Cuba lost over 10 million U.S. dollars in revenue a year due to fraud in telecommunications services, the National Information Agency (AIN) reported Wednesday.

Jorge Sacre, director of the anti-fraud department at the state-run Telecommunications Company of Cuba (Etecsa), told AIN that a considerable number of users sought to avoid legally established traffic channels for international calls by using new technological development that hinders their traceability.

The most common crimes include the theft of lines belonging to legitimate users, subscription fraud and creation of international systems that offer an adjacent service with lower fees than those established by legal telecom service providers, said Sacre.

These crimes can be carried out through the installation of satellite dishes, and the use of ordinary telephone and Internet access, he said.

For every minute of call made via these alternate routes, Cuba lost 0.60 dollars in revenue, and calls originating from these sites were then distributed through the National Communications Network as a local or long-distance call, causing more substantial losses, said Sacre.

Cuba has a large expatriate community living in the United States, the epicenter of global telecommunications fraud, and Cuba's proximity makes it more vulnerable, Sacre added.

The island ranks among the 17 countries most affected by such violations, he stressed, adding that Etecsa is working to develop fraud detection mechanisms and various measures to blacklist users who commit such crimes. Endi

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