At least six people are in police custody and will tomorrow be presented to court for interfering with International phone calls. These were picked up from Masanafu in Lubaga Division in Kampala two days after and locked up at Wandegeya Police Station.
According to Abdu Salam Waisswa, the Head of Legal Affairs Uganda Communications Commission, the suspects are wanted for illegally terminating international calls thereby causing loses to telecoms firms and revenue loss to government.
Sim boxing is where an individual or group of persons use technology to illegally terminate international or local calls. This is usually done in a box where Sim cards are inserted and through technology, enabled to interfere or otherwise get into licensed operator’s systems to allow illegal termination of calls. Through this illegal act, government loses a lot of revenue.
According to Waisswa, the suspects, one of whom was working with Airtel, will appear at Buganda Road Magistrate's court on Thursday to answer for electronic fraud and operating a telecommunication system illegally.
All the suspects are graduates of Information Communication and Technology. Although Waiswwa couldn't give the exact loss occasioned on telecom companies by the international call termination fraud, he said the companies had raised the matter with UCC.
He appealed to members of the public who receive international calls appearing as local calls to report to police. "If you receive a call from a person for instance in Malaysia, but it appears like a local number, come to the Commission or Police," he said.
