Reply to this e-mail with your password or your account may be deactivated. That's the threat purportedly coming from the "Singnet support team." Do not be fooled - it's a phishing scam.

SingNet e-mail users have become the most recent targets of phishing attempts by an unknown source.

A Stomp contributor, Desmond, wrote in to the citizen media website last Saturday to warn other SingNet users about an e-mail that he received the day before, asking him to verify his account details before replying with his password.

The e-mail, with the subject line, "Confirm your e-mail address", from "support@singinet.com.sg" also added that a failure to replt would "immediately render your account deactivated from our database".

Ironically, the e-mail also expressed the sender's "primary concern for customers and for the security of their data."

Phishing, an online version of identity theft, normally takes the form of e-mail fraud or fictitious websites.

The recipient usually receives and e-mail purporting to be from a legitimate business, requesting the user to verify personal information online.

Information requested may include passwords, credit card numbers, and personal identification numbers which the legitimate business already has in its records.

When contacted by my paper, a SingNet spokesman verified that the e-mail sent to the Stomp contributor last Friday was not from the company. She said that SingNet does not spend out e-mail requesting customers to change or update their password and account details as these details are strictly confidential.

She added that SingNet does encounter such phishing situations occasionally.

The company advises those who have replied to the e-mail to change their passwords immediately on the SingNet website, https://userweb.singnet.com.sg/Consumer_Main.shtml.

SinNet has already put up a warning notice on its website and said it is currently investigating the matter.