NO GRUDGES: Mike Scott, who was sent a series of bills for a mobile phone he doesn't own - the final in for £35,000

MOBILE phone company Orange has apologised to a businessman after he was accused of running up a £35,000 bill - even though he was not one of their customers.

Mike Scott, of Darlington, was given seven days to pay up and threatened with bailiffs.

But Orange confirmed last night that the bill had been cancelled, after an investigation revealed that a fraudulent account had been set up in Mr Scott's name.

"I don't know what is going on," said Mr Scott, who runs DK Kitchens, in Eastmount Road, Darlington. "I have had a phone call from Orange and they tell me I have been totally exonerated by them. They said they would be sending me a letter of apology.

"They are still looking at the whys and wherefores, but the lady I spoke to said she wasn't at liberty to tell me what happened just yet."

Mr Scott, said he had been sent three demands from Orange this year.

After challenging invoices for £500 and £1,500, he was assured that the complaint would be dealt with by the firm's fraud investigators.

But he called the police when he was sent a bill for £34,928.

"I don't hold any grudges against Orange - it can't have been their fault," said Mr Scott last night. "It must have been some kind of printing error, because I can't imagine someone could run up a bill like that without it being challenged."

An Orange spokeswoman said: "We would like to apologise to Mr Scott for any distress caused in this case. We have cancelled the debt and removed all charges initially applied to the account.

"Upon detailed investigation into this case we believe that a third party set up a small business account in Mr Scott's name. We will be investigating this case further and with the help of Mr Scott and the police, we hope to bring the perpetrators involved to justice.

"Orange takes cases of fraud very seriously. As well as having a department dedicated to investigating fraudulent activity, we also operate a sophisticated fraud- focused reporting and alerts suite, and have a robust fraud detection system in place. We are also members of a number of industry fraud prevention bodies."

5:02am Saturday 29th March 2008

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