SIM farms could finally be banned in the UK under the new Crime and Policing Bill, the government’s fraud minister has confirmed as he reclaimed legislation written under the previous government.
Lord Hanson said the ban would outlaw the possession and supply of the devices able to manage five or more SIM cards at once and facilitate mass texting campaigns, in what he called a "Europe-first" law.
He said: “Two-thirds of British adults say they’ve received a suspicious message on their phone – equivalent to more than 35 million people – which is why cracking down on SIM farms is so vital to protecting the public.”
Designed to come into effect 6 months after the bill receives Royal Assent, the SIM farms law could see the offence carry an unlimited fine in England and Wales, or a £5,000 fine in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Informed by a 2023 consultation, more on that below, the ban would cover devices capable of using five or more SIM cards to make telephone calls and send or receive texts.
SIM farms and COMUGS, a short history
The latest attempt to ban SIM farms could end years of debate on the issue since the government first introduced a much litigated ban on multi-user gateways in the early 2000s, before Ofcom opted to legalise the devices in 2017, allowing use of them in commercial multi user gateway (COMUG) form and on a licenced basis.
As you'd expect, the decision particularly bothered the government and it attempted to overturn the exemption in the following months, citing terrorism concerns in an order by the Secretary of State that the UK High Court later deemed to be unlawful.
Then, in 2023, an appeal saw the Supreme Court side with the government and overturn that ruling, opening the door to a consultation which ended with the previous Conservative government concluding that a ban was needed and proposing a law that would also see the offence carry an unlimited fine.
That ban would have fallen under the Criminal Justice Bill, which the current government repurposed as its Crime and Policing Bill and contains almost identical text on the outlawing of SIM farms.
While some have said a ban would make it harder for criminals to carry out mass scam texting and phishing campaigns from just a few devices, other have questioned the impact of such a law given many calls are often thought to originate from outside the UK.
Previous legislation was also criticised for hiding the government's previous concerns about a SIM farm's ability to obfuscate the source of mobile communication, thus making it harder for authorities to intercept communications and identify the sender.
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