Woman ‘freaks out’ after racking up $46,000 phone bill in Turkey

A WOMAN has revealed her shock after racking up a whopping mobile phone bill during what was meant to be a dream holiday.

A TRAVELLER has told of her shock at racking up a whopping $46,560 phone bill overseas.

Shannon Mills, 19, was exploring Turkey with her family earlier this month when things got out of hand. The British traveller said that before she left she had made an arrangement with her phone company 02 and expected to pay about £300 ($640).

However she claims it wasn’t long before she received a baffling text saying she’d already chewed through £2808 ($5988) of data — and the amount continued to climb.

“I was totally freaking out,” Ms Mills told the UK’s Dundee Telegraph. “It was a massive shock.

“I wanted to use Facetime, Facebook and things like that. I thought I would come home with a £300 bill and I normally only pay £25 ($53) per month.

“I thought the text was a joke. I thought somehow my dad was winding me up.”

Shannon Mills (right) was baffled over why she was charged so much.

She said she turned off data roaming, but continued to receive texts so decided to call the company. They claimed they had blocked the data from their end, but the costs continued to spiral every day.

“It wasn’t until when we were relaxing at the pool waiting to leave my dad said I should check again just to make sure. I did and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” she said.

“My dad was hysterical. He couldn’t stop laughing but eventually he didn’t see the funny side. It was a really bad feeling but if I didn’t start laughing I would have cried.”

Ms Mills said she would not use her phone again.

A spokesperson from 02 said they were looking into the case.

To avoid, Ms Mills’ dramas, here are 7 tricks to using your mobile phone overseas.