AmericanGreetings.com Establishes Campaign to Protect Consumers Against Email Hoaxes

Guidelines Created to Help Consumers Avoid Fake Emails, Preparing for Busy Holiday Season 


CLEVELAND, Nov. 28  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- AG Interactive, the new media subsidiary of American Greetings, announced today that the company has established a campaign to help consumers differentiate legitimate ecards from fraudulent emails.  The announcement coincides with the kick-off of the online holiday shopping season, when millions of electronic holiday greetings are sent and received.

AG Interactive has created a set of guidelines that outline for consumers how to retrieve online greetings safely, how to detect bogus emails, and how to report false emails to the authorities.  The company is also working with industry groups, government organizations, and security experts to eliminate the aggravating false emails that can spread computer viruses or even "phish" for information such as online passwords.

"Millions of people send ecards to their friends and families and we want to make sure the online community remains a safe place for them to express themselves," said Sally Babcock, SVP of AG Interactive.  "We have launched this campaign to educate consumers and to let them know that we are working hard to eliminate these online nuisances.  Sending and receiving online greetings is meant to be a fun and easy experience and we intend to make sure it stays that way."

The guidelines for the AG Interactive family of sites, including AmericanGreetings.com, are:

  1.  If you are suspicious of an email, do not click on any of the links
      within the email.  If the link within the email prompts you to open an
       EXE file, it is most likely not from a legitimate sender and you
      should not click on any links within the email.
  2.  The ecard provider will have a standard "from" email address and
      display name.  If the "from" line is different than usual, be more
      cautious. For example, the "display name" field for an
      AmericanGreetings.com ecard email will always read "Ecard from
      AmericanGreetings.com" and the email address for an ecard email from
      AmericanGreetings.com will always read .
  3.  The sender's name and email address should be in the subject line and
      the body of the email.  You should recognize this individual before
      retrieving your card.  In an ecard from AmericanGreetings.com ecard
      emails, for example, it will read "Subject: John Smith has sent you an
      ecard from AmericanGreetings.com".
  4.  If the pickup link in an ecard email is an IP address - that is, a
      string of numbers such as 127.0.0.1 - rather than a website, the email
      is probably fake.  For example, the pickup links for
      AmericanGreetings.com start with the domain name
      http://www.american-greetings.com/.
  5.  If the pickup link looks like an official website, you should still
      hover over the link with your cursor. If the display states an IP
      address, this is a "masked link" and is not a legitimate ecard pickup
      link.
  6.  If you have any doubts, you can always go directly to the ecard
      website and visit the ecard pick-up section to retrieve your card.
      AmericanGreetings.com has made the ecard pickup link more noticeable
      on the homepage to make this option easier.
  7.  If you feel you have received a fraudulent ecard email claiming to be
      from any of the AG Interactive sites, please submit your example to
       to help in their investigations.
  8.  You can also report any false emails to the Internet Crime Complaint
      Center of the FBI at http://www.ic3.gov/.



The guidelines above apply to all of the sites of AG Interactive, including AmericanGreetings.com, Egreetings.com and BlueMountain.com. As attacks and guidelines evolve very quickly, AG Interactive encourages people to visit the newly released Email Protection Resource Centers now available on its sites, such as: http://www.americangreetings.com/emailprotection for the complete set of guidelines and information, or to get more information on recent attacks and tips on how to protect your computer.

About AG Interactive

AG Interactive (AGI) is a global leader in licensing and creating original self and social expression products for online, instant messaging and mobile platforms. To create its premier content, the company leverages one of the world's largest creative studios and digital library of award-winning expressive content as well as an extensive international distribution capability.

AGI attracts more than 30 million unique visitors per month in 18 countries to its popular websites AmericanGreetings.com, BlueMountain.com, and Egreetings.com as well as through Instant Messaging and online partnerships with AOL, MSN, and Yahoo!. The company has one of the largest online subscription services with over 3.6 million paying subscribers.

AG Interactive is a subsidiary of American Greetings Corporation (NYSE: AM), one of the world's leading manufacturers of social expression products generating annual revenue of approximately $1.7 billion.  For more information, please visit http://www.aginteractive.com/. 

DATASOURCE: AG Interactive



CONTACT:  Kelly Fitzgerald, [phone], ,

Alicia Mickelsen, [phone], , both of Breakaway

Communications for AmericanGreetings.com



Web site:  http://www.ag.com/

http://www.aginteractive.com/ 

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