7 Arrests Following Vodacom South Africa SIM Swaps

In 2017 Vodacom South Africa discovered that a crime syndicate was working with Vodacom agents to perform multiple SIM swaps. Now MyBroadband.co.za has asked for an update from Vodacom, and this is what they learned.

Vodacom confirmed that 7 suspects, including the alleged ringleader of the syndicate, have been arrested since the matter was uncovered in 2017.

However, Vodacom told MyBroadband that none of the arrested parties were employees of the company.

Catching SIM swap criminals can take time, but there would be a greater deterrence effect if they were caught sooner. It seems that none of the arrested criminals have yet been punished.

“This investigation is ongoing and pending finalisation in various criminal courts,” said a Vodacom spokesperson.

The Vodacom investigation only came to the public’s attention when an internal report was accidentally sent to one of the victims. Telcos should do a better job of allaying public fears and rooting out the criminal elements that will undermine confidence in their services.

You can read the MyBroadband.co.za article here.

Eric Priezkalns
Eric Priezkalns
Eric is the Editor of Commsrisk. Look here for more about the history of Commsrisk and the role played by Eric.

Eric is also the Chief Executive of the Risk & Assurance Group (RAG), a global association of professionals working in risk management and business assurance for communications providers.

Previously Eric was Director of Risk Management for Qatar Telecom and he has worked with Cable & Wireless, T‑Mobile, Sky, Worldcom and other telcos. He was lead author of Revenue Assurance: Expert Opinions for Communications Providers, published by CRC Press. He is a qualified chartered accountant, with degrees in information systems, and in mathematics and philosophy.