Fraud is the largest area of revenue leakage for telecommunications operators, and Lesotho is not an exception to the crime.

The Minister of Communications, Science and Technology, Mr. Mothetjoa Metsing said this when addressing the Southern Africa Telecommunications Association (SATA) at a-three-day Fraud Management workshop held in Maseru on Wednesday.

He said, fraud is not only experienced in telecommunications, but it also affects a larger part of the society in Banks and Universities.

Mr. Metsing said the impact of fraud to operators worldwide was estimated at $12 billion in 1999 and in 2005 it had risen to $54.6 billion.

He added that operators in Africa and the Middle East are experiencing losses of more than 20 percent of revenue, while Europe and North America range between eight and 13 percent.

The Minister, further said in Telecommunications Lesotho, fraud occurred once and over a million Maloti was lost through unrecognised international calls within three days.

He said it is also significant for policy makers and regulators to note and be aware of the fraud challenges that operators are facing since Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) sector developments are changing at a high rate, while fraud is also taking the same pace.

He urged SATA members to find common solutions that would address challenges which result from fraud and how to control the crime in Southern African countries.

Speaking at the same occasion, SATA Executive Secretary, Mr. Jacob Munodawafa said as technology continues to evolve, each new development has provided opportunities for criminality, which has been utilised to obtain property and financial advantage through deception and crime committed through misuse of telecommunications equipment.

He said the challenge facing SATA is to develop revenue protection strategies to combat all areas of fraud by covering development of comprehensive fraud mitigation efforts including strategies around organisation systems applications in different areas of business.

Mr. Munodawafa indicated that telecommunications fraud has become a fast growing phenomenon in the world and one of the high ranging illegal activities.

He said that according to industry experts, there are at least 200 different types of known telecommunications fraud and the fight against these unscrupulous activities is a fast moving and ever ending battle for telecommunications companies.

He added that the estimated total figure of losses due to telecommunications fraud and security related problems world wide is around 56 billion euro (M613.2 billion).

He stated that in an effort to fight crime, the Fraud Network Security and Revenue Assurance Group has been formed to detect fraud within the telecommunications industry.

The purpose of the workshop which ends on Friday is to address topics such as fraudulent awareness techniques, evaluation strategies and assessment of key lessons from ICT operators.

Source: LENA 07/11/2007