SIMCARTEL arrests and SIM-box takedown
Law Enforcement
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Europol-led police arrested seven suspects in the SIMCARTEL case, disrupting a SIM-box cybercrime network that enabled fake accounts and fraud. The operation also seized five servers, 1,200 SIM-box devices, and hundreds of thousands of SIM cards, while taking down gogetsms.com and apisim.com. Officials said the service supported 49 million fake online accounts and harmed at least 3,200 victims across Latvia, Estonia, and Austria. The coordinated action cut off infrastructure used for telecom-enabled fraud and related crimes.
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Timeline
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20.10.2025 14:15 2 articles · 7mo ago
Latvia action day disrupts SIMCARTEL SIM-box network
Untyped PhaseDuring an action day in Latvia on October 10, Europol-led police in Austria, Estonia, Latvia and Finland arrested seven suspects, carried out 26 searches, and seized five servers and about 1,200 SIM-box devices that operated 40,000 SIM cards. The coordinated operation also targeted the SIMCARTEL infrastructure used to run an online SIM-box service for cybercriminals worldwide.
Show sources
- Criminal SIM Card Supply Network Busted by Europol — www.infosecurity-magazine.com — 20.10.2025 14:15
- Criminal SIM Card Supply Network Busted by Europol — www.infosecurity-magazine.com — 20.10.2025 14:15
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17.10.2025 03:00 1 articles · 7mo ago
Europol discloses SIMCARTEL network, fake accounts, and victim impact
Initial DisclosureA Europol statement on October 17 described SIMCARTEL as a now defunct criminal network that offered an online SIM-box service to cybercriminals around the world, with access to phone numbers registered to people from over 80 countries. Europol and Latvian authorities estimated that the service enabled 49 million fake online accounts and helped drive fraud affecting at least 3,200 victims in Latvia, Estonia and Austria, including 1,700 individual cyber fraud cases in Austria and 1,500 in Latvia.
Show sources
- Criminal SIM Card Supply Network Busted by Europol — www.infosecurity-magazine.com — 20.10.2025 14:15