Airtel Kenya has welcome the Communications Authority of Kenya’s latest crackdown on SIMbox fraud in Nairobi.
Airtel said in a statement: “SIM box fraud and International Revenue Share Fraud (IRS) is one of the most damaging telecom frauds globally. It destroys carrier interconnect agreements, denying operators millions of dollars in revenues. It also destroys relationships between operators and their customers. According to Communications Fraud Control Association (CFCA) global fraud loss survey (2013), communication fraud attributed to this is in about $2b annually. It is also worth noting that quality of SIM boxing calls is mediocre so customers end up spending more while government and regulators getting less.”
Airtel emphasized that it did not allow SIM boxing on its network. “We welcome the intervention of the CA in the enforcement of the law regarding SIM Box fraud, and in bringing the culprits to book.
Airtel encourages all its customers to ensure their telecoms infrastructure is well secured to prevent hacking. Internally the organization actively monitors traffic partners on a constant basis to sniff out SIM Boxers, as well as managing the customer onboarding process to detect SIM boxing as early as possible. Suffice to mention that operator mechanisms and tools to monitor and prevent SIM Boxing are not static, and must continue to evolve as the fraudsters are on a daily basis trying to beat security systems implemented. We therefore welcome the support of the CA in working with law enforcement agents to continue tracking and apprehending these culprits to mitigate further losses to licensed operators.”
