Thieves Steal SIM Cards From Traffic Lights In South Africa

Thieves in Johannesburg South Africa are targeting the traffic lights around the city, but not just any traffic lights. The signals that the thieves are targeting are the high-tech lights that the city has in place that have SIM cards inside.

The thieves crack open the lights and steal the SIM cards, slip them into disposable phones and allow them to make free phone calls that can't be traced. The SIM card-equipped traffic lights were intended to be able to alert the city when a light was malfunctioning.

The thieves are stopping at one or two SIM cards either, they have stolen enough of the cards and damaged enough traffic lights in the city that it will cost around $1.25 million to repair the damage. So far, about 400 of the 600 SIM card packing lights in the city have been hit. Not all lights in the city have SIM cards and the ones that don't look just like the ones that do, yet only lights with the cards have been targeted. This leads authorities to suspect an inside job.

Via Popular Science