THAT was the plea an estimated 300 contacts of former Singapore Idol finalist Jeassea Thyidor found in an apparent e-mail from her on Sunday night.

The e-mail, which had been sent from the singer's Hotmail account, said she was stranded in Nigeria after taking part in a programme called Empowering Youth To Fight Racism, HIV/Aids, Poverty And Lack of Education, and had lost her money and passport after leaving her bag in a cab.

It also described how she was in a 'terrible and tight situation', and that she was 'starving' as she didn't have money to feed herself.

The e-mail went on to beg recipients to urgently transfer $3,200 through Western Union to cover her hotel bill and food expenses, and concluded with promises to pay back the money as soon as she returns to Singapore.

When The New Paper contacted Jeassea, 28, yesterday afternoon, she was in Singapore.

The Filipino-Canadian performer at St James Power Station's Bellini Room said her last overseas trip was to Bangkok five months ago, and that she has never visited Africa or heard of the humanitarian programme.

She said: 'Over 20 people I know from Singapore, Malaysia and Canada have e-mailed and called me about it... some of whom I haven't heard from in years. My first reaction was anger, then embarrassment.

'I was like, 'Oh no, people are going to think I'm asking for money!' I just hope people will dismiss the e-mail.'

She estimates that over 300 of her contacts may have received the e-mail.

A friend from Singapore alerted her to the e-mail on Sunday night. Jeassea tried to log on to her Hotmail account, but could not as her password had been changed.

She said she received what she assumed was a legitimate e-mail from Hotmail staff ('it looked very professional') two weeks ago. It informed her that her account would be closed if she didn't verify her personal information.

She ignored it, but got the same e-mail a week later, so she replied with her information.

Jeassea has since created a new account and officially reported her case to Hotmail.

In her 15 years of using her previous account - it was her first and only one - Jeassea said she had never encountered any problems.

Stylist Jennifer Lum, Jeassea's friend and one-time manager, said she was '50 per cent sure' it was a hoax as the e-mail didn't sound like Jeassea. She became suspicious because it started with a generic 'Hi!' and didn't sign off with Jeassea's name.

Said Ms Lum, who is in her 40s: 'When I saw the word Nigeria, I was even more sceptical as there've been too many Nigerian scams.

'And even though Jeassea didn't pick up her handphone at first when I called her, it wasn't an overseas ring tone so I knew she was safe.'

In April, The New Paper reported a similar case where a Singaporean man received an e-mail from his London-based daughter claiming she had been robbed and needed him to transfer $7,000 through Western Union within 24 hours.