Fraud by sms in the Philippines

[Via The Age]
Philippines is in sms trouble again. An appellate court clerk has been sacked by the Supreme Court for sending an extortion note by mobile phone… and that’s a judicial first for the Philippines. The woman was arrested in a police sting operation at a Manila restaurant last year, about two months after she sent a note through the short messaging service (SMS) of her mobile phone demanding money to help the litigant win his two year-old suit against a government corporation. Court of appeals clerk Elvira Apao was convicted Friday on charges of ‘grave misconduct for extorting a million pesos ($US18,315) from a litigant in a case being heard by the appelate court’. She acted,er, irationally . Who would've guessed a woman will start the fraud by sms. That’s called extreme texting by the way. Apao will not serve jail time though, but she was barred for life from the civil service.