The Hindu : Kerala News : Internet-based telephone racket

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 06, 2005

Kerala

Kerala

Internet-based telephone racket

By G Anand

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, MARCH. 5. Illegal operations that facilitate cheap Internet telephone calls from abroad could be happening in Kerala where many families have relatives and friends living in foreign countries, according to officials of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL).

Equipment is available these days that support Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP), which converts voice into a format that can be transmitted over the Internet and vice versa. Such equipment can act as the interface between local telephone systems and the Internet. Last year, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence seized VOIP equipment from a consignment that arrived at the Thiruvananthapuram Airport.

The CBI busted several VOIP rackets operating in Hyderabad and Chennai last month. According to Bureau officials, it was found then that there are foreign companies offering cheap calls to India. Telephone calls from their subscribers would be sent over the Internet to these illegal VOIP operators who would then route the calls to telephone numbers in India using prepaid mobile telephones.

Fictitious names

These prepaid mobile connections would have been taken in fictitious names with false addresses. Lakhs of rupees worth of mobile recharge coupons were seized in the raids in Hyderabad and Chennai. Two persons were arrested and 10 bank accounts showing foreign currency transactions amounting to crores of rupees were frozen. "We think there could be similar rackets in Kerala too," a CBI official said.

There were indications that illegal VOIP exchanges may be functioning in Kerala, according to a senior official of the BSNL. Several people have informed the BSNL of receiving calls from abroad but which, judging from the Caller Line Identification Presentation (CLIP) number, appeared to originate from a local telephone. These calls could have come from abroad over the Internet and then been routed by someone here to local telephones, he said.

International calls

Such international calls are disguised as ones originating locally by manipulating the CLIP number. The VOIP exchanges could be programmed to suppress the identification number of the incoming international call and substitute it with a local telephone number randomly selected by the computer. Intelligence officials are worried that VOIP networks could be miused by those working against national security interests. It is difficult for security agencies to monitor international calls that bypass the national telephone network, sources said.

"We are monitoring some telephone lines with abnormally high traffic to check whether these lines are being used to illegally pass on international calls coming over the Internet to subscribers here," he said. The BSNL stands to lose crores of rupees by way of revenue through such illegal VOIP operations, he added.

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