Good job on SIM Box fraud, but more push needed

Despite the continued arrest of people engaged in SIM Box fraud by a task force set up to halt the economic saboteurs, there seems to be no end in sight to their operations.

The arrest of the fraudsters is now a regular feature in our news, but they continue to be at it, employing more sophisticated methods to outwit the special task force set up to apprehend them.   

Various theories have been advanced as to why people continue to engage in SIM boxing, although they know that it is against the laws of the country.

Some suggest that since the fraudsters make a lot of money, courtesy the high charge of 19 cents per minute for calls placed by international operators, they find SIM boxing attractive. 

This group argues that the practice will be made unattractive if the cost is lowered.

Another school of thought believes that SIM Box fraud is still going on because the mandatory registration of SIM cards by the telecommunications companies has failed.

The theories notwithstanding, we believe that the SIM Box task force, made up of the police and representatives of telecommunications companies, with the support of Subah Infosolutions Ghana Limited, needs to be commended for sustaining the fight against SIM Box fraud.

Since 2015, the task force has been able to arrest 30 illegal operators, with some of the arrested being prosecuted and sentenced to jail terms of between three and five years.   

The vigilance of the task force has saved the country revenue that would have otherwise been lost to the state. On April 28 and 29, the crackdown on SIM Box fraudsters led to the arrest of four persons whose illegal operations cost the nation $77,379,000.

The National Communications Authority (NCA) estimates that more than $40 million in taxes was lost to the state between 2014 and 2015 due to the activities of SIM Box fraudsters.              

However, the fact that there are still arrests two years after the task force was constituted means there are many gangs out there perpetrating the fraud. It also means there is still more work to be done to rid the country of their debilitating activities.

The fact that the SIM Box fraudsters are able to procure thousands of unregistered SIM cards for their nefarious activities, in addition to sophisticated SIM boxes, routers, back-up batteries, laptops, mobile phones, among other gadgets, suggests that they may have a helping hand from the manufacturers of the SIM cards.

The Daily Graphic believes that the task force may unearth some information by probing the distribution line of SIM cards to the various telecommunications companies.

The disclosure that an estimated 1,400 unregistered SIM cards suspected to be used for the illegal operations of SIM boxes are terminated by the outfit on a daily basis is certainly very worrying and we urge the task force not to relent in its efforts in stemming the crime.

The Managing Director of Subah Infosolutions, Mr Birendra Sasmal, stated that it was difficult to trace the paymasters of the illegal operators because the calls were terminated with the aid of the Internet, which allows anonymity.

But we urge him and the Subah team to come up with ways to unmask the paymasters to deal with SIM Boxing at its roots.

We urge the use of more sophisticated equipment that will surpass the pieces used by the SIM Box fraudsters to completely dismantle their operations.