SIMBox Bypass Frauds in Cellular Networks: Strategies, Evolution, Detection, and Future Directions
Anne Josiane Kouam, Aline Carneiro Viana, Alain Tchana · IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials · 2021
Due to their complexity and opaqueness, cellular networks have been subject to numerous attacks over the past few decades. These attacks are a real problem to telecom operators and cost them about USD 28.3 Billion annually, as reported by theCommunications Fraud Control Association.SIMBoxfraud is one of the most prevalent of these telephone frauds. It consists of diverting international calls on the VoIP network and terminating them as local calls using an off-the-shelf device, referred to asSIMBox. This paper surveys both the existing literature and the majorSIMBoxmanufacturers to provide comprehensive and analytical knowledge onSIMBoxfraud, fraud strategies, fraud evolution, and fraud detection methods. We provide the necessary background on the telephone ecosystem while extensively exploring theSIMBoxarchitecture required to understand fraud strategies. Our goal is to provide a complete introductory guide for research onSIMBoxfraud and stimulate interest forSIMBoxfraud detection, which remains little investigated. In this vein, we conclude the paper by presenting insights into tomorrow’sSIMBoxfraud detection challenges and research directions.