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Grandmother's Cell Phone Bill $10,000 To Adult Chat Line

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Posted: 7:19 PM Aug 27, 2008
Last Updated: 7:19 PM Aug 27, 2008
Reporter: Dave Jordan

16 comments

A | A | A

A Charlotte grandmother is fighting a wireless bill of more than $10,000 that was boosted by six weeks of calls to an adult chat line.

Opal Savage told The Charlotte Observer she's not responsible
for the calls. Verizon Wireless has said in correspondence to
Savage that the calls were made from her phone.

Savage said she bought the phone for her two grandsons, both
teenagers during the period in 2006. The two have sworn they didn't
place the calls, and Savage notes that most of the calls originated
between 15 and 30 miles from their Clinton home and that some of
the calls overlapped in time.

Most of the calls went to Secret Encounters, an adult chat line
based in Granada.

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Comments are posted from viewers like you and do not always reflect the views of this station.

Posted by: Gary Location: Edenton on Aug 28, 2008 at 11:10 PM
Blame it on the kids. Grannies need loving to. LOL

Posted by: s thorne Location: morhead city on Aug 28, 2008 at 10:10 PM
im naming my baby mike rose. the end!!

Posted by: chickie Location: belhaven on Aug 28, 2008 at 03:07 PM
this is why when you bought yout phone you were told to put the box up for safe keeping. if they have the box ( the serial number is on the outside of it) then it's easy to do. this isn't the first time i have heard of this happening.

Posted by: ?? on Aug 28, 2008 at 01:16 PM
To Tony: Did YOU make the calls?? Just kidding. I had no idea that it was possible to 'clone' a phone. Please don't give any more information than you already have. And I'll be keeping my phone tight to my body at ALL times! BTW- can they track you down if you have 'cloned' a phone?

Posted by: Tony Location: GVegas on Aug 28, 2008 at 11:56 AM
It's not that hard to clone a cell phone.All you need is a computer and the phone for about 30 seconds.Then you can put that phone's info on an unactivated phone.Then you make calls they get the bill.

Posted by: Dwayne Location: Greenville on Aug 28, 2008 at 11:03 AM
Be interesting to know the boys ages at that time. If underage, why can't the chat line owner/employee be tracked and charged with a sex crime against a child? The boys may have called, but interaction obviously took place on the chat line end.

Posted by: hmm Location: east nc on Aug 28, 2008 at 10:55 AM
some people are jaded and think their kids/grandkids are precious angels who could never do anything wrong. but on the otherhand, we don't know so we can't really judge either way....

Posted by: Kay Location: NC on Aug 28, 2008 at 10:31 AM
...but some of the calls overlapped in time. Doesn't that sound scandalous to anyone else? Maybe the boys aren't lying.

Posted by: Sarah Location: Fayetteville/Creswell, NC on Aug 28, 2008 at 09:14 AM
ok, 1st off never give young kids phones, ya know, they may have made those calls but grandmas always wanna believe their grandkids. When i was a teen i made a bad call and when my grandfather questioned the phone bill, i denied it also, he fussed with the phone people and they took it off the bill. lol. I bet the same thing happened here. you got 2 teenager boys here. my daughter who is 11 called the jonas brothers hotline in california on my home phone, i just found out about it, her butt got a good beaten and that solved that. i would make grandma pay for it, it will teach her not to give 2 teenage boys a cell phone.

Posted by: Kat Location: Washington on Aug 28, 2008 at 07:59 AM
Actually, I believe this story. I had more than $500 of phone call from my home phone to an adult entertainment line. Those calls were made in the middle of the day and I had timecards to show I was at work and my son was 4. A 15-year-old kid had actually tapped into my phone through the phone box down the street. There are all kinds of things that can be stolen now, it ain't all just cable TV.

Posted by: Obama 08 4 Prez! on Aug 27, 2008 at 11:14 PM
Grandma may not have to pay that bill, but those boys wouldn't get another cellphone under my name. And i would make them get summer jobs, including cutting my grass. No electronics for 3 months...TV, video game, cellphone, computer, house phone. Plus I would take half of what they money they made during the summer. Tough love, ask my son. Dr.Phil said, "let them disrespect you one time and take everything out of their room except their bed, table and lamp. Tough love Grandma, mad at you now, but you do it because you love them. The old saying is true when parents use to say..."this hurts me more than it hurts you"..after the first time, they know you mean business there won't be a second time. God Bless!

Posted by: jay Location: MC on Aug 27, 2008 at 11:06 PM
you play,,,,,,you pay.......grandma, do you really believe they are telling the truth?? someone should have had limits on the cell phone minutes, its easily done and also monitored!

Posted by: Anonymous Location: Washington NC on Aug 27, 2008 at 10:06 PM
One or both of the boys are lying. Of course they would say that they didn't make the calls, it's an adult chat line. If they told you the truth, they know that they would get in trouble for it of course. Come on Grandma, get with it. You had a child or children.

Posted by: everyone knows Location: washington on Aug 27, 2008 at 09:36 PM
lol, why not?? my 11 year old was texting a psychic! after a good ol tail beating and a new restriction on the phone we WON'T be having that problem again!

Posted by: Blog Refuter Location: NC on Aug 27, 2008 at 08:42 PM
Grandma, have you really been keeping tabs on these kids? Somebody has been calling adult chat lines, and I think it's one or both of your grandboys.

Posted by: Anonymous on Aug 27, 2008 at 07:28 PM
there got to be more to this story. somebody is lying.

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