Pay up, sucka!

Dang, I've had letters from the phone company looking for late payments before, but this is just f'n crazy.

A Malaysian man said he nearly fainted when he recieved a $218 trillion phone bill and was ordered to pay up within 10 days or face prosecution, a newspaper reported Monday.

Yahaya Wahab said he disconnected his late father's phone line in January after he died and settled the 84 ringgit ($23) bill, the New Straits Times reported.

But Telekom Malaysia later sent him a 806,400,000,000,000.01 ringgit ($218 trillion) bill for recent telephone calls along with orders to settle within 10 days or face legal proceedings, the newspaper reported.

First of all, I can't be the only one who thinks that the "ringgit" is quite possibly the most appropriate unit of currency for phone bills, right? Secondly, I just don't think he's going to be able to come up with that much cash, even if he goes to one of those check-cashing places.

But this is my favorite part of the article:

It wasn't clear whether the bill was a mistake, or if Yahaya's father's phone line was used illegally after after his death.

I'm leaning toward the "mistake" explanation. I mean, lots of things are theoretically possible, like black holes and Loch Ness Monsters and stuff, but how probable is it that someone could make $218 trillion in phone calls over a few months?

And yes, that is a challenge.