BACOLOD CITY, Philippines—Beware of emails purportedly from a friend "desperately asking" for money.

A hacker nearly victimized the friends of a Negrense doctor who gained access to the latter's email address and then sent messages saying the doctor was mugged in London and needed money right away.

Dr. Ceres Baldevia of Silay City said on Wednesday one of her friends who knew she was not in London informed her about an email asking for financial assistance.

Based on the email sent to her friends on Tuesday, the hacker claimed that Baldevia was on her way to a London hotel when several gunmen robbed her. The hacker said that the Philippine embassy and the police had yet to provide assistance.

The hacker also asked the recipients for a loan to make arrangements for a new passport and pay for the hotel bills.

Baldevia said she tried to open her email but she could not do so because the hacker had changed her password.

She said she had to call the head office of Yahoo in California to ask for access to her email.

The Yahoo personnel asked her several security questions before she was allowed to enter her email address again, Baldevia said.

She added that she was told to change her password right away.

"Luckily, I got my email back and was able to change my password and read all his emails and his replies to those who extended help. Thus, I was able to stop some transactions right away," she said.

She said she referred to the hacker as "he" because when she checked her Yahoo email account information, she discovered that the hacker changed her gender to male, her occupation to computer multimedia and her home address to 600083 India.

On Wednesday, when Baldevia finally obtained access to her email address, she sent messages to her friends informing them that she was okay and was at home in Silay City.

Baldevia said she also discovered the email exchange between the hacker and her friends who were instructed on how to send money purportedly to her.

A friend of Baldevia in Spain almost sent financial assistance but the hacker refused to pick up the money and preferred that it be sent through Western Union.

Baldevia's friends in Canada and San Francisco also received similar emails but a variation of the email sent to other friends informed them the robbery took place in Netherlands.

Several other Bacolod residents have complained of having experienced similar email hacking incidents.

"So everybody, please be aware about this and be careful. I don't want it to happen to anyone else," Baldevia said.