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SIM box fraud is a set-up in which some fraudsters connived with cohorts abroad to route international calls through a system called voice over internet protocol (VOIP) and terminate those calls through local phone numbers to make it appear as if the call is a local call.

The phenomenon has in recent times gained notoriety in many parts of the world especially in. Ghana. The modus operandi of these fraudsters involves illegally terminating a voice call which is the preserve of licensed network operators; usually at cost lower that the approved rates.

For example, it common to receive a foreign call but the number which appears on the phone is a local number.

This way the fraudsters manage to bypass all international interconnect charges and generate millions of revenue, which should otherwise have been collected by the network operators and the state.

According to the National Communications Authority (NCA), the activities of SIM fraud operators create lower customer satisfaction and affects mobile networks through the removal of caller line identity, network congestion on small cell, high authentication attempts over networks as well as long waiting time and difficulty in connection.

Effectively, it is estimated that Ghana loses a whopping sum of around 40 million dollars every year to SIM box fraud operators.

To help address the menace, an Anti Fraud Task Force made up of the Police Criminal Investigative Department, the National Communications Authority, and the Telecom companies was instituted to clamp down on the activities of these fraudsters.

 The Task Force had made some arrests in the past but the biggest bust so far according the team is the recent arrests on January 15, 2015, involving eight persons in an operation conducted in Accra, Tema, Koforidua and Kumasi.

The role of SUBAH 

The success of the operation has been attributed to the technical support the Task Force received from SUBAH Info Solutions Ghana Ltd which provided specialized equipment used to  detect the exact locations of illegal SIM boxes.

The operation lead to the seizure of a large numbers of SIM boxes, equipment and items including Laptops computers, monitors ,heavy duty Batteries ,generators ,internet routers ,SIM servers, printers, mini antennas ,4G internet  modems ,power inverters, large quantities of SIM cards and other items.