Europol has dismantled a massive cybercrime operation responsible for generating over 49 million fake online accounts using a global SIM farm network. Authorities from Austria, Estonia, Finland, and Latvia, supported by Europol and Eurojust, carried out coordinated raids under the codename Operation SIMCARTEL, resulting in seven arrests, the seizure of 1,200 SIM box devices (containing 40,000 active SIM cards), five servers, luxury vehicles, and the freezing of substantial assets in both traditional and cryptocurrency accounts.computing+3​

Operation Details

The SIM farm network functioned as a sophisticated crime-as-a-service business model. It offered temporary mobile phone numbers registered to people from over 80 countries, allowing criminals worldwide to obscure their identities and locations while opening fake accounts on social media, e-commerce, digital banking, and cryptocurrency platforms. The main websites running the service were shut down and now display seizure banners.yahoo+2​

Scope and Impact

• More than 49 million fake accounts were linked to the network, which investigators traced to thousands of cyber fraud cases, particularly in Austria and Latvia.
• Losses attributed to these crimes exceeded €4.5 million in Austria and €420,000 in Latvia, but the overall global damage is likely much higher.techradar+2​
• The criminal service enabled a spectrum of offenses, including phishing, smishing (SMS phishing), investment scams, marketplace fraud, fake online shops, extortion, migrant smuggling, and the distribution of child sexual abuse material.therecord+2​

Techniques Used

Criminals used the rented SIM numbers to bypass two-factor authentication and automate the mass creation of fictitious accounts. The infrastructure included professionally operated websites, logistics to acquire SIM cards globally, and allowed rapid, large-scale identity spoofing to facilitate a range of online crimes.computing+2​

Ongoing Investigations

Europol and its partners are continuing investigations to identify all users of the illegal SIM service and assess the full extent of the network’s impact, which is considered unprecedented in scale for Europe and globally.therecord+1​

This takedown is being hailed as a significant blow to the cybercrime-as-a-service industry, as it exposes how such infrastructure quietly powered one of the world’s largest fake account and telecom fraud operations for years.itnews+2​