Former GREDA Boss, Others Busted For SIM Box Fraud

The former President of the Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA), Dr. Alexander Tweneboah, was among 17 people arrested by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service for engaging in Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) Box fraud.

The suspects, paraded at the CID Headquarters, together with their equipment, at the CID Headquarters in Accra yesterday, were Dr. Alexander Tweneboah, Ebenezer Boateng, Victor Owusu, Kwadwo Asare, Alvin Habib, Francis Abbey and David Ayikyi.

The CID led a joint anti-telecom fraud taskforce, comprising officials of the National Communications Authority (NCA), officials of the various telecom service providers and with technical supports from SUBAH Info Solutions Ghana Limited, an IT firm to bust the SIM Box syndicate within a seven month nationwide operation.

The members of the syndicate, according to the taskforce, carried out the illegal termination of telephone calls, also known as SIM box operations and deprived telecom operators and the state huge revenue.

Between 2010 and August 2014, a total of 13 SIM box fraud cases have been recorded, and17 suspects, both Ghanaians and foreign nationals, have also been arrested. Cumulatively over a total amount of $20 million has been lost to both government and the telecom service providers in the country.

The Director General of the CID, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Prosper Ablorh told journalists at a press conference in Accra yesterday that the arrest of SIM Box operators and seizure of the equipment was the biggest and most successful operation by the taskforce.

DCOP Ablorh, who was flanked by the Minister of Communications, Dr. Edward Omane Boamah and his deputy, Ato Sarpong, narrated that on January 10 2015, the operation led to the arrest of Ebenezer Boateng, Victor Owusu and Kwadjo Asare who hosted four SIM box equipment in one of the offices in the SSNIT Office Complex in Koforidua and were illegally terminating international call traffic.

Other items seized from the suspects were three heavy duty batteries, one small generator and large quantities of assorted scratch cards of various telecom service providers, four internet routers, one Dell monitor, one DELL CPU , one ACP battery backup and three laptop computers, he stated.

DCOP Ablorh was quick to add: “On January 14, 2015, the taskforce traced and seized three SIM Box equipment, three SIM servers, a 4G Internet Modem, 1 printer and 1 laptop from a house at North Kaneshie but there was no arrest. However, the suspects are being pursued and would be brought to book when arrested”.

While on January 15, 2015, the taskforce seized one SIM Box with a 64-slot SIM server, 4G Internet Modem, 1 laptop computer and mini Antennas from a residence at Batsoona , Manet area.

Three persons namely; Emmanuel Kofi Essilfie, Edmond Essilfie and Kwaku Appiah were arrested but they denied knowledge of the gadgets and mentioned Dr Alexander Tweneboah , owner of the house as the owner of the equipment, the CID head told the journalists.

Dr. Alexander Tweneboah, who is the former President of GREDA was subsequently traced and arrested.

He claimed ownership of the equipment and admitted using them to terminate international calls illegally, according to DCOP Ablorh. He explained that; “on January 16, 2015, the taskforce seized 12 GOIP SIM Box equipment and its accessories, one inverter and a computer from a building near the Fishing Harbour in Tema.

The caretaker of the building, David Ayitsi was arrested and he mentioned Daniel Nehme, a Lebanese and a notorious SIM Box operator as the owner of the equipment”.

It would be recalled that on January 2, 2013, the same Daniel Nehme was arrested at La, Accra, together with one Jalal Hosaife who is now deceased, for SIM Box offences and were put before court.

Daniel Nehme absconded after he had been granted Court bail only to relocate to Tema and continue the crime with impunity. Efforts are being made to get him re-arrested, DCOP Ablorh stated.

Upon chalking successes in Accra and Koforidua in the Greater Accra and Eastern regions respectively, the extended the SIM Box fraud fight to Ashanti Region.

On January 16, 2015, the taskforce arrested Alvin Habib and Francis Abbey at Asafo in Kumasi where they also mounted four SIM box equipment in their residence terminating international call traffic.

Two power inverters, six heavy duty batteries, small internal antennas and quantity of Glo and Vodafone SIM cards were also seized from the suspects.

On the same day at Gyinyaase in Kumasi, DCOP Ablorh noted that the taskforce made a seizure of a 128-slot SIM Bank [X2], six SIM clients and Servers, two CISCO Routers, one Satellite Earth Receiver System, one UPS/Battery Bank and an Inverter but there was no arrest made.

 TOTAL REVENUE LOST

In all, total revenue lost to the state in thirty three million , five hundred and ninety two thousand three hundred and twenty US dollars (USD 33,592,320.00) or One hundred and seven million, four hundred and ninety five thousand Ghana Cedis ( GH¢ 107,495,000.00) between a period of 5 and 7 months, according to DCOP Ablorh .

He explained that all the suspects arrested so far in connection with the illegal SIM Box activities have been arraigned before court and remanded into Police custody pending further investigation.

 TASK FORCE

Thousands of SIM Cards were recovered. From one SIM Box operator alone, twenty –one thousand, two hundred and thirty –two (21,232) SIM Card were recovered.

The participation of Subah Info Solution Ghana Ltd, in this all-important exercise, DCOP Ablorh said was by virtue of the fact that they have a contract with the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to monitor both local and foreign inbound calls for the purposes of checking leakages in national revenue.

The mandate of Subah Info Solution Ghana Ltd, he explained was to monitor, locate indentify and apprehend illegal SIM Box operators across the country.

Their operations involve driving around using sophisticated electronic gadgets to locate those SIM Boxes. It also requires a high degree of accuracy and precision. This exercise is sometimes very risky because some SIM Box fraudsters are armed with all kinds of weapons, DCOP Ablorh stated.

While commending the taskforce for its diligence, he noted that the state -of-the-art equipment provided by Subah Info Solution Ghana Ltd was highly instrumental in busting and exposing these SIM Box fraudsters.

The CID is, therefore, serving a notice to all those engaged in SIM Box fraud and their collaborators that their days are numbered and that the earlier they desist from this act of sabotage the better.

The taskforce is determined to pursue all such fraudsters and other criminals operating in the country. The CID called on the general public to co-operate with the taskforce and to report the activities of anyone engage in such criminal acts within their communities.

Notice is also being served to landlords to flush out tenants who used their premises for such criminal acts because the law will deal severely with all SIM Box fraudsters including their collaborators, DCOP Ablorh stated.

 HOW SIM BOX OPERATES

Bypassing of Approved International Gateways (SIM Boxing) started in Ghana in the late 90s when Internet Service Providers were authorised to operate.

The Minister of Communications, Dr. Edward Omane Boamah explained to the journalists that since 2010, the NCA has been coordinating the efforts of industry players, the Judiciary and the law enforcement agencies to combat this illegal termination of international traffic to Ghana. This collaboration has led over the years to the arrest and prosecution of a number of illegal operators, he said.

SIM box fraud occurs when individuals or organisations illegally terminate a voice call which is the preserve of registered licensed network operators, usually at lower cost than the approved rates.

These are then used to channel national or international calls away from licensed international gateway operators and presented as local calls on unlicensed networks

In the fight to eliminate the menace, Dr. Boamah said the NCA had instituted several measures, citing the International Incoming Traffic Verification (IITV) that has an in-built fraud-detection facility that detects the local numbers terminating the international traffic and sends this list to the telcos to block them.

He added that the Interconnect Clearing House (ICH) which is expected to take off by the middle of this year would provide a common independent mechanism to deal with the upsurge of SIM Box fraud in the country.

African Eye News.com

 UPDATE: 

An earlier version of this article stated that Dr. Alexander Tweneboah was a senior lecturer at the Ashesi University. We found out however that he had never been a lecturer at the Ashesi University and have edited the article accordingly. We apologize for the error.