Sim Card Fraud Ring Busted By Police (Machine That Holds 160 Sim Cards Recovered

For the third time in just over a week, Airtel Ghana working closely with the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service have busted a SIM Box fraud syndicate. The latest syndicate which was busted on the dawn of Thursday June 21, 2012 was operating from a hide-out at James Town in Accra. The team uncovered two hyper media SIM gateway equipment, each with the capacity to accommodate 160 SIM cards and a large quantity of SIM cards in the single room apartment. The team also confiscated two industrial batteries, several antennae, two modem hubs and other gadgets.

Airtel Ghana’s successes in tracking down SIM Box fraudsters is saving the nation a lot of money which would have otherwise gone into the pockets of the fraudsters. SIM box fraud is a set up in which some fraudsters in Ghana connive with partners abroad to route international calls through the internet using voice over internet protocol (VOIP) and terminate those calls through a local phone number in Ghana to make it appear as if the call is a local call. The caller is often not aware of the activities of these cyber fraudsters whose activities result in the loss of revenue to the state. This illegal activity is an issue of concern to Airtel Ghana, the Ministry of Communication (MOC) and the National Communications Authority (NCA) since the revenue loss affects the nation’s financial basket as well.