VoIP racket siphoning off millions

KATHMANDU, NOV 02 -
Police investigation has unravelled that organised criminals in collusion with big shots, including employees of telecom operators and some ISP providers are involved in operating illegal Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), ripping off millions in government revenue.

While the Police have intensified crackdown here in the country, some VoIP racketeers have shifted their crime base to foreign countries, including Thailand, CIB investigation has revealed.

CIB, in coordination with Nepal Telecom, this week tracked down a big VoIP racketeer that had entered Bangkok from Nepal with five SIM cards belonging to Nepal Telecom and bypassed international calls worth Rs. 13 million within a month.

“It is surprising that the racket with the help of only five sim cards using NT’s international roaming facility robbed it of millions,” said Rajendra Singh Bhandari, Director of CIB.

The CIB found that the racketeer had obtained sim cards from Nepal Telecom without providing valid documents. The CIB busted Rijan Humagain of Biratnagar who had reportedly obtained the sim cards from Nepal Telecom’s employees and supplied these to the racketeers. Based on Humagain’s statement, investigators on Tuesday put five employees —who are allegedly involved in supplying sim cards to racketeers — under the scanner.

“Tracking down illegal VoIP operators has become a daunting task owing to unchecked flow of sim cards by the legal telecom operators,” said Bhandari. The CIB has intensified crackdown on the illegal VoIP operators as legal telecom operators are losing a whopping Rs. 6 billion revenue annually. “Crackdown on the VoIPs is a must as they also pose a serious threat to national security,” said Bhandari. Organised criminal gangs also have been using VoIP techniques to commit crimes.

In the last two-and-a-half months, the CIB achieved remarkable success in tracking down a number of illegal VoIPs being operated from Bhairahawa, Siraha, Itahari and various parts of the Capital.

As a result, NT’s revenue collection has gone considerably up. Statistics reveal that international calls of NT reached a record high of around 72 million minutes last month. Police said that local criminals, ISPs as well as international racketeers are involved in the operation of VoIPs. Many Bangladeshis are involved in the racket after the Bangladeshi government launched a massive crackdown on VoIP.

http://www.ekantipur.com/the-kathmandu-post/2010/11/02/top-story/voip-racket-siphoning-off-millions/214427/