Wednesday, May 09, 2007


A Malaysian man said he nearly fainted when he received a $218 trillion phone bill and was ordered to pay up within 10 days or face prosecution, a newspaper reported Monday.
Yahaya Wahab said he disconnected his late father's phone line in January after he died and settled the 84 ringgit ($23) bill, the New Straits Times reported.

But Telekom Malaysia later sent him a 806,400,000,000,000.01 ringgit ($218 trillion) bill for recent telephone calls along with orders to settle within 10 days or face legal proceedings, the newspaper reported.

It wasn't clear whether the bill was a mistake, or if Yahaya's father's phone line was used illegally after after his death.

"If the company wants to seek legal action as mentioned in the letter, I'm ready to face it," the paper quoted Yahaya as saying. "In fact, I can't wait to face it," he said.

Yahaya, from northern Kedah state, received a notice from the company's debt-collection agency in early April, the paper said. Yahaya said he nearly fainted when he saw the new bill.
Government-linked Telekom Malaysia Bhd. is the country's largest telecommunications company.

A company official, who declined to be identified as she was not authorized to speak to the media, said Telekom Malaysia was aware of Yahaya’s case and would address it. She did not provide further details.

my god???????? did they really expect him to pay it?

12 comments:

Anglo-Libyan said...

how much is 218 trillion?? can anyone make phone calls to this value? actually can a city or even a whole country make that much phone calls?
it would be very interesting if you keep us updated on this story :o)

Brave Heart said...

why not, i can help him

a_akak said...

Just a small fact, His phone bill is 10 times more than the assets of the biggest oil company in the world Exxon Mobile who's assets are a just $223 Billion , so good on him he must have had loads to gf's all around the world lol

mani said...

Muhahahahaha.. cant wait to see them take him to court!!!!!!! imagine being sued for $218 TRIL.. LOL that's the biggest heist ever.. I guess he should try and sue them for making him laugh so hard he got retarted!.. or just sued for their idiocy..

Anglo.. the global WORLD economy of all countries is valued at around $40 TRIL.

The only thing larger than that is the global diveratives market which is around $400-500 trillion annually.. about half a Quadrillion.. thats a one with 12 zeros behinde it..

derivatives are trade in risk probabilities which are derived from individual assets.. trade in risk insurance .. its a liscense for free credit creation basically.. private wealth.. it outstrips the entire world economy by 10 times :D.. and although the comparison is not really meaningful, the size of the numbers just tells u the power at the disposal of the worlds elite financial instituions..

um.. sorry WA.. it wasent meant to be like this.. please keep us updated :D

programmer craig said...

Well, the good news is that if he pays his bill, Malaysia will have the world's largest economy :)

Lebeeya said...

Its probably a technical problem cuz thats impossible! Poor guy! If its true, we need to start a jam3eeya for him :P

They need to have certain restrictions on their customer usage. If my phone bill exceeds 1000 dirhams ($400) in 1 month, Omantel (the telephone company) disconnects my phone until I pay :S

ibeebarbie said...

Salam White African,
Unbelievable!

LOL@Lebeeya comment - EXCELLENT POINT!

Which seems more believable? Phone company allowing billing to escalate to that limit or the possibility that dead guy is making calls from the great beyond?

white african said...

anglo i doubt any one can make phone calls to that value, i doubt even a whole continent can.

brave wow thats kind of you lol.

akak i think thats how malaysia are bringing in the money, they dont have oil so they target there people with huge phone bills lol.

mani lol, v intersting, thanks :)

programmer thats right lol.

leebeya whats your phone bill like? i think your right this must be technical, poor thing could have had a heart attack.

ibee lol both possibilities are crazy as each other.

Lebeeya said...

My phone bill has never exceeded the monthly restricted limit. It usually comes out less than $200

But, thats only cuz I use the office phone alot :P

white african said...

glad to hear it leebeya :)

LadyCroc said...

In 1998 I received a phone bill of 292.000 Danish crowns, about 45.000 in USD or 27.000 in pounds.

When I opened the bill letter, I thought it said 2920 crowns, maybe the dot was but wrong.

I called the phone company, telling them: It must be a mistake!
Their answer was to threaten me to pay at once; they did not make any mistake!

Of course i denied to pay. Then the company added interest rates, and the amount grew to more than 310.000 crowns.

I had to fight the company in court; they had to prove that I had been making 800 calls 24/7 for a period of 2-3 weeks.

They lost the case (phew!) and I framed the bill behind glass. It now hangs on the wall of my office to remind me how stupid the world can get.

Of course, I changed the phone company, and I have never ever done business with them again.

white african said...

wow safia, it seems phone comapnies can easily trick us.

thanks for sharing