Stop Cell Phone Trafficking

TracFone Launches Third Ad Campaign Targeting Cell Phone Traffickers

TracFone Wireless Inc., the largest U.S. provider of prepaid mobile phone services, unveiled the third round of a new ad campaign aimed at putting an end to cell phone trafficking. The new campaign specifically targets traffickers and “runners” of prepaid mobile phones. TracFone is continuing to lead the wireless industry in keeping prepaid service affordable and accessible for everyone, by protecting consumers from traffickers who steal their subsidies.

Now appearing in newspapers and on billboards across the U.S. — and on targeted online sites — the TracFone ads warn runners that the company is committed to enforcing its rights to the full extent of the law and will take legal action against anyone involved in the unauthorized resale of Tracfone, StraightTalk or NET10 mobile phones.

The advertising campaign also provides an outlet for consumers to report activity related to cell phone trafficking, via e-mail or through an automated phone line.

Billboards are up in many locations across the U.S. Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia are some of the geographic locations where TracFone is getting their message out to stop cell phone trafficking. Ads like this are appearing as billboards, in newspapers, e-newsletters and online. The word among traffickers is that the ad campaign is making those out to make a quick buck think twice about trafficking cell phones.

This is an example of the TracFone print ad.

TracFone Launches New Ad Campaign Targeting Cell Phone Traffickers

TracFone Wireless Inc., the largest U.S. provider of prepaid mobile phone services, unveiled the second round in a new ad campaign aimed at putting an end to cell phone trafficking. The new campaign specifically targets traffickers and “runners” of prepaid mobile phones.

Now appearing in newspapers and on billboards across the U.S. and on targeted online sites, the TracFone ads warn runners that the company is committed to enforcing its rights to the full extent of the law and will take legal action against anyone involved in the unauthorized resale of Tracfone or NET10 mobile phones.

The advertising campaign also provides an outlet for consumers to report activity related to cell phone trafficking, via e-mail or through an automated phone line.

To view a full size version of the ad, click here.

Below is a view of a billboard from one of the many locations in California, Florida, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas where TracFone is getting the message out about the issues of cell phone trafficking. Ads like this are appearing across the U.S. in targeted metro locations identified by TracFone as hotspots for trafficking. Word among traffickers is that the ad campaign is making those out to make a quick buck think twice about trafficking cell phones.

Stop Cell Phone Trafficking

TracFone and other prepaid mobile phone service providers have recently experienced a sharp rise in the sale of prepaid mobile phones that are never activated on their networks. The company believes that traffickers are acquiring large quantities of prepaid mobile phones with the intent to take those subsidies for themselves by unlocking, altering and reselling the phones. After unlocking these prepaid mobile phones, traffickers either ship them overseas or sell them in the U.S. This activity causes tremendous harm to consumers, who are the intended beneficiaries of the subsidies that are diverted by the traffickers.

Cell phone "runners" seen with hundreds of prepaid mobile phones.

U.S. COURT SENDS INTERNATIONAL PREPAID MOBILE PHONE TRAFFICKER TO PRISON FOR 57 MONTHS

TracFone Wireless Inc., the largest U.S. provider of prepaid mobile phone services, says today’s sentencing of an international trafficker of prepaid mobile phones to 57 months in federal prison is an important milestone in the industry’s battle against the bulk prepaid phone purchasing scheme throughout the U.S., an activity that includes altering the phones’ proprietary software, repackaging the devices (often in counterfeit packaging) and then reselling them domestically and abroad to unsuspecting customers.

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First Criminal Conviction of International Prepaid Mobile Phone Trafficker

On May 16, 2008, Muhammad Mubashir, 27, of Sugar Land, Tex., pleaded guilty before Judge Melinda Harmon of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas to charges of criminally disobeying a federal court order prohibiting him from continuing to purchase, tamper with or export prepaid mobile phones. This case marks the first-ever criminal conviction related to prepaid mobile phone trafficking.

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