An average of 42 kidnappings take place every day in South Africa, according to the Institute of Security Studies, as organised crime, extorting businessmen, demanding ransoms and so-called protection rackets are on the rise.
In some cases the criminals are traced and victims freed, but in others — like the recent case of the owner of Dawood frozen foods in Benoni, Ekurhuleni — the body is tragically found days later.
Criminals often use cellphones to demand ransom or extort others and if these numbers were traceable, it would be easier to catch the kidnapper and the criminal networks that mastermind these crimes.
The fact criminals do not need to worry about their phone numbers revealing who they are is an indictment on how toothless the Regulation of Interception of Communications Act (Rica) is in fighting crime.
According to Rica, cellphone numbers are supposed to be linked to a person and their identity document, but it has become too easy to circumvent the law and buy a pre–Rica-ed SIM card linked to a false identity.
This means possessing a criminal’s cellphone number is not useful to law enforcement, even as they fight to trace and free at least 42 kidnapped people a day.
In addition, the non-enforcement of Rica compliance is the point made in a recent news article, which notes fraudsters promoting investment scams to steal money do not hide their cellphone numbers.
One factor that drives crime is the fact that legitimate SIM cards are often sold without tamper-proof packaging, allowing the cards’ unique identification numbers to be seen and copied. Additionally, cards can be easily removed from their plastic packaging, used in a phone call during suspicious activity and then put back into packaging and resold to unsuspecting customers. This can link an innocent user to a crime and waste police investigation time.
The new government of national unity would do well to enforce Rica as it aims to reduce crime to boost economic growth. It should also examine how SIM cards are packaged.
No telecoms company wants to miss out on attracting a user through a free or low-cost SIM card that will allow a consumer to buy data or airtime on their network, so they distribute far more than needed by consumers
Bank cards are typically provided in tamper-proof packaging to prevent the unique card numbers from being copied by criminals intent on cloning them, thereby protecting the new owner and their finances. Conversely, SIM cards are often unpackaged with easily identifiable numbers, despite reports of SIM card cloning and arrests of criminals engaging in such activities.
Given that SIM cards are used in banking and can facilitate access to banking apps if cloned, it is imperative to exercise a similar level of care with the information on SIM cards.
A simple amendment to Rica could ensure that all cards are better packaged in tamper-proof packaging. Of course, the enforcement of existing Rica requirements is also needed as unverified SIM cards facilitate anonymous criminal activity, making it difficult for police to trace and solve crimes linked to those numbers.
Additionally, irregular cloned or copied SIM cards allow users to remain untraceable, complicating investigation efforts to trace victims and perpetrators.
Cloned SIM cards worth more than R1m were seized and more than 40 foreigners arrested in Sandton in June in the latest in a string of headline-grabbing crimes in which SIM cards were being illegally replicated. As phones have become an essential tool in consumer banking, SIM cards’ value to criminals have increased, yet the cards remain easy to access and copy.
Cloned SIMs allow criminals to hide their identities or to hack the bank accounts of the original owner by intercepting two-factor SMS authentication to gain access to banking apps.
Another factor that drives crime linked to SIM cards is the ease with which they can be accessed. No telecoms company wants to miss out on attracting a user through a free or low-cost SIM card that will allow a consumer to buy data or airtime on their network, so they distribute far more than needed by consumers.
More than 100-million cards, more than two per adult, are distributed each year.
SIM card distributors are paid an incentive fee for the number of SIMs they register and are thus incentivised to find loopholes to sell or register more cards
It should be obvious, in a country with such high rates of crime, cloning of SIMs and kidnappings, that fewer SIM cards should be distributed with more care.
Better, secure packaging of SIM cards — at minimum cost to telecommunication companies — and the enforcement of existing law would help police investigating a range of crimes, including kidnapping, fraud and extortion.
South Africa has made it too easy for criminals to copy, intercept and clone SIM cards, which lawmakers, insisting on better packaging and fewer SIMs, could easily prevent.
• Khanyile is an executive at Securi-Tech
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