VICTIMS of the BT international sex lines mystery have been turning a telephone industry watchdog's phones red hot with rage.

The news follows a series of complaints from disgruntled East Lancashire phone users who have been landed with bills for calls to X-rated lines they claim they never made.

The Independent Committee for the Supervision of Standards of Telephone Information Services (ICSTIS) is now referring all complaints to the watchdog, OFTEL, and the telephone companies concerned.

An ICSTIS spokesman said: "It has come to our attention, not just via the media coverage, but from people calling us here. We are advising callers to speak to their phone company or to contact OFTEL."

Several concerned readers have contacted the Lancashire Evening Telegraph complaining about being asked to pay for international calls they had not made. The calls logged have been to South American countries and remote South Pacific islands. Callers have been charged more than £1 a minute and one phone user was faced with a bill for £580.

BT has consistently stressed that the calls could only have been made from the complainants' phones.

The company has also dismissed claims that computer buffs have hacked into the phone lines to surf the Internet.

However, this week a Hartlepool couple's phone bill was cut by £75 when BT said they did not have to pay for sex calls they said they never made.

ICSTIS was set up to monitor protection standards for users of telephone information and entertainment services, but it will offer advice to sex-line victims. The watchdog's freephone complaints line is 0800 500212.

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