The UK government is to become the first European country to ban the possession and supply of SIM farms in a bid to protect the public from frauds and scams.

SIM farms are technical devices capable of holding multiple SIM cards which enable criminals to send scam texts to thousands of people at once or set up ‘verified’ online accounts in large volumes.

The new offence will make the possession or supply of SIM farms without a legitimate reason illegal, with the government saying that this will shut down a key route used by criminals to exploit the public.

Fraud minister Lord Hanson confirmed that the offence will carry an unlimited fine in England and Wales and a £5,000 fine in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The ban will come into effect six months after the Crime and Policing Bill receives Royal Assent.

The government said that fraud increased by 19 per cent last year, with fraud accounting for more than 40 per cent of all reported crime in England and Wales.

Almost two thirds of British adults, or around 35 million people, say they have received a suspicious message on their phones.

Rachel Andrews, head of corporate security at Vodafone UK, said that the firm has blocked over 38.5 million suspected scam messages so far this year and more than 73.5 million in 2024.

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

“This is a really important step taken by the Home Office and we fully support the inclusion of SIM farms in the upcoming legislation.”

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