POLICE have claimed a win in their quest to rout white collar criminals who illegally clone electronic information from mobile telephones.
An operation by the Commercial Crime Bureau on Thursday led to five arrests, the shutdown of two workshops and the seizure of electronic equipment used in the cloning process, which results in massive bills for some unwitting users.
Cloning, an offence under the Crimes Amendments Ordinance, involves the copying of information stored in the microchip of a mobile telephone.
When this information is copied on to another phone its user can make international and local calls at the expense of the owner of the original phone.
''The telephone companies have no idea how many phones are being used on the one line, nor who to bill,'' said Detective Inspector Paul Bailey, head of a computer crimes section of the CCB.
He said cloned phones were believed to be widespread. An experienced operator only needs three minutes to do the deed.
