Phone company rips off US servicemen

Army Sgt. Richard Corder and his unit were headed to Iraq in May when their military charter made a refueling stop in Leipzig, Germany. It was Corder's third tour in Iraq. His unit had lost 28 soldiers during a previous deployment, so his family was especially worried.

"Both my kids, they were in tears. Wife was in tears when we left,” he said. “I just wanted them to know that everything was going to be fine, that I was going to come home.”

So Corder decided to make a quick call home, using a bank of pay phones inside the secure area at the Leipzig-Halle Airport where the troops hang out, and paying with his debit card. He didn’t reach his wife, so he left a 3-second message: “Hey honey it’s just me. I’m trying to call you. All right, love you. Bye.”

Then came the bill – for $41. Corder felt ripped off.

“It’s terrible that they would do that to us,” Corder said. “I mean we volunteer to serve our country. … We fight for their freedom. And they're going to scam us, take our money, rip us off?”

Now Corder and his wife, Dharma, are suing a U.S. company they allege is responsible for gouging thousands of troops for phone calls to loved ones while headed to and from Iraq and Afghanistan.

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