By Judith Tan

WOMEN'S rights advocate Anamah Tan is the latest victim of an e-mail hoax that has hit at least three others in Singapore.

The e-mail, sent to friends and business associates from her Yahoo account, claims that Dr Tan was robbed in London and appeals for money to help her return home.

The author claimed the message was written in a hurry and said Dr Tan, a lawyer, was in London 'for an urgent situation'.

'Unfortunately for me, all my money was stolen at the hotel where I lodged,' it read. 'Please can you send me &pound1,500 today so I can return home. As soon as I get home I would refund it immediately. Write me so I can let you know how to send the money.'

Dr Tan's office confirmed that the e-mail is a hoax and that Dr Tan is okay. It received a flood of calls from concerned friends, her secretary told The Straits Times.

Dr Tan is currently in New York until the end of next month, attending a United Nations conference on discrimination against women.

She could not be reached for comment.

The others recently hit by similar scams are Ms Karen Chan, a Singaporean lawyer working in London, Singapore Idol finalist Jeassea Thyidor and Straits Times senior writer Ching Cheong.

Hackers e-mailed Ms Chan's retired father in April using her account asking for $7,000, claiming that she had been 'robbed' in the United States.

In the same month, a hoax e-mail was sent claiming that Mr Ching was stranded in Malaysia after leaving 'my money, passport, documents and other valuable things' in a taxi on the way to the hotel.

The third case came last month, claiming that Ms Thyidor was 'starving' and asking friends to send money.

Computer security experts said scams that see hackers break into personal e-mail accounts are becoming increasingly prevalent.

Mr Don Ng is a field director of Enterprise Security (Asia Pacific) in Symantec, a global company that makes anti-virus software. He said victims who use unprotected computers in hotels, Internet cafes and other public places leave themselves open to such attacks.

Others are too open with personal information, he said.

'Another problem is that these people tend to store sensitive information like credit card numbers, and friends' birth dates in their inboxes. Do not simply give your details out because some official-looking site requires them. You are merely providing ammunition for the hackers to use against you,' he said.

Unless patrons to Internet cafes know that there is security software installed, do not use the computers to send e-mail or make online payments.

Mr Ng said: 'You don't wander into the dark alleys overseas because of possible dangers lurking there. Then why would you want to venture into unknown territories in cyberspace without any protection?'