Lost your mobile phone overseas? It could cost you
/ Yonhap
A woman recently received a 7.06 million won ($6,405) bill for the phone she lost in France while on her honeymoon last October. The mobile carrier automatically cut the service, but nearly 260 calls were made before the company acted.
According to Consumer Research on Tuesday, 32 cases of extensive bills resulting from phones lost overseas have been reported. Bills ranged from one million to seven million won.
Several travelers have complained about the situation, Consumer Research said. However, domestic mobile carriers are limited in their ability to block calls, because different services operate in different countries.
For KT Telecom, 24 hours of international calls in France cost 4.1 million won. LG Uplus charges 8.56 million won for the same amount of phone time in Russia.
KT Telecom and LG Uplus are Korea’s second and third-largest mobile carriers.