SIM Box Fraud Alive and Well Because of Telco Corruption

SIMbox fraud is alive and well. Some who are subject matter experts argue it is alive and is thriving because of corruption within some telecom companies.

TransNexus has written often about various types of fraud that service providers need to be aware of. Telecom fraud expert David Morrow, recently wrote about SIMbox fraud, highlighting an individual who spent eleven years perpetrating the crime before stopping.

The author profiles an individual who ran this type of fraud and outlined how he kept an operation going for so many years. The article is an interesting read but the main takeaway for any organization concerned about fraud in their network is that companies must become much more vigilant around fraud prevention. The fraudster pointed out two major reasons his job was so easy:

* There is a reluctance from organizations to invest in fraud prevention.

* There is corruption within organizations, especially from individuals in the fraud prevention/detection departments who are paid to look the other way.

The author also points out that this type of fraud is especially worrying when you realize how many stages in the process it can occur:

• False pre-registered SIMs
• Bulk supply of SIMs
• Carrier buys discounted bypass termination
• Carrier runs their own bypass termination
• Fraud staff is on the fraudster’s payroll to look the other way
• SIMbox detection vendor

SIMbox fraud continues to be a problem for companies but articles like this serve to remind us how important reliable, cutting edge fraud prevention is for a network.