NICK LACHEY - LACHEY FIGHTS PAEDOPHILES

Former boyband hunk NICK LACHEY has joined forces with a anti-child abuse charity after learning internet paedophiles use his name to attract potential young victims.

The estranged husband of JESSICA SIMPSON was approached by privacy lawyer PARRY AFTAB in a restaurant last summer (05), and he told the singer about the online misuse of his famous name.

Lachey tells People magazine, "A lady came up to the table and told me that my name is one of the more frequent names used by predators to lure kids online. That was really disturbing."

Lachey has co-founded internet chat site www.yfly.com, which blocks uninvited guests.

He enthuses, "We thought we could do something special, if we all put our resources together.

"This is new to me. The whole thing of networking online wasn't around when I was a teen. I wasn't aware of how big a problem this was. And when you are 17 you have no idea of who you are dealing with."