Annual tax revenue decline by 4 billion due to Simbox fraud

Simbox devices used by criminals have caused the state to lose about four billion FCFA of taxes annually.

Insiders call them "Sims mamba.’’ These Sims permits long international calls for cheaper rates. In these cases, it is the number of the local mobile phone operator (MTN, Orange, Nexttel, etc) which appears, without indication on the screen of the call receiver. This leads to misunderstandings by some receivers when they get calls from abroad which appear with a local number.

Generally, these communications have virtually the same cost like local calls between two numbers of the same operator. Most of the times, the user who subscribed to the offer is not informed of the deception. Behind the user, players categorized as 'cybercriminals' use a non-approved instrument called Simbox or GSM gateway.

It's a case equipped with various Sim cards of different operators and connected to broadband. The device for call termination transforms international calls into local calls. Communication is often of poor quality and witnesses a lot of interference and cuts and the caller cannot be called back.

More than 100 million minutes of calls have been diverted since the beginning of this year by the managers of Simbox. Clandestine, they pay neither taxes nor tariffs. As a result, the state recorded a loss of about 4.2 billion FCFA on its tax revenues.

The fraud device also caused mobile operators close to 18 billion FCFA lose in 2015. Due to this, a summit aimed at stopping the Simbox fraud in Cameroon and establishes a more favourable environment for the use of ICT for economic growth was held yesterday in Yaoundé.

The summit which was initiated by the Tandeng Muna and MTN Cameroon Foundation and chaired by the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications (Minpostel), Minette Libom Li Likeng, helped participants (regulators, telecom operators, lawyers, etc.) on ways to fight against illegal circumvention of communications.

For the Deputy CEO of MTN, Serge Esso, "MTN’s commitment in the fight against fraud by Simbox is the first step to a global fight against this phenomenon which very extensive but less known".

The creation of a multi-sectoral Committee was proposed to deal with the phenomenon.