From PR Newswire

Business Wire - Press Release
E-card Company, MushyGushy.com, Takes Steps to Thwart ``E-vildoers'' Before Their Users Get Impacted
07.25.07, 10:30 AM ET

A recent wave of malicious e-mails distributed through fictitious e-greeting companies has prompted www.MushyGushy.com, a start-up e-card company, to take some dramatic steps to protect its customers prior to any issues.

In an attempt to lure recipients into clicking on links that install a variant of the Storm Trojan virus, many fake emails are entering inboxes masquerading as e-greetings sent from "a friend" through well-known companies like American Greetings, Hallmark, 123Greetings, and Egreetings.com. These bogus emails usually feature a subject line that informs the recipient that they've received a greeting card or postcard from a friend, family member, or school-mate. When the e-mail is opened, there's a link to a website that uploads the virus to the recipient's computer. The first signs of Storm Trojan were seen in January 2007, with the e-greeting variant first appearing in June 2007.
"It is vitally important to make people aware that these emails are not coming from the e-greetings companies. They are spam," states Kurt Schwartz, the founder of MushyGushy.com. "These spammers are preying on innocent people and hurting the reputations of some great e-card companies. If the e-greeting you receive does not show your name or mention the sender's name in the subject line, as they do on MushyGushy, do not open the email or click on the link provided. Simply delete it."

In response to this growing problem, MushyGushy is proactively combating these "e-vildoers" with a three tiered approach before any possible issues could impact their loyal base of users. First, MushyGushy has hired additional customer service staff to answer questions and help educate their growing membership about this issue. Second, they have set up their own email notification templates that clearly display the receiver and sender names. MushyGushy's third line of defense is its most unique, providing a service that lets members post their e-cards on Myspace, YouTube and other websites - bypassing the emailing of the e-greeting altogether. "Posting your e-greeting to Myspace and YouTube are also great ways to dress up your profile page," states Schwartz.

MushyGushy.com, based in Parsippany, NJ, allows members to upload photos, cut out heads, and star in any one of over one hundred animated e-cards for all occasions. The site is fun and free!