous virus, much worse than "Melissa," and that there is NO remedy for it at this time. Some very sick individual has succeeded in using the reformat function from Norton Utilities causing it to completely erase all documents on the hard drive. It has been designed to work with Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer. It destroys Macintosh and IBM compatible computers. This is a new, very malicious virus and not many people know about it. PLEASE pass this warning along to EVERYONE in your address book and please share it with all your online friends ASAP so that this threat may be stopped.

Please practice cautionary measures and tell anyone that may have access to your computer. Forward this warning to everyone that might access the Internet.