Here is another example of wireless airtime as new form of prison currency. According to the article, “inmates used a contraband cell phone for a short time in April and May of this year. The phone was used to make 1,375 unauthorized calls from jail, including 367 calls to online retailers, banks, and shipping businesses. Authorities believe Volk arranged fraudulent commissary trust account deposits as payment for access to the cell phone.” Prisons can devalue contraband wireless airtime by offering inmates a legitimate alternative, such as the meshDETECT secure prison cell phone solution.

A dozen people have been charged with laundering stolen credit cards through jail inmate commissary accounts, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office reported Wednesday.

Darin Volk, 26, and eleven others have been named in a 36-count complaint alleging conspiracy to commit identity theft, conspiracy to possess a cell phone in jail, and identity theft, D.A. Jeff Rosen announced.

Prosecutors believe Volk enlisted the help of other inmates in Milpitas’ Elmwood correctional facility in his alleged scheme, as well as at least three people out of custody.

Brian Hoar of Turlock is believed to have deposited money into inmate commissary trust accounts and inmate telephone accounts at Volk’s directive. Heather Murphree of Turlock and San Jose residents Shanna Conroy and Jaimelynn Sakoda were then asked to withdraw a portion of the money from the accounts, the complaint alleges. The inmates named in the complaint had authorized the withdrawals and were left with a share of the fraudulent deposits as payment. According to the D.A., jail personnel followed standard procedure and issued Santa Clara County checks to the three women without knowing that the accounts had been funded by fraud.

The complaint also alleges that Volk and other inmates at Elmwood used a contraband cell phone for a short time in April and May of this year. The phone was used to make 1,375 unauthorized calls from jail, including 367 calls to online retailers, banks, and shipping businesses. Authorities believe Volk arranged fraudulent commissary trust account deposits as payment for access to the cell phone.

According to the complaint, 34 people have been identified as victims of the scheme and the potential losses total more than $17,000.

At the time of the alleged offenses, Volk was in custody pending prosecution on a large-scale, multi-jurisdictional counterfeit credit card manufacturing scheme, officials say. He was arraigned Wednesday on the new charges and faces an additional 25 years in county jail if he is convicted.

Source

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Another article highlighting the reality that the problem of contraband cell phones smuggled into prisons is a global one. In this case, Kenya’s largest cellular network service provider, Safaricom, will be installing cell phone jammers in the nation’s prisons. According the article, 70 per cent of phone-related fraud originates from prisons there.

Major prisons in Kenya will be cut off the Safaricom mobile phone network in a bid to curb M-Pesa and SMS fraud.

The Prisons Service and Safaricom have struck a deal to join hands in fighting the crimes that are thought out and executed behind prison walls.

“A high percentage of these (fraudsters) have been from prisons. We must not allow the activities of a small number of people to have an impact on our customers,” Mr Bob Collymore, the Safaricom chief executive, said at the Prisons Service headquarters where the deal was signed.

Lion’s share of market

Mr Collymore said subscribers had lost more than Sh10 million over the last four months to the fraudsters.

He said Safaricom will be investing Sh10 million in the installation of equipment to jam mobile phone networks in the prisons, starting with the Kamiti Maximum Security Prison.

Statistics by the company, which has 17.3 million subscribers — the lion’s share of the market — show that 70 per cent of phone-related fraud originates from prisons.

According to the Prisons Service, 65 per cent of the phone-related fraud cases over the last four months have originated from Kamiti prison.

It is followed by Nakuru GK Prison with 15 per cent, Meru with 12 per cent, Shimo la Tewa at the Coast with six per cent and Kibos one per cent.

“We have sort of found a solution that will work for the time being,” said Commissioner of Prisons Isaiah Osugo, who lamented that the crimes persist despite frequent searches to rid inmates of mobile phones.

He said the prisoners often get the phones when they are taken to the courts, hospitals and out of the prisons for community work. He said that some inmates even hide them in their private parts.

Mr Osugo said the prisoners are also often assisted by warders, who defy rules forbidding them from having mobile phones within prison cells.

The fraudsters impersonate Safaricom staff and ask their targets to send money to redeem phony prizes, send fake M-Pesa messages and ask for refunds or pretend to offer jobs in the military and police for a bribe.

There are also those who call or send messages alleging they have been sent to kill the target and demand payment to call off their alleged missions.

Source

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