Three men were arrested and a “sophisticated” scam text operation dismantled which police allege was responsible for sending 318 million texts in just three months from a handful of locations around Sydney.
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In a joint operation with the Australian Federal Police and state police, officers stormed locations in Sydney’s CBD, Wolli Creek, Burwood and Auburn where they uncovered multiple SIM boxes – devices which connect to several SIM cards to send out millions of text messages.
This SIM box was uncovered in a previous operation. Credit: NSW Police
The messages often purport to be from trusted companies or government departments, and ask the recipient for their personal information in a bid to scam them out of their money or steal their identities.
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NSW Police detective superintendent Matt Kraft said those four locations alone were responsible for between 50-75 per cent of the scam text messages coming out of NSW.
“Yesterday we seized a total of 26 SIM boxes … and over 500 mobile handsets,” he said.
“It will be alleged that at those locations, they were technically savvy and it was a very sophisticated set up where those SIM boxes were able to be controlled from that location but also remotely.”
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At Wolli Creek police found a large scam set-up with 11 SIM boxes operating from a single location.
Police call the phenomenon “smishing” – short for SMS phishing. Police say the crime is prevalent in Australia, and further arrests are expected in the near future.
A total of six people were arrested in the national day of action against “smishing” on Thursday.
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AFP Detective Superintendent Tim Stainton said there is no legitimate reason for any Australian to possess a SIM box, and called on members of the public to call police if they ever see one in use.
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“Anyone who has a mobile phone could potentially become a victim, most members of the community have received these text messages,” Stainton said.