[kictanet] Fwd: Crime rate up with cheap telephony in Uganda

[Mike Theuri]

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From: Chifu <chifu2222 at gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Mar 16, 2008 at 2:01 AM
Subject: [DigAfrica] Crime rate up with cheap telephony in Uganda
To: DigAfrica at yahoogroups.com


  Crime rate up with cheap telephony
Friday, 14th March, 2008
By Arthur Baguma

IN Kampala it is easier to buy a mobile phone sim card than to buy
chocolate. Sim cards are sold everywhere, even on streets and in taxi
parks, and they cost as little as sh1,500, the price of a pineapple.
On Thursday, a Saturday Vision reporter was able to buy sim cards
from street vendors, alongside other vendors of items such socks,
hankies, underwear and roasted coffee beans.

The Police say this has led to an increase in phone-mediated crimes
such as conning, threatening lives and insulting, which are committed
using phones. "A person can buy a sim card just to abuse someone and
after that they throw it away," says Simeo Nsubuga, Police spokesman
for Kampala. In Kampala alone, Police records about 10 such cases
every week, a sharp increase from 2-3 cases a week two years ago. But
the majority are not reported.

A makerere Uniiversity lecturer received a phone call from someone
claiming to be his former student. The caller introduced a `juicy
deal', namely an opportunity to sell machine bearings to a mzungu
representative of a big oil company. He arranged a meeting between
the mzungu and the lecturer, near Entebbe international airport. The
mzungu came carrying a huge bag stuffed with cash bundles. He asked
for samples of the bearings, which the lecturer brought and he
endorsed.

Meanwhile, in Kampala Industrial Area, someone was waiting to sell
the bearings to the lecturer so he could sell it to the mzungu at
100% profit. But alas, after borrowing millions of shillings and
buying the bearings, the lecturer returned to find both the mzungu
and the broker gone and their phones switched off.

Charity (not real name) almost walked out of her marital home over an
anonymous text message. The message alleged that her husband of 10
years was involved in an extra marital affair. The sender signed off
as a concerned friend. But when Charity tried to call the number of
the `Good Samaritan', most times it was off and when it rang, she
would not answer.

The sender always claimed Charity's husband was with another woman,
until one day, he made the same claim when Charity was with her
husband at home. This is when Charity knew it was a hoax.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. According to the Police, crimes
committed using mobile phones have more than doubled in just two
years. In Kampala alone, Police registers 10 such cases every week,
yet a bigger number of incidents are not reported. This is an
increase from 2-3 cases a week two years ago. These crimes include
conning, threatening lives, insulting and blackmail. "A person can
buy a SIM card just to abuse someone else and after that, they throw
it away," says Simeo Nsubuga, Police spokesman for Kampala.

Moreover, because they do not put the SIM card in their day-to-day
phones, the Police find it hard to trace them. In some downtown
areas, phones cost as little as sh20,000 and SIM cards cost a measly
sh1,500. The conmen can, therefore, afford to throw away the phone
with its SIM card to avoid being tracked. Worse still, SIM cards can
be obtained just anywhere, even in taxi parks, without anyone keeping
the buyer's details. This, says the Police, has been one of the main
reasons for the increased phone-mediated crime.

Many countries, including Germany, Switzerland and the US have
legislation that requires pre-paid phone card users to register their
identities when purchasing the SIM card. The law requires that
telephone operators keep customer identity data and are required by
law to make this data available under court order to authorised law
enforcement and National Intelligence Center personnel in the
respective countries.

Phone Companies speak out
Mobile phone companies claim that their subscribers are registered,
but even under normal registration, the process has flaws which can
be beaten. A subscriber is simply told to fill a form with their
particulars. One is not asked to produce any identification to cross
check the information they avail, after all, it is assumed that one
is buying a personal belonging and would want a receipt in his or her
genuine names. But Mark Kaheru, utl's public relation's officer, says
even when customers are asked to register, some can use fictitious
names.

Kaheru says utl has received complaints from people with cases
related to SIM card abuse. For example, some one getting a message
that you have won a prize in a promotion. The message will proceed to
indicate that if you are to redeem your prize, send air time to a
certain number. "These are conmen men and we always put adverts in
papers to warn the public over such cases," says Kaheru.

Sheila Kangwagye the MTN Public relations officer says, all their SIM
cards have registration forms including those sold on the streets by
vendors. A SIM pack usually comes with a registration form. However,
Saturday Vision was able to buy and activate a SIM card off the
street without registration.

Both utl and MTN receive complaints from subscribers who have been
victims of phone-mediated crime such as threatening and black mail.
But Kangwagye says they help only on court order. "We don't give out
details for such queries to our sub-scribers. We only aid in police
investigations if the case is of criminal nature."

Police Advice
The Police advises that any victim of a crime committed through a
phone should report the case. Numbers that start with four and five
after the first three digits are the most commonly used by con-men.
The Police warns the public to be on the look out for anonymous calls
and text messages from such numbers. In some cases the Police has
foiled attempts to con people through mobile phones and arrested the
culprits. According to Nsubuga, the conmen carry out thorough
research about your personal life. Some one will call and accurately
say things that are relevant to your life. They may mention names of
your children or wife before duping you into the transactions.

Government policy
Uganda Communications Commission (UCC), the telecommunications
regulatory body says there is no policy per se in respect to
regulation and acquisition of SIM cards. UCC says that in countries
where acquisition of SIM cards is regulated; it's facilitated by the
National identity cards. However, Uganda has no national identity
cards.

"A national ID is the only reference number that is pegged to a
person and all the transactions they operate can be traced through
that reference number. It is easy to trace a person," Fred Otunnu,
the UCC Corporate Boss says.

He adds that in Uganda, the process of regulating SIM cards is hard
because it is easy for someone to use multiple IDs in the absence of
a national ID. He says Uganda requires a national ID as a starting
point with a reference number attached to each person.
David Bahati, MP Ndorwa West county in Kabale, calls for urgent
legislation. "We have a whole lot of Information Communication
Technologies (ICTs) bills pending. The Government should come out as
soon as possible and make into law the current body of bills on ICT
regulations which have not yet been passed," he said.

It turns out that in Uganda, the telecommunications sector has grown
rapidly without proper legislation. Whereas it is clear that phone
companies should have records of their subscribers, there appears to
be no law compelling them to do so. In the meantime, phone-mediated
crime continues to grow rapidly.

http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/12/616655
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