Phone ‘sim farms’ set to be banned in main UK rip-off crackdown | EUROtoday

The UK is about to ban ‘sim farm’ units in an effort to crack down on cell phone scams and fraud.

Sim farm units are able to holding a number of sim playing cards and are utilized by scammers to ship hundreds of rip-off textual content messages without delay.

They will also be used to create verified accounts on social media and different platforms in massive volumes

The authorities has stated it’ll implement the ban, the primary of its form in Europe, to make the possession or provide of the units with out good motive unlawful. It will see the potential of limitless fines in England and Wales and £5,000 fines in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Fraud minister Lord Hanson stated the ban marks a “leap forward” within the authorities’s “vital” struggle towards fraud.

“Fraud devastates lives, and I am determined to take the decisive action necessary to protect the public from these shameful criminals,” Lord Hanson stated.

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“Two-thirds of British adults say they’ve received a suspicious message on their phone – equivalent to more than 35 million people – which is why cracking down on sim farms is so vital to protecting the public.

“This marks a leap forward in our fight against fraud and will provide law enforcement and industry partners with the clarity they need to protect the public from this shameful crime.

“This government will continue to take robust action to protect the public from fraud and deliver security and resilience through the Plan for Change.”

Scam textual content messages have grow to be an more and more widespread downside lately, with cell operators commonly introducing new expertise to assist spot and block them earlier than they attain the general public.

The Home Office stated latest information confirmed fraud had elevated final 12 months by 19 per cent, and now accounts for greater than 40 per cent of all reported crime in England and Wales.

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Rachel Andrews, head of company safety at Vodafone UK, stated the ban on sim farms was an “important step” in stopping fraud.

“Vodafone UK is committed to protecting all our customers from fraud, including activity enabled by sim farms,” she stated.

“So far this year we have blocked over 38.5 million suspected scam messages, and in 2024 that figure reached over 73.5 million for the year.

“As an industry, UK telecoms operators have blocked more than one billion suspected scam messages since 2023. However, we cannot fully tackle fraud in isolation; collaboration between industry and government is crucial.”

The authorities stated the brand new ban will come into impact six months after the Crime and Policing Bill receives royal assent.

Nick Sharp, deputy director for fraud on the National Crime Agency (NCA), welcomed the ban and stated: “Fraud is the crime we are all most likely to experience, and one that causes victims significant emotional and financial harm.

“We know that fraud at scale is being facilitated by sim farms, which give criminals a means and an opportunity to contact victims at scale with relative ease.”