Swoop busts phone scams

2003-05-22 13:00

Johannesburg - Up to 27 foreign nationals from various African countries were arrested in Johannesburg and Pretoria this week, said telecommunications provider Telkom on Thursday.

Telkom said a joint Telkom-police task team was deployed around Gauteng on Sunday in an "all-out crusade" to tackle unlawful traffic on the network.

They targeted so-called clip-on fraudsters alleged to have run illegal telephone exchanges by tapping into private and public phone lines and selling calls - some to international destinations - at cheaper rates.

Telkom security and investigations head Peter Ross hailed the operation as a success and warned would-be telephone network fraudsters that similar co-ordinated efforts were being planned to curb clip-on fraud nationally.

The public has been urged to report clip-on fraud to Telkom's crime centre at 0860 124 000.

- SAPA