Airtel Ghana used to be the favorite network for SIM Box fraudsters because before Glo entered the market, Airtel was the newest and had the lowest default call rate of 8Gp per minute for both on-net and off-net calls. But now the fraudsters have shifted attention to Glo because it is the latest entrant on the market and has introduced tariff plans like Biiiiig 5 and Glo Gista, which offer very low call rates. Biiiiig 5, for instance, means customers get five times the airtime they purchase to make calls both on-net and off-net, and for browsing and SMS, while Glo Gista allows customers to make calls at 6Gp per minute. SIM boxing involves fraudsters outside of Ghana channeling calls from abroad through unapproved routes/equipment to similar equipment in Ghana called SIM Boxes fitted with local SIM cards, managed by another set of fraudsters in Ghana. When the call goes through a SIM box, it terminates on the intended local network as a local call so the network where the call terminates loses money and government also loses money in terms of taxes. But the network whose SIM cards were used by the fraudsters to terminate the calls, this time Glo, gains money in the form of local tariffs, even though it might not be deliberate. As per a report from National Communication Authorty (NCA), published by the Daily Graphic, between January and August 2013, SIM Boxing on Glo increased from 2,500 to 30,000, which is worrying for all industry players because Glo is gaining money from that, while the other telcos lose money. Because SIM Box fraudsters want more money, they usually gravitate towards the network that offers the relatively lowest tariffs, and it seems Glo is that network because Gista offers 6Gp to every network, which is the lowest on the market, and Biiiig 5 also gives the user five times more airtime for less. Airtel scales the tide Before Glo entered the market, Airtel Ghana had more call bypasses on its network, and Head of Revenue Assurance at Airtel Ghana, Nixon Wampamba then told ADOMBUSINESS it was because Airtel had the lowest default tariffs of 8Gp per minute. He actually stated that if Glo came into the market with a lower tariff than Airtel, it was likely the SIM Box fraudsters would shift to Glo. Wampamba was right, as the NCA’s figures from January to August 2013 shows. What is worrying however is that in September 2011, when the NCA’s figures showed that Airtel was leading the pack, it had just 5,369. It was big then, but compared to Glo’s 30,000 in August 2013, that was nothing. Airtel was then blamed for lack of vigilance by the telcos that lost heavily because its network was targeted by SIM box fraudsters. MTN in particular reported losing over US$9million between March and October 2011 because 70.8 million minutes of overseas calls meant for MTN had to go through SIM Boxes fitted with Airtel Sim cards; so the call terminated on MTN with Airtel numbers and Airtel gained where it should not. It is still not clear how much the other telcos and the state have lost from the 30,000 SIM box numbers found on Glo, but Glo itself has explained that it also lost money because if those calls had come through its international gateway, rather than through SIM Boxes, it would have gained better and genuine revenue.