Complaints regarding bloated phone bills from Internet users who are charged for overseas calls or fee-charging services made without their knowledge have shot up, according to the National Consumer Affairs Center.
These cases have topped the 2,800 mark during the current fiscal year, it said.
NCAC, a government-funded consumer advocacy group, said it handled only 188 complaints of this nature in fiscal 1998. This figure surged to 936 in fiscal 1999 and had ballooned to 2,814 for fiscal 2000, as of Tuesday.
NCAC officials said the complainants may have unwittingly downloaded online computer programs that cause their computers to make overseas phone calls or dial up the so-called Dial Q2 service and other domestic fee-charging phone services where fees are collected in addition to the phone call.
According to NCAC, one Internet user whose computer was constantly online received a 900,000 yen bill for Dial Q2 services conducted without the user's knowledge.
In most cases, however, the phone bills were less exorbitant. NCAC said the average phone bill for computer-generated calls of this kind came to 65,000 yen.
In response, NCAC is urging computer users to be more careful in downloading free software and to report suspicious telephone bills as soon as possible.
As a precaution, Internet users should frequently check connection settings on their computers.
NCAC said that, once a surreptitious phone call is made, the hidden computer program may change the computer settings and make international or fee-charging calls every time the computer is connected to the Internet.
NCAC officials said that in most cases, the payment for fee-charging calls made under these circumstances is not compulsory and that victims should contact the local NCAC offices for advice.