EMAIL hoaxers with "way too much time on their hands" are threatening to undermine an emergency mobile phone campaign, ambulance chiefs said today.

The Evening Press reported on Friday that all mobile phone users are being urged to join the In Case of Emergency campaign.

By storing an entry in their mobile's phone book with the acronym ICE and the name and number of a friend or relative, people can help paramedics alert loved ones in case they are involved in an accident.

The ICE campaign was launched in May this year, but gained widespread coverage following the London terror attacks.

A spokeswoman for local ambulance service TENYAS said it was "a fantastic idea", and urged phone users across the region to add their emergency contact number right away.

But after Friday's report, we received an email claiming that having an ICE entry in your phone book could expose your mobile to a downloadable virus.

The email warns that the virus searches for the ICE entry, and sends itself to the number it finds stored there, draining pay-as-you-go phones of credit.

But the East Anglian Ambulance Service, which launched the original ICE campaign, today rubbished the email's claims.

Spokesman Matt Ware said the email had been circulated by malicious hoaxers, and asked people to ignore it.

He said: "We have been inundated with emails and phone calls from people worried that, having put ICE into their mobiles, they are now going to be charged for the privilege.

"We would like to assure people that that is not the case.

"Whoever began this email chain is obviously a malicious person with way too much time on their hands."

Experts at website hoax-slayer.com called the warning emails "nonsensical".

In a statement, they said: "These rumours are completely false and should be ignored."

For more information about the ICE campaign, visit www.icecontact.com.

Updated: 11:24 Monday, July 18, 2005