The fate of nine Britons is still being investigated by specialist officers

E-mails, from an unknown group called Missing Tsunami Victims, tell people loved ones have been found alive and well in hospital, say detectives.

A spokesman said the gang may be hoping to con people out of cash as they try to be reunited with their relative.

The fate of nine Britons missing since the disaster are being investigated.

'Clearly distressing'

Scotland Yard confirmed that relatives of one those people contacted police after receiving the bogus e-mail.

"The message is clearly distressing for the recipient and we would like to assure anyone receiving this message that it is a hoax," said the spokesman.

"Neither the police nor the Foreign and Commonwealth Office recognise the organisation it purports to come from.

"We believe that a fraud gang may be behind the message, hoping to con people out of money as they arrange to travel abroad to be reunited with their relative."

It is thought that those behind the scam are using e-mail details collected when families made frantic internet appeals for help in the aftermath of the 26 December Asian tsunami.

In January, Christopher Pierson, 40, of Lincolnshire, was jailed for six months after a court heard how he caused "indescribable emotional hell" in a separate email hoax.

He sent 35 messages on 31 December 2004 to people anxious for news of the missing, telling them he was a Foreign Office worker and that their loved one had been confirmed dead.