British national has been arrested in a SIM-Box fraud by a combined team of the CID and the anti Fraud Task Force of the National Communication Authority.
Mr Mike Andrew Hayward, 64 years and Computer Programmer and Analyst was arrested along with Innocent Kojo Amenz, 28 years, a Ghanaian counterpart, at their hideout around Sakumono Community hospital in Accra.
A statement copied to the Ghana News Agency by Vodafone Ghana said the company in collaboration with the Criminal Investigation Department of the Ghana Police Service carried out the operation.
It said the activities of the two fraudsters had been monitored for months of surveillance in the Greater Accra Region, especially to track the activities of SIM Box fraudsters and expose them.Items recovered after the arrest were two hyper media SIM box equipment each having 160 SIM cards slots and, a large quantity of SIM cards. Out of this quantity, 50 per cent were Vodafone cards, 20 per cent were Airtel and MTN cards respectively and the remaining 10 per cent Tigo cards.
The statement said at a press conference held in Accra, Mr Ashley Ratcliffe, Director of Corporate Integrity and Risk at Vodafone Ghana, said this was an evidence of Vodafone�s taking leadership in ridding the society of the activities of SIM box operators.
He said in May this year, Vodafone Ghana Security team in conjunction with the Police CID Anti Fraud unit embarked on a joint operation between the police CID anti-fraud taskforce that led to the seizure of SIM fraud equipment worth $200,000. �We are proud of today�s achievement because the total revenue lost to the state as a result of these activities amounts to GH?2.3 million per month.
�We are excited to be leading the way in arresting and putting an end to these activities�, he said.
Mr Ratcliffe pledged Vodafone�s commitment to collaborate with the Ghana Police Service and the National Communications Authority to tackle this kind of fraud. Mr Haruna Iddrisu, Minister of Communications, admitted the significant loss of revenue the activities of SIM box fraudsters poses to the nation.
He said a bill on the operations of mobile telephony fraudsters would be laid before Parliament to put an end to this cancer facing the telecommunications industry.
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