14 DAY TRIAL // A 34-year-old Russian national living illegally in South Africa has been detained by local authorities on suspicion of hacking into the systems of telecoms giant MTN.
Since 2011, when he began his illegal activities, the man is suspected of having stolen 50 million South African Rands’ (5 million USD) worth of airtime vouchers, eNCA reports.
The suspect faces charges of fraud and contravention of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act.
MTN has been closely collaborating with the South Africa Police Service to track down the alleged perpetrator.
Authorities believe the Russian, whose passport expired in 2009, is not the only one involved in the scheme. They hope to identify and detain other individuals as well.
According to IT Web, this is not the first time when crooks target MTN in this manner. Back in 2011, two of the company’s employees and four other individuals were arrested on suspicion of selling prepaid SIM cards that were fraudulently loaded with airtime.