VIPs� SIM cards cloned

Scammers use cloned SIM cards of two ministers, MPs, top bureaucrats, PMO official, IGP for high-profile crimes

A gang of criminals have come up with an innovative approach of cloning mobile phone SIM (subscriber identity module) cards of very important persons (VIPs)
and using the cloned cards for extortion, fraud and other crimes.
The criminals are using special software to clone the numbers of VIPs to carry out nefarious activities, much to the embarrassment of the government high-ups.
The list of victims includes ministers, members of parliament, top bureaucrats, officials of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and businessmen.  
Several complains have been lodged in this regard with Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) in the past few months by some VIPs, including Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed and State Minister for Labour and Employment Mujibul Haque Chunnu, and several senior government officials, revealed an investigation by The Independent.
All the cloned SIM cards that The Independent came across carry Grameenphone (GP) numbers.
When contacted, State Minister for Post, Telecommunications and Information Technology Tarana Halim told The Independent that this is a very sensitive issue. “Since the country has a huge number of unregistered SIM users, we can’t effectively detect the criminals or the nature of crime,” she said.

In an incident on September 3, a call was made to the officer-in-charge (OC) of a police station under Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) from a number belonging to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) AKM Shahidul Haque. The OC was instructed to release a criminal arrested a few days back, and was threatened with suspension from duty, otherwise. The OC verified the number and found that it was the official number of the IGP. The criminal was released immediately.
Later on, it was known that the IGP didn’t make the call and knew nothing about the incident.
It was found that numerous calls were made from the GP number of Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed in the past few months for lobbying and transfers. The calls, however, were not made by the commerce minister. His number was cloned by criminals, who tried to use it to their advantage. The minister later sent a letter to GP, seeking explanation how such calls could be made using his number.
Documents obtained by The Independent show that another complaint was lodged by Mujibul Haque Chunnu, the state minister for labour and manpower, with the BTRC on August 18 this year.
In his letter, the state minister noted that some criminals made several phone calls to the upazila nirbahi officers (UNOs) of Tarail and Karimganj in Kishoreganj using his GP number seeking some favours.
Those calls were not made from Chunnu’s handset since the dialed numbers weren’t there in the outgoing call log. The letter also states that calls had been made from the GP number belonging to the assistant private secretary (APS) of Chunnu to the chairman of Kanchan upazila asking for some money through bKash.
A senior official in the PMO also filed a similar complaint with the Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station recently. The police arrested one person in connection with the complaint.
Meanwhile, a series of calls were made from the phone number belonging to Khandakar Abdul Baten, lawmaker from Tangail-6 constituency, to the union parishad (UP) chairmen of Nagarpur and Delduar upazilas of the district.
The person who made the calls identified himself as a deputy secretary. He said that he was making the calls on behalf of the MP using his number, and that the lawmaker was sitting in front of him at the secretariat. The caller apparently told them that the UPs will soon get the allocation of wheat, and if they want more, they have to send money through bKash to a certain number.  Both the chairmen sent money to the mentioned number, but they didn’t get any wheat allocation. Later, when Abdul Baten was contacted, it came as a bolt from the blue to him because he knew nothing about it.
Meanwhile, when several calls were made from the GP number of Firoz Salauddin, secretary to the railways ministry, he complained to GP over the matter. GP officials later told the secretary that the calls were made from his number by routing those from outside the country.
Talking to The Independent, a senior official working with the telecom regulator said that in the past few months the BTRC has received many such complaints from several VIPs. The calls were made using GP numbers and a letter has been issued to the telecomoperator seeking an explanation, the official said.
The Independent approached GP’s CEO Rajeev Sethi and Head of External Communications Syed Talat Kamal, mentioning the incidents and seeking their response, but they did not respond.
An official of GP, who preferred to be unnamed, however, told The Independent that phone scammers are using special software to mask their real identities by displaying fake telephone numbers. The same software can also be used for cloning the numbers of important people instead of a random fake number.
This trick is called caller ID spoofing. It’s a tool used by fraudsters to mislead people into thinking the call is from the person whose number has been cloned. “It’s very difficult to trace,” the GP official said, adding that the spoofing application software is loaded on the computers by people who want to indulge in criminal activities.
In July 2013, based on a study, International Telecommunication Union (ITU) issued a statement, which said that the risk of cyber crime such as SIM card cloning and phone spoofing was on the rise.
The ITU also said that with growing usage of smartphones, mobile platforms would become ever more tempting targets for cyber criminals and threats in the form of malicious apps and malware targeting mobile phones will increase.
The GP official also said that the company might have the ability to determine the actual telephone number from which the spoofed calls have been made, but for that they must be informed quickly before the information is overwritten in their database.
Another expert, who too preferred to remain anonymous, said phone spoofing is nothing new, but it’s something that is actively becoming popular amongst phone scammers in the recent years.
Spoofing allows an individual to use software, the internet or even a smartphone app, which masks their actual number with a fake one.  The expert said that phone spoofing allows individuals to choose the numbers they want to fake. Thus, a known number will show up on the phone display, often tricking the person who has been called into picking it up.
The expert, however, said there are many programmes available that help organisations to detect spoofing attacks, particularly address resolution protocol (ARP) spoofing. These programmes work by inspecting and certifying mobile data before it is transmitted and blocks the mobile data if it appears to be spoofed.
If the mobile service providers had ARP facility installed in their database, then such incidents could be averted, said the expert.
State minister Tarana Halim said to stop such crime the government has decided to upgrade the telecommunication monitoring system. “But first, we have to go through the SIM card re-registration process so that we have the actual data of mobile phone users of the country.”  She said the ministry will take a strong stance against such crime. She also said that to prevent such crime all mobile service providers have to cooperate with the ministry, the regulator and the law enforcement agencies. Talking to The Independent, an official of the Ministry of Post, Telecommunications and Information Technology said the negligence to take necessary preventive steps by the mobile service providers is responsible for such mishaps.
“This is a matter of national security. All law enforcement personnel, including RAB, are being informed of such crime,” the ministry official said.

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VIPs� SIM cards cloned

Scammers use cloned SIM cards of two ministers, MPs, top bureaucrats, PMO official, IGP for high-profile crimes

A gang of criminals have come up with an innovative approach of cloning mobile phone SIM (subscriber identity module) cards of very important persons (VIPs) and using the cloned cards for extortion, fraud and other crimes. The criminals are using special software to clone the numbers of VIPs to carry out nefarious activities, much to the embarrassment of the government high-ups. The list of victims includes ministers, members of parliament, top bureaucrats, officials of the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) and businessmen. Several complains have been lodged in this regard with Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) in the past few months by some VIPs, including Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed and State Minister for Labour and Employment Mujibul Haque Chunnu, and several senior government officials, revealed an investigation by The Independent. All the cloned SIM cards that The Independent came across carry Grameenphone (GP) numbers. When contacted, State Minister for Post, Telecommunications and Information Technology Tarana Halim told The Independent that this is a very sensitive issue. Since the country has a huge number of unregistered SIM users, we cant effectively detect the criminals or the nature of crime, she said. In an incident on September 3, a call was made to the officer-in-charge (OC) of a police station under Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) from a number belonging to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) AKM Shahidul Haque. The OC was instructed to release a criminal arrested a few days back, and was threatened with suspension from duty, otherwise. The OC verified the number and found that it was the official number of the IGP. The criminal was released immediately. Later on, it was known that the IGP didnt make the call and knew nothing about the incident. It was found that numerous calls were made from the GP number of Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed in the past few months for lobbying and transfers. The calls, however, were not made by the commerce minister. His number was cloned by criminals, who tried to use it to their advantage. The minister later sent a letter to GP, seeking explanation how such calls could be made using his number. Documents obtained by The Independent show that another complaint was lodged by Mujibul Haque Chunnu, the state minister for labour and manpower, with the BTRC on August 18 this year. In his letter, the state minister noted that some criminals made several phone calls to the upazila nirbahi officers (UNOs) of Tarail and Karimganj in Kishoreganj using his GP number seeking some favours. Those calls were not made from Chunnus handset since the dialed numbers werent there in the outgoing call log. The letter also states that calls had been made from the GP number belonging to the assistant private secretary (APS) of Chunnu to the chairman of Kanchan upazila asking for some money through bKash. A senior official in the PMO also filed a similar complaint with the Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station recently. The police arrested one person in connection with the complaint. Meanwhile, a series of calls were made from the phone number belonging to Khandakar Abdul Baten, lawmaker from Tangail-6 constituency, to the union parishad (UP) chairmen of Nagarpur and Delduar upazilas of the district. The person who made the calls identified himself as a deputy secretary. He said that he was making the calls on behalf of the MP using his number, and that the lawmaker was sitting in front of him at the secretariat. The caller apparently told them that the UPs will soon get the allocation of wheat, and if they want more, they have to send money through bKash to a certain number. Both the chairmen sent money to the mentioned number, but they didnt get any wheat allocation. Later, when Abdul Baten was contacted, it came as a bolt from the blue to him because he knew nothing about it. Meanwhile, when several calls were made from the GP number of Firoz Salauddin, secretary to the railways ministry, he complained to GP over the matter. GP officials later told the secretary that the calls were made from his number by routing those from outside the country. Talking to The Independent, a senior official working with the telecom regulator said that in the past few months the BTRC has received many such complaints from several VIPs. The calls were made using GP numbers and a letter has been issued to the telecomoperator seeking an explanation, the official said. The Independent approached GPs CEO Rajeev Sethi and Head of External Communications Syed Talat Kamal, mentioning the incidents and seeking their response, but they did not respond. An official of GP, who preferred to be unnamed, however, told The Independent that phone scammers are using special software to mask their real identities by displaying fake telephone numbers. The same software can also be used for cloning the numbers of important people instead of a random fake number. This trick is called caller ID spoofing. Its a tool used by fraudsters to mislead people into thinking the call is from the person whose number has been cloned. Its very difficult to trace, the GP official said, adding that the spoofing application software is loaded on the computers by people who want to indulge in criminal activities. In July 2013, based on a study, International Telecommunication Union (ITU) issued a statement, which said that the risk of cyber crime such as SIM card cloning and phone spoofing was on the rise. The ITU also said that with growing usage of smartphones, mobile platforms would become ever more tempting targets for cyber criminals and threats in the form of malicious apps and malware targeting mobile phones will increase. The GP official also said that the company might have the ability to determine the actual telephone number from which the spoofed calls have been made, but for that they must be informed quickly before the information is overwritten in their database. Another expert, who too preferred to remain anonymous, said phone spoofing is nothing new, but its something that is actively becoming popular amongst phone scammers in the recent years. Spoofing allows an individual to use software, the internet or even a smartphone app, which masks their actual number with a fake one. The expert said that phone spoofing allows individuals to choose the numbers they want to fake. Thus, a known number will show up on the phone display, often tricking the person who has been called into picking it up. The expert, however, said there are many programmes available that help organisations to detect spoofing attacks, particularly address resolution protocol (ARP) spoofing. These programmes work by inspecting and certifying mobile data before it is transmitted and blocks the mobile data if it appears to be spoofed. If the mobile service providers had ARP facility installed in their database, then such incidents could be averted, said the expert. State minister Tarana Halim said to stop such crime the government has decided to upgrade the telecommunication monitoring system. But first, we have to go through the SIM card re-registration process so that we have the actual data of mobile phone users of the country. She said the ministry will take a strong stance against such crime. She also said that to prevent such crime all mobile service providers have to cooperate with the ministry, the regulator and the law enforcement agencies. Talking to The Independent, an official of the Ministry of Post, Telecommunications and Information Technology said the negligence to take necessary preventive steps by the mobile service providers is responsible for such mishaps. This is a matter of national security. All law enforcement personnel, including RAB, are being informed of such crime, the ministry official said. Related News: The biggest offers the worst(17-03-2014) Grameenphone rejoinder and our reply(20-03-2014) Judge sues Grameenphone, BTRC(04-09-2014) Leasing out rly land to GP: Govt loses Tk 20cr(16-09-2014) Evasion of Tk 3,034cr tax: GP faces fresh audit(02-10-2014) GP evades Tk 400cr tax: NBR(03-10-2014) Call drops belie GP quality claims(15-10-2014) GP says sorry to client for changing package(15-10-2014) The largest offers the slowest GP 2G, 3G internet speed poorest among leading mobile operators Report(20-10-2014) US labour body lodges complaint against GP(21-11-2014) GP employees stage demo across country Services disrupted(22-12-2014) GP workers unrest continues(23-12-2014) GP agrees to pay employees(25-12-2014) GP, Banglalink, Airtel flout guidelines(12-01-2015) GP hits Tk 100b revenue landmark(10-02-2015) Displeasure at GP over job cut(21-05-2015) GP associate firm defaults Tk 33cr VAT payment(26-05-2015) Grameenphone reluctant to provide MNP services to subscribers(12-06-2015) GPs illegal business(18-06-2015) DRU accuses GP of cheating(23-06-2015) GP ghost bills(28-06-2015) GP seeks until Tuesday to fix problem(05-07-2015) NBR seeks bank statements of Grammeenphone (04-08-2015)