Cyber Crime: RIB intensifies crackdown on simbox fraud
Acting on a tip off from MTN Rwanda, detectives of Rwanda Investigation Bureau seized several simboxes that were found in Rusizi district and others in the City of Kigali.
The seizure followed the complaint filed by MTN Rwanda after noticing that there were fraudulent activities going on in telephone calls coming from abroad.
In an interview with the head of Revenue Assurance at MTN Rwanda, Manzi Eugene he explained how Sim Box fraud works and how it affects the nation’s and the telecom’s economy, saying that, a SIM box fraud is a setup in which fraudsters install SIM boxes with multiple low-cost prepaid SIM cards.
The fraudster then can terminate international calls through local phone numbers in the respective country to make it appear as if the call is a local call.
When a call is made from for instance Europe to Rwanda, to reach Rwanda, it requires carriers. These are agents of sorts between the initiator and the recipient.
Fraudsters can work with carriers giving them a rate cheaper than the telcom’s international calling rate.
The carriers then wire money to the local fraudsters after a certain volume of calls.
For instance, if an international call is priced at Rwf50 per minute, the sim-box fraudsters can connect it at say Rwf20 and receive a kick-back from the carriers.
This is usually the case when one receives an international call which registers as a local call.
According to the acting RIB spokesperson, Modeste Mbabazi, RIB’s crackdown on cyber crimes fits within the Bureau's mandate and it's continuous.
“We have seized several machines used in simboxing fraud and made some arrests but investigations are still going on. We will ensure that everyone involved is brought to book,” said Mbabazi.
He added that; “Our preliminary investigations indicate that these fraudsters acquire simcards from telecom agents that’s why we urge them to always be conscious about anyone who is purchasing simcards in bulk…We also have a specialized unit in charge of such crimes with skilled personnel who are able to unmask criminal networks. We appeal to the public to not to venture into such shoddy dealing because, eventually the long arm of the law will catch them.”
Terming the fraud as increasingly becoming popular and major cause for revenue loss, he said that they would continue to detect and work with state agencies to see further apprehension of fraudsters.
RIB said that the apprehension was courtesy of the cyber-crime unit capabilities and the collaboration with other security agencies and telecoms, while Rwanda Utility and Regulatory Authority also recently acquired the technology to detect simboxing.
According to MTN Rwanda, the fraud had so far ripped the telecom of millions.
This is not the first time simboxing fraud has been detected, last year, MTN Rwanda and RURA also lost huge amounts in revenues owing to sim-boxing fraud.
