Fraud control and handsets theft

The increase in fraud caused by the theft of terminals in Latin America, is a problem that has affected operators as well as governments and final users, generating millions in losses.

On other hand, preventing by the way of blocking handsets in the country of the theft, far away from stopping or decreasing the problem, have made the handsets to cross the borders.

Other fact that generates stolen handsets traffic through the borders is that countries show differences in prices which stimulates these crimes maker to traffic stolen handsets from countries with lower prices to countries’ black markets where these devices are more expensive.

At this point, a whole chapter could be dedicated to show how high taxes schedules are linked to more expensive mobile services and consequently benefits the growth of black markets, affecting general health and growth of the economy. But this can be developed in more depth, as an special relevant issue, in other occasion.

The GSM Association have developed a tool named IMEI Database, which permit to build black and grey lists of stolen and lost handsets, from the management of the IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity), a unique number for every mobile phone.

The connection to this solution is free for all GSM operators, who constitute 70% of the regional market share (index which is still increasing).

The solution is very useful in order to combat the theft of terminals. This tool prevents the stolen terminals from being activated by other companies, because regardless of the SIM card that is inserted, the equipment will not work.

For this system to be usable and effective, the operators must have the EIR platform (Equipment Identity Register), which imply an important investment for the operator. This platform allows building a database with unique IMEI numbers of the lost or stolen telephones of each company. It is possible to find today in market variety of these solutions with variety of prices also.

In spite of this or other systems could be efficient in terms of their work, it is indispensable to legislate in every country of the region for the theft, alteration and commercialize of stolen handsets to be considered a grave crime, even with jail punishment, as in fact it happens with other goods, as the car. Otherwise, these crime makers will never feel the menace of the law.

In our region, because in terms of public policies, the theft of mobile telephones is perceived as a serious social matter and an increasing problem, there are already a number of countries that have taken initiatives at a national level, and even established regulatory requirements in certain markets. However, it seems to us that there is a big space in terms of punishing the crime.

As an Association, we believe and we are convinced that this is the way to take to combat theft of mobile telephones, maintain the consumer’s trust and above all show the commitment and concern of the operators and regulators in respect to this important issue, identifying theft as a crime penalized by the law, such as is the case today in respect to piracy of music and console games.

Guillermo Diaz Civran
Chair Group on Fraud & Security
GSM Latin America Association