Winnipeg businessman on hook for $52,000 phone bill
Last Updated: Thursday, December 18, 2008 | 11:47 AM ET
CBC News
A Winnipeg business owner says a case of phone fraud has pushed his monthly bill from $500 to more than $52,000.
Alan Davison, owner of HUB Computer Solutions, says a hacker got into his office phone system.
He called Manitoba Telecom Services and discovered hundreds of calls were recently made to Bulgaria.
The whopping telephone bill is due Jan. 2.
Davison became suspicious just over a week ago, but by the time he contacted MTS, it was too late.
He thinks the phone company should have caught the problem before he did.
"There doesn't appear to be any checks in place to monitor this sort of activity," Davison told CBC News. "I mean your credit card company will jump on this relatively quickly. I find it negligent that they don't put systems in place that protect their customers."
MTS spokesman Greg Burch said the company will accept responsibility if their equipment was involved. In this case, it wasn't.
Davison still wonders why MTS, the local long-distance carrier, didn't warn him.
"If we hadn't called them and made them aware of the issue, I wouldn't have been looking at a $52,000 bill; I'd be looking at well over a $100,000 bill," Davison said. "So I think they're just shirking their corporate responsibility."
Davison said his insurance will not cover the loss.
