Mobile phone operators lose 13 billion to fraud

Mobile phone operators have lost a huge sum of 13 billion to fraudsters who engage in Simbox fraud, according to Le Quotidien de l’économie (LQE) on October 8, 2015.

"Someone calls you from Germany for example, but it is an MTN or Orange or Nexttel number that appears on your screen." Technically, you have been the victim of the Simbox, a kind of enclosure equipped with Sim cards and connected to high-speed Internet as the Wibox. Thanks to this equipment, the Simbox operator can modify the identification of the source of the call," wrote LNE.

According to this journal, "with regards to the law, electronic communications experts in Cameroon noted that, it deals with the fraudulent use for personal interest of communications network open to the public. But again, this is a case of use of non-certified terminal equipment.

This practice obviously is not without consequence for the victims (subscribers, operators of telephony and State). Indeed, the newspaper informs that, according to the Telecommunications Regulatory Agency, "Nearly 60 million minutes of incoming calls were diverted in 2014. The situation will be worse in 2015 reason being that, between January and August 2015, 65 million minutes have already been diverted by Simbox operators."

In converting these minutes, said LNE "more than 13 billion FCFA was lost by operators between January 2014 and August 2015. Losses also affecting tax revenues.

"For the case of Cameroon, 13 billion of losses observed by operators caused a deficit of at least 3 billion FCFA at the level of tax revenues", informed the private daily that pulled these figures from MTN Cameroon. These operators are organizing a seminar on Friday in Yaoundé to educate the public.