Two 'Simbox' operators arrested

Two Simbox operators have been arrested and summoned before the Court of First Instance.

Fosso Fonkou and Tchioffo Tazitio were presented before the Prosecutor of the Court of First Instance (CFI) at Bonanjo-Douala on Tuesday, September 8, 2015.

These two Cameroonian youth had already been brought to the offices a week earlier, and then returned to their cells at the Regional Delegation of Judicial Police in the Littoral (Drpjl), for further investigation.

Arrested on August at Cité Sic in Douala, Fosso Fonkou and Tchioffo Tazitio were aboard a private car with cables touching the ground. "People stopped the car and opened the trunk. When they saw the device that was there, they thought it was a bomb and were preparing to lynch the two young men,” said a witness.

They alerted the police who arrived on the scene in no time. The owners of this "strange" equipment indicated that it was telecommunications equipment. They asked the elements of the security forces to contact the regional delegate of the Telecommunications Regulatory Agency (Art) for verification. Le Jour there after learnt that the delegate confirmed it was a telecommunications facility called Simbox, but that it was a case of a "fraudulent and non-approved facility”.

Those detained made use of the Wibox sold by the Mtn Cameroon operator, who has several times brought a complaint against X to denounce this practice. Fosso Fonkou and Tchioffo Tazitio were immediately driven to the Drpj, where they have been placed in custody. Their equipment were seized. According to experts in telecommunications, the Simbox is a box with Sim Card and connected to broadband Internet.

“Simbox operators can modify the identification of the source of a call. Meaning that someone calls you from the Germany for example, but it is an MTN, Orange or Nexttel number which appears on your screen,” explained a technician. A framework at MTN Cameroon indicated that this fraudulent practice has several consequences on the economy and security.

"Because it supports the international call termination, operators of Simbox are paid by the international carrier. But he transforms communication with local call with the aid of his device making approved operators lose money, it uses network fraudulently.”

According to a report published in 2013 by Communications Fraud Control Association, the activity of Simbox makes operators lose $ 3 billion each year. In 2014, the national company of Senegal (Sonatel) telecommunications indicated that these fraud operators pocketed 10 billion FCFA.