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CRIMINAL USES OF IP


MOBILE


TRAFFICKING


The practice of purchasing and reselling prepaid mobile phones and accessories in bulk is a lesser known way for terrorist organisations to raise funds and launder money, explains Ross Bulla.


How it works


Prepaid mobile phones are oſten sold at kiosks in shopping centres or at chain retail stores and pharmacies. To thwart bulk purchases, retailers are contractually required to limit sales to no more than three per customer. Knowing this, diverters hire ‘runners’ to visit as many retailers per day as possible and purchase the maximum quantity from each retailer.


When sufficient quantities have been obtained, the diverter/trafficker will oſten remove the handsets and batteries, discarding the packaging, chargers, user manuals and other accessories. Before preparing the handsets and batteries for shipment, the handsets might be unlocked and ‘flashed’ (reprogrammed) to operate on other service providers’ networks.


The dangers of trafficking


Trafficking in prepaid mobile phones generates hundreds of thousands of dollars in illicit revenue used to fund organised crime at best, and terrorism at worst. Military and intelligence officials know that flashed prepaid phones are sometimes used once by terror operatives and then discarded to prevent tracing the caller’s location. Te phones can also be weaponised and used as detonators on improvised explosive devices by insurgents in Iraq or Afghanistan.


www.worldipreview.com


World Intellectual Property Review September/October 2010


39


©iStockphoto.com / Creasence


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