A Japanese Olympic athlete has blamed the augmented reality game Pokemon Go after being hit with a roaming bill of 500,000 yen (about US $5,000) from his mobile carrier.
Kohei Uchimura, an Artistic gymnast, claimed that he only downloaded Pokemon GO after arriving in Sao Paulo to train for Rio, but promptly got captivated despite not having arranged for roaming data.
Kyodo News reported that the athlete could not believe his eyes when he looked at the bill. Uchimura's teammate Kenzo Shirai said, "He looked dead at the team meal that day when he received the bill".
As per the game's data requirement, it is not particularly heavy on data. It was reported that there were likely other culpritss including the possibility that the athlete may have been playing the Japanese version of the game.
In the end, Uchimura was let off with a flat daily charge of $30 instead of the hefty bill after contacting his carrier.
Pokemon Go, created by Niantic, has taken the world by storm as one the most played and downloaded games. The game has been already launched in North America, Europe, and Asia, with Brazil one of the latest countries to receive the game.