Thieves run up over £21,000 bill in a matter of hours on a stolen mobile phone!

The Daily Mail recently reported that a young woman who had her phone stolen while on holiday was shocked to find that in only the few hours before noticing that her phone was gone, the thieves had run up a phone bill for over £21,000!

Georgia Harris' phone was stolen in Barcelona and while she was in the air on her way back to Britain the thieves racked up a £21,000 bill, making premium rate international calls.

As soon as she realised her phone had been stolen, she immediately called police and her phone company to report the theft and visited a store a few hours later to pick up a replacement.

She discovered the thief’s abuse of her account when Vodafone staff informed her that it had been suspended for ‘suspicious activity’.

They revealed her service had been stopped when the bill totalled £21,183.82.

Records show the thief had used the phone for several conference calls to premium rate international numbers from 7.52am on the day it was lost.

 ‘I didn't think it was possible to run up such a huge bill. It is the size of a house deposit.’ Miss Harris told the Daily Mail.

Miss Harris was shocked when Vodafone customer services insisted that she was responsible for the bill, saying the company should have suspended the account earlier.

Vodafone initially offered to reduce Miss Harris' bill by £1,500 as a ‘goodwill gesture’ - leaving her to pay more than £19,500, but after investigation a the company said that all fees to her account will be waived.

A spokesman told the Daily Mail: ‘This is a very unusual case. Normally, the customer is liable for any charges up to the point they report their phone lost or stolen.

‘However, this phone seems to have been used as part of a deliberate and organised crime which we will be investigating.

‘In this case, we will waive all of the charges raised by this fraud.

‘It's worth remembering how important it is to keep your phone safe, and get in touch with us as soon as you suspect it's missing.’

As mobile phone thefts become more common and thieves become sophisticated and organised, you may be wandering what you can do to protect your phone (and your bank account!)

This Mi-Zone 2-way proximity alarm works with your handset or tablet and can be attached to anything you consider valuable or worth protecting. You can choose from 3 security settings: Low, medium and high, depending on the range of the security zone you wish to create and as soon as your belongings move outside of the selected zone, a flashing alert and audio alarm will be activated on your screen. Just keep your Mi-Zone tag by your side or in your pocket, and it will alert you when your handset or tablet is moved away from you.  You can also use it to locate missing handset/tablet by pressing the button on the tag for 10 seconds and, as long as it is in range, the alert will activate on your phone or tablet allowing you to pinpoint its exact location.