China Mobile to refund mistaken charges

The branch of China Mobile in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region said on Thursday it will refund a woman who mistakenly charged more than 680,000 yuan ($107,000) of her company's money to a cell phone account.

According to a statement issued by the branch, the money will be returned by Tuesday.

The move comes after reports that the woman, identified only as Yue, had deposited the money using a point-of-service machine in Nanning, capital of the region, on the afternoon of June 27.

After being prompted by the machine to enter the amount of the money to be charged, Yue typed in the six-digit password of her company's bank account as the deposit amount instead.

"I didn't realize the mistake because the cell phone was on my desk," Yue was quoted as saying by the Nanguo Morning Post in Nanning. She only realized what had happened the next day after receiving a call from the bank.

She then contacted China Mobile and was told that the money could not be returned. However, she received a call on Wednesday saying that the money would be refunded.

"I'm lucky to be able to get the money back," Yue was quoted as saying.

The China Mobile Guangxi branch said in a statement that it advises customers to pay close attention to the cell phone number, username and amount of money when recharging cell phone accounts. The company also urged customers to keep the documents related to the transactions in case of mistakes.