Businesses are being warned to be cautious of electronic greetings cards as companies resort to increasingly unethical practices to capture computer users' attention.

Software from friendgreetings.com is currently causing mass spam outbreaks and clogging corporate servers.

It is sending out spam purporting to be an e-greeting, inviting the recipient to view a card on the site. To see the card they must launch an ActiveX control, which automatically sends marketing material to everyone on their Outlook contacts list.

The company does mention this, but it is buried in a lengthy licence agreement. Some IT departments are reporting being swamped as email volumes go through the roof.

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