Europol Busts Major Criminal SIM Card Ring
▼ Summary
– Seven individuals were arrested in a European law enforcement operation called ‘SIMCARTEL’ targeting a cybercrime-as-a-service network.
– The criminal network operated a SIM-box service that provided access to phone numbers from over 80 countries for creating fake social media and communication accounts.
– Law enforcement seized five servers, 1,200 SIM-box devices, hundreds of thousands of SIM cards, and froze over $835,000 in suspects’ bank and crypto accounts.
– The service enabled 49 million fake accounts, leading to millions in financial losses from over 3,200 victims in Latvia, Estonia, and Austria through various cybercrimes.
– The main raids occurred on October 10 in Latvia, where 26 searches were conducted and five Latvian nationals were arrested.
A major international criminal network providing a cybercrime-as-a-service platform has been dismantled following a coordinated law enforcement effort across Europe. The operation, known as ‘SIMCARTEL,’ led to the arrest of seven individuals believed to be central to the illegal enterprise. According to Europol, the group ran an online SIM-box service that supplied cybercriminals worldwide with phone numbers from more than 80 different countries.
This illicit service allowed its clients to create fraudulent accounts on social media and communication platforms. These fake accounts were then used to carry out a broad spectrum of telecommunications-related crimes and other serious offenses. The operation was spearheaded by authorities in Austria, Estonia, Latvia, and Finland, with crucial coordination and support provided by Europol and Eurojust.
The takedown yielded significant results, including the seizure of five servers that hosted the illegal service’s infrastructure. Law enforcement also confiscated approximately 1,200 SIM-box devices, which were capable of operating 40,000 individual SIM cards, along with hundreds of thousands of physical SIM cards. Two websites, gogetsms.com and apisim.com, which openly advertised the criminal service, were taken offline. Financial seizures were substantial, with over $500,000 frozen in suspects’ bank accounts and an additional $333,000 in cryptocurrency assets. Four luxury vehicles were also impounded as part of the operation.
Authorities from Europol and Latvia described the service as highly sophisticated, estimating it was responsible for enabling the creation of 49 million fake online accounts. These accounts were instrumental in cybercriminals stealing millions of dollars from at least 3,200 identified victims across Latvia, Estonia, and Austria. In Austria alone, 1,700 separate cyber fraud cases were linked to the network, resulting in financial losses of $5.2 million. Latvia reported 1,500 cases with losses nearing $490,000.
The criminal activities facilitated by this service were extensive and severe. They included large-scale phishing campaigns, extortion, migrant smuggling, and the distribution of child sexual abuse material. The network also supported various fraud schemes, such as investment fraud and scams targeting users of online second-hand marketplaces.
A key moment in the operation was an action day in Latvia on October 10, where the main raids were executed. During this day, law enforcement carried out 26 searches and arrested five Latvian nationals. Authorities confirmed that three suspects were subjected to non-custodial security measures, while a court imposed a security measure on a man born in 1982. Latvian police released footage from one of the raids, showing a workspace filled with computer hardware, specialized equipment, and vast quantities of SIM cards.
(Source: InfoSecurity Magazine)
