THE ongoing racy photo scandal that rocked Hong Kong has sent its sleazy ripples to Singapore.

Local stars Fann Wong and Stefanie Sun are the latest celebrities to have their names dragged in the mud, after digitally-manipulated 'nude pictures' of them were found uploaded onto awell-linked website.

The pictures are discernibly fake, but they are the only two Singaporean stars included in a long alphabetical list featuring some 140 celebrity names.

'I'm not angry but feel wronged. I'm quite worried that overseas netizens who don't know my background will have the wrong impression of me,' she said.

Stefanie's manager, Ms Marcia Tan, is outraged by the pictures.

She told The New Paper last night: 'I think this is really a prank gone out of hand and whoever is doing this has no respect for any artistes.

'To think they even played a prank on the late Anita Mui! How disrespectful can that be?

'These are just distasteful acts from irresponsible people.'

Stefanie herself sent an sms to The New Paper via Ms Tan.

'I think the media should seriously consider its own role in proliferating this trend of shaming celebrities,' Stefanie, 30, wrote.

HOSTED IN CHINA

The origin of the website is not clear, but Hong Kong papers reported yesterday that the website is hosted in mainland China.

The website features pictures seemingly of Edison Chen allegedly engaging in sexual acts with women who looked like Gillian Chung and Bobo Chan.

It also has nude pictures of a Cecilia Cheung lookalike.

These pictures are the same ones as those that have made the rounds on the Internet.

But scroll downwards on the website and you get an A to Z list of many other big names in the region.

Next to each name are links pointing to at least one 'naked picture'.

There are approximately 500 links on the website.

The Hong Kong media said both the police and triads are on the hunt for the mastermind behind the circulation of the pictures.

The papers even reported that a top triad boss is rumoured to have dangled a HK$3million ($544,000) carrot to nab the perpetrator.

While speculations are still ongoing as to whether the Hong Kong stars' pictures are genuine or not, the photos in the alphabetical list on the website are noticeably fake.

PICTURES MANIPULATED

The perpetrator has digitally pasted the heads of famous celebrities - such as Sammi Cheng, Vivian Chow, Maggie Cheung, A-mei, SHE's Ella and Hebe, Rainie Yang, Lin Chiling, Zhang Ziyi, Jun Ji Hyun, even the late Anita Mui and Beatrice Hsu - onto various naked bodies.

Male stars such as Jacky Cheung, Ekin Cheng, Leo Ku and Nicholas Tse were not spared either.

The picture of Fann has been manipulated such that her head appears on a naked woman's body leaning against a window.

The top is exposed but the lower body is covered with a towel.

The head is tilted in an awkward angle and appears disproportionately bigger than the rest of the body.

Stefanie, on the other hand, had two fake pictures featured.

One picture showed her with long hair, wearing lingerie.

Another had her head superimposed on a woman in a compromising position.

This is the second time the local singer's image has been abused recently.

Just two weeks ago, her picture was found to have been misused by a clinic in Shenzhen, China, to endorse its abortion procedure.

UNFORTUNATE

Stefanie's manager Ms Tan said it was unfortunate Stefanie's photos have been abused back to back in such a short period.

'The Internet is obviously an evil tool in these incidents, as artistes images are readily accessible to many, including these perverts,' she added.

Fann, too, admitted to being disturbed by the whole HK episode.

She said: 'I'm at a loss for words. I don't know Edison, and I've never worked with him.

'I don't know how this kind of pictures can be in the computer and how it can be leaked.

'I can't believe that Edison has all this stuff in his computer in the first place.'

Meanwhile, fans of the two stars that The New Paper spoke to are calm about their idols' 'nude pictures'.

Ms Tang Huixiang, a Stefanie follower, said while the pictures were 'too outrageous', readers are 'smart enough these days to be able to tell that the photos have been manipulated'.

'Stefanie's been quite suay (unlucky) lately with two incidents of her image being abused. But it goes to show that she's popular,' said the accountant, 34.

Ms Charmaine Sim, 26, vice-president of the Fannatic Fann Club, who saw the website picture, told The New Paper that she is a bit angry but she's not worried for the actress because the picture looks too fake.

Fann herself sees the lighter side of it.

Asked if she'll want to see the manipulated pictures of herself, Fann laughed and said: 'I will hyperventilate! But maybe on a full moon when I'm feeling naughty, I will.'

This story was first published in The New Paper on Feb 5, 2008.