Govt Can Stop Grey Traffic, Fake BISP Messages With-in Hours: Experts

If you are tired of fake BISP or similar unwanted messages that you can not block, or if you think that grey telephony is unstoppable in causing huge financial losses to national kitty then understand that its only the incompetence of government bodies and its only due to unwillingness of those who are mandated to stop such illegal telecom activities, experts told ProPakistani.

Officials of cellular companies, during off-the-record conversation with ProPakistani, revealed that telcos have all the required abilities in place to hunt down these fraudsters who are involved in grey telephony or otherwise in spam messaging.

“After biometric verification of SIMs, each and every telecom activity can be tied to an individual”, explained an senior official of a telecom company.

According to officials, telcos have mechanisms in place for filtering voice and text traffic to identity any mischievous patterns. However, its law enforcement agencies (LEAs) who will have to step ahead and take a lead in hunting down these wrong-doers.

Telcos have mechanisms in place for filtering voice and text traffic to identity any illegal activty

“We are usually told by LEAs to shut-down certain numbers that are involved in grey telephony instead of asking for any (ownership) details of SIMs through which LEAs can easily comprehend violators”, said the official.

According to telcos, there’s lack of interest or willingness to hunt down the fraudsters.

While referring to a recent standing committee meeting that discussed illegal telephony and losses it cause to national exchequer, the official said that telecom companies are ready to provide any details about SIMs that are used in grey traffic, if ever asked by LEAs.

Telecom companies think that there’s no way for anyone to buy a SIM unless presenting his/her thumb impression for biometric verification.

“If someone’s getting SIMs indirectly through an individual — such as those who can get you a SIM in their name against few hundred rupees — telcos will still have a name to nominate and LEAs can go and arrest and investigate SIM owners to reach the original culprits,” said the official.

You can’t stop grey traffic or spam messaging by blocking the number and not catching the owner

He said that LEAs must arrest few dozen such SIM owners who take few hundred rupees to provide BVS verified SIMs to violators to set an example, so that no one dares to commit such a crime again.

According to recent revelations made by FIA high-ups, grey traffic is not only causing monetary losses to national exchequer but it is also used for terrorist financing, trapping innocent people for fake lottery prizes and other similar offenses.

It must be noted that telecom companies can identify calling pattern of SIMs used for illegal exchanges to flag the numbers. Similarly, same text message sent to multiple individuals with equivalent content over a certain period of time can also be caught by the filters installed by telecom companies.

However, it has to be LEAs willing to proactively work with telecom companies to hunt down the culprits and ultimately stop these illegal activities, unless they are not involved in such activities themselves.