BACOLOD CITY?Beware of e-mails purportedly from friends ?desperately asking? for money.

A hacker nearly victimized the friends of a Negrense doctor who gained access to the doctor?s e-mail address after sending 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 e-mail asking for financial assistance.

Based on the e-mail sent to her friends on Tuesday, the hacker claimed that Baldevia was in London when some gunmen robbed her while she was on the way to the hotel. The hacker said that the Philippine Embassy and the police have 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 e-mail 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 e-mail.

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

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

?Luckily, I got my e-mail back and was able to change my password and read all his e-mails and his replies to those who extended help. Thus, I was able to stop some transactions right away,? she said.

She said she refers to the hacker as ?he? because when she checked her Yahoo e-mail 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 e-mail address, she sent messages to her friends informing them that she was okay and was at home in Silay City.