The Police Must Deal Ruthlessly With The SIM Box Fraudsters

President and Chief Executive Officer of IMANI Ghana, Mr. Franklin Cudjoe wants the law to deal with persons arrested in the recent SIM Box fraud operation.

He described the culprits as “notorious” with the kind of apparatus they use in their acts after explaining how inhumane they are to the state.

“I have learned of the extraordinary performance of the Ghana Police, the National Communications Authority and the 'famed' SUBAH technology in arresting a gang of telecommunications thieves who use notorious gadgets to route calls through their terminals at lower costs hence denying government taxes.

“…The Police must deal ruthlessly with these SIM box fraudsters,” he said.

An anti-fraud teamwork between the security agencies and telecom service providers in the country has led to the arrest of some persons involved in SIM Box fraud syndicate in Ghana.

The operation which led to the arrest of the suspects includes the former President of the Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA), Alexander Tweneboah.

Other suspects have been named as Ebenezer Boateng, Victor Owusu, Kwadwo Asare, Alvin Habib, Francis Abbey, Alexander Tweneboah and David Ayikyi were paraded at a press conference together with their equipment in Accra, Monday.

However, Franklin took to Facebook to question those behind the SIM fraud after applauding SUBAH for their effort to detect the hideout of the fraudsters.

“That SUBAH was involved in this story to detect $35m in stolen taxes is revealing and must engage the attention of all concerned. Could SUBAH be a good technology after all but dogged with our politically immature procurement processes? Could SUBAH really be engaged to deal with these fraudsters? What type of equipment does SUBAH have to be this efficient? The media and telecoms experts must look into the matters expeditiously. Could some telecoms be facilitating SIM BOX fraud? I hope not!” he said

He further explained that “Beneath this sophisticated technology theft though is the price for communicating over mobile phones in Ghana. I will urge the Minister for Communications, Edward Omane Boamah and FINANCEMinister to not only dwell in Police swoops, but fix the problem from the angel of policy. Here is how: Government's mandate for an increase in the termination rate for incoming international calls to $0.19 per minute, has priced the local telecoms out of the market.

“…The implications of this fixed $0.01 per minute is that, the interconnect carrier prefers to route international calls to Ghana through the SIM box operators than through the telecoms who are mandated to charge $0.19 per minute. This presents a more profitable option for the interconnect carrier and in the case of the SIM box operators, all proceeds are withheld, causing financial loss to both the established telecoms and the government of Ghana; a lose-lose situation.”

Adding “Compared to Nigeria, cost of calling Ghana from the UK is up 200% higher which negatively impacts regional integration. Furthermore, research shows that as at 2011, number of minutes from the “…US to Ghana declined 48%. [Source: US Telecoms Trade Agreements 2013].

"...I recommend a reduction or complete erosion of the arbitrage to discourage the practice of SIM boxing. This is supported by data which shows that the practice of SIM boxing does not exist in countries with zero arbitrage. Additionally, government should INVEST and resort to independent and more cost effective audits of operators' traffic recording systems. Doing so will direct revenue through legitimate pathways where operators duly pay taxes to the government”.