Finnish emergency response centres flooded by bogus calls
Thieves believed to use free emergency number to test stolen phones
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Finnish emergency response centres have been receiving large numbers of bogus calls recently. The problem is especially acute at the emergency call centre of Southeast Finland in Kouvola, but the phenomenon is also familiar at other call centres along Finland’s with Russia.
The nuisance calls are generally made from mobile telephones that do not have SIM cards in them, making them impossible to trace.
Last year, the Kouvola centre got 15,396 bogus calls from cell phones without SIM cards. Most of them were relayed via base stations near the border, suggesting that the calls probably originated on the Russian side of the border. The National Bureau of Investigation has looked into the matter.
The head of the emergency response centre, Helena Borisov, says that the nuisance calls comprised more than 12 percent of all calls to the Kouvola centre.
The calls are more than just an annoyance. They cause unnecessary work, and pose a danger to public safety; the bogus calls generally come in rapid succession within a short period of time, and could potentially prevent callers with a genuine emergency from getting through.
Officials assume that the purpose of the nuisance calls is to test stolen mobile telephones, which can be used for making emergency calls even without a SIM card inside.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 22.5.2006 - TODAY |
 Finnish emergency response centres flooded by bogus calls
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