Evidence is now emerging that the simbox fraud that has rocked the country, leading to the loss of millions of dollars that should have accrued to the state to fraudsters is the creation of the state itself.
The Chronicle is reliably informed that the government has refused to slash down the cost of international calls that are terminated in the country, thus making it possible for the fraudsters to exploit the situation to their advantage. Not even the concern expressed by the US government would deter the Ghana government to change its position on the cut-throat tariff.
Ghana is charging 19 cents per minute for all international calls that are terminated in the country, whilst the fraudsters terminate theirs between 8 and 10 cents. The Chronicle has established that the simbox operators have connived with the International Transit Carriers, who, in their desire to make more profits from the airtime they are selling, divert international calls meant for the country (Ghana) via the internet to the simbox fraudsters for a lesser fee.
The Chronicle further gathered that the fraudsters normally give the IP address of the simbox to these international transit operators, making it possible for them to divert the calls to their the simbox in Ghana, without going through the normal channel, which the government can use to assess the charges.
After the diverted call has landed on the simbox, the fraudsters then use the locally purchased sim card, which they have fused into the simbox, to transfer the call to the intended recipient, making it appear as if it is a local call. Investigations also reveal that the fraudsters are paid 6 cents by the transit operators per minute for each call that lands on the simbox.
They then use a portion of it to pay for the cost of using the local network to terminate the calls, and pocket the huge profit. Unconfirmed reports indicate each simbox operator earns as much as $27,000 a month from the illegal business.
This reporter was told that since the local mobile phone operators are also losing revenue through the fraudulent activities of the fraudsters, as they spend GH¢100,000 blocking all the sim cards being used for the illegal trade. This, they do, by monitoring the movement of all the SIMs on their network, and blocking those that are found to be static for a considerable time.
Technical officers who spoke to The Chronicle explained that since the sims are being used by human beings, it must not be static on their network, but move from one destination to the other. Having realised that their mode of operation was being monitored, a company in Latvia, which was named as Anthrax, has developed a simbox software called Human Behavior Simulation (HBS).
This simbox, The Chronicle gathered, is able to receive text messages and make it look as if it is moving from place to the other, making it very difficult for the telephone operators to identity sim cards being used by the fraudsters and those that are being used by genuine users in Ghana.
The Chronicle has even seen a five-minute advertorial by Anthrax, which is on the internet, targeting specifically Ghana. The said advert Anthrax is telling Ghanaians that using cheap simbox equipment will take you to jail, but theirs would not, because of their new software (HBS).
The Chronicle was told that the only way to counter the activities of these fraudsters is for the government to impose a realistic tariff, as pertains in some of countries, but this has not been done. The Electronic Communication Amendment Acts, Act 786, does not allow the telephone operators to charge any fee below 19 cents for all international calls. The said Act reads:
Electronic Communication Amendment Acts, Act 786 Subsection 1: A network operator shall charge the minimum rate for all international incoming electronic communication traffic as specified in the schedule (the schedule says the minimum is 19 cents per minutes).
Subsection 2: A network operator that charges a lesser rate than that specified in subsection 1 is liable to pay to the Authority (NCA) on behalf of the government a penalty of twice the difference between the specified rate and the rate actual charged.
Subsection 3: A network operator shall not charge its customers a higher fee for its services because of the minimum rate for incoming international communication traffic.
Subsection 4: Where it is established that a network operator has increased the fees for its services because of the minimum rate for international incoming electronic communication traffic, that operator is liable to pay the Authority of twice the sum of the value of increase.
The Act has, therefore, made it mandatory for all the telecom companies to charge the fixed 19 cents, which is very expensive and breeding simbox fraud in Ghana. A US Telecom Trade Agreement 2013, which has been sighted by The Chronicle, has also expressed concern over the high call rate being charged by Ghana.
Part of the agreement reads: In 2009, Ghana mandated an increase in the termination rate for incoming international calls to US$0.19 per minute. 21 U.S carries had previously negotiated rates below US$0.07 for termination on fixed network, and below US$0.14 for termination on mobile networks.
According to FCC data, in 2009, the United States sent over 300 million minutes of traffic to Ghana. In 2011, however, the number of minutes was less than 170 million, a decline of over 48 percent. This mandated minimum rate raises concern about Ghana’s obligations under the international telecommunication protocol.
Available information indicates that simbox fraudsters are not operating in Nigeria, South Africa and other countries that are charging lower call rates for all international calls, because the illegal business would not be lucrative to them. But, in countries such as Ghana, Tanzania, and Uganda among others, which are charging a high rate, the simbox fraud is high.
For instance, Nigeria and South Africa are charging 3 and 4 cents respectively per minute of each international call. But that of Ghana, Tanzania Uganda are as high as 19 cents, 22 cents and 26 cents. This means that the international transit operators and simbox fraudsters make huge profits from the illegal trade.
The Chief Executive of the Ghana Chamber of Telecom Operators, Mr. Kwaku Sakyi Addo, admitted in interview with The Chronicle that the huge call tariff being charged by Ghana was the cause of simbox fraud in the country.
He noted that since 2010, Government of Ghana revenue from international calls has been declining, warning that the country could be earning as low as $18,169,796 by the end of 2019, if the price disparity in the tariff charged on the international calls was not addressed. Ghana was previously earning $64,204,163, but the figure keeps tumbling.
To Kwaku Sakyi Addo, the setting up of a simbox taskforce is not the solution to the problem, and that the fraudsters could even move to towns and villages along our borders and still be operating.
According to him, the signals of all the telecom operators on Ghana go a little beyond our borders, and if the fraudsters go and hide in the towns near the Ghana border, they could still get the signal to operate their illegal trade. He contended that the solution to the problem is the beating down of the international price to discourage the perpetrators of the crime (Simbox fraudsters).
<<Print>>