TELECOM Eireann yesterday denied reports that Dublin criminal gangs are now able to break into Eircell's secure 087 system.
A spokesman said the 087 system had not been breached by anyone, but admitted that the 088 system was less secure and there had been a number of Garda investigations. He said all its efforts to counteract fraud in the 088 system had been successful to date.
He said phone fraud gangs appeared to move from country to country, "but in some high profile cases we have been very successful." There was excellent co operation between the company and the gardai in clamping down on the practice.
One newspaper report yesterday said that a Dublin based criminal gang was claiming that it had been able to break into the 087 GSM system by rigging mobile phones with new microchips and then billing the calls to legitimate users of other mobile phones.