We have a winner for a VerveCards membership contest. Congratulations Janie – we’ll send you an email to get your details. Thanks to all who entered!

Aren’t e-cards great? I love them. Especially when I’m very late remembering someone’s birthday, or forgot about Mother’s Day until the Saturday before. Even if I think about it on the day of the event, then I can immediately zip of a cute e-card and not feel so guilty.

But, as is often the case, some have taken a good thing, and made it bad. In this case, scams and malware.

According to the FBI’s cyber division, cyber criminals try to fool “potential victims” by sending e-mails with e-card attachments. These attachments contain malware that “unleash(es) phishing and vishing attacks.” Basically, it’s a scam designed to steal your personal information.

Have you gotten an email with a fake e-card before? Usually the sender is “a friend,” or another vague description.

Don’t open any e-cards that do not have the fulll name of the sender. Also ignore any e-cards from senders that you don’t know.

Scammers will go to great lengths to appear legitimate, like take the name and logo of a real company. Check for typos and grammatical errors, and look at the URL to see if it’s odd or just a little off.

If you’re suspicious of an e-card, don’t click on the link in your email. Go to the legitimate site to see if  you really have an e-card waiting for you.

One thing I’ve found with these e-card scams is that my email account does a great job spotting the fakes for me. Most end up as junk mail before I even look at them.

Now that you’re scared of even sending e-cards to friends, co-workers and family, I have another tip. Send linkless e-cards. You can find some examples at VerveCards.com. Their linkless cards are emailed directly to the recipient, no links required.

And, these cards are funny, not silly. I like their sense of humor.

Good news for our readers – we have a one year membership to VerveCards to give away. All you have to do is comment and tell us who you would send your first e-card to. We’ll hold  a drawing for this membership next Friday, May 6.

If you don’t want to wait until then to sign up, VerveCards has also agreed to offer a 2-for-1 coupon for all begreenminded readers. Just use the code: BGMVERVE.

And, please vote in our poll. Let us know how you feel about sending e-cards.

(polls)

Since Mother’s Day is next Sunday, would Mom be your first recipient? I think my husband would enjoy some of these cards, so I would send one to him.

Earth Day is right around the corner (less than a week) and several retailers are offering discounts, or donating a portion of their sales to green charities.

Yesterday, I wrote about several cool free or cheap ways that you can celebrate Earth Day. Today, I’m going to tell you about some of the ways you can help be eco-friendly with your purchases.

If you are in the market for a new EnergyStar appliance, Earth Day just might be the day to buy one. I’ve written about the Cash for Appliances Rebates before. These are organized by states and several are starting their programs on April 22. Check out when your state’s program begins. You will need to act fast. Some of the programs that have already begun ran out of money within hours.

Send your friends a a cute, but not cutesy, e-cards. Try VerveCards. They will donate 10 percent of every purchase this month to American Forests, which plants trees where they are most needed. Check out their Earth Day e-cards – they are my favorites!

Wear a cool T-shirt for Earth Day. Check out the Go Green styles at KCTees. They are made of organic cotton, and 15 percent of the sales of these tees will go to Global Green USA. This organization is working to shift global priorities to a sustainable future.

Buy a GreenBagTag at CVS. The tag costs 99 cents, and can save you money each time you shop at the pharmacy. Five cents of each tag sold through March 31, 2011, goes to the World Wildlife Fund.

Update your underwear drawer. For every three pair of Hanes undies sold, the Arbor Day Foundation will plant a tree. Don’t throw away the old undies! Save them to use as rags around your house. They make great dustrags.

Go to the movies. Disney’s Oceans movie opens on Earth Day. DisneyNature will make a donation to save the coral reefs for every ticket sold.

Any other good deals that I’ve missed?