As world leaders convened for meetings at the United Nations, the U.S. Secret Service was discreetly engaged in dismantling a massive network of “SIM farms” scattered across the New York metropolitan area.
Matt McCool, the special agent overseeing the Secret Service’s New York field office, revealed that agents discovered numerous locations housing servers packed with stacked SIM cards, with over 100,000 cards already activated. He characterized this operation as a highly organized and well-funded enterprise, potentially backed by state-sponsored actors, even as the investigation continues and no arrests have yet been made.
Authorities cautioned that the network, if left unchecked, could have wreaked catastrophic havoc. McCool drew parallels to the widespread cellular outages experienced after the September 11 attacks and the Boston Marathon bombing, where strained networks simply collapsed.
But what exactly are these “SIM farms,” and what dangers do they pose?
Essentially, SIM farms are hardware systems capable of housing a multitude of SIM cards from various mobile providers. They leverage Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology to facilitate the mass sending and receiving of messages and calls.
Although originally conceived for legitimate uses like affordable international calls, this technology has unfortunately evolved into a primary tool for organized fraud, enabling large-scale phishing campaigns and scam calls.
Eva Velasquez, president and CEO of the Identity Theft Resource Center, highlighted the growing sophistication of scams, stating, “Phishing emails, texts, spoofing caller ID—all of this technology gives scammers that edge.”
The detected devices were strategically located within a 35-mile radius of the UN building. While the investigation is still active, McCool noted that forensic analysis suggests the system might have been employed to transmit encrypted messages to organized crime syndicates, drug cartels, and terrorist groups.
MobileX, identified as the manufacturer of some of the seized SIM cards, has expressed its readiness to cooperate fully with the ongoing investigation.
Peter Adderton, CEO of MobileX, issued a statement acknowledging that “Like all wireless providers, we occasionally see bad actors attempt to misuse our services.”
Anthony J. Ferrante, global head of FTI’s cybersecurity practice, an international consulting firm, commented on the sophisticated and well-established nature of the SIM farm depicted in the photos. He warned of its potential for various malicious activities, including the capacity to flood cellular networks with millions of calls in mere minutes.
Ferrante explained that such a massive volume of calls “would just overwhelm [cellular networks] and cause them to shut down.” He further speculated that due to its close proximity to the United Nations, the system might also be utilized for surveillance, potentially to intercept, eavesdrop on, or even clone communication devices.
Ferrante, with his background in key security roles at the White House and FBI, emphasized that while he awaits full investigation results, the sheer scale of this operation underscores how seemingly simple tools can pose grave risks to vital infrastructure.
He concluded by stating, “The masterminds could have set this up a long time ago and be operating from thousands of miles away. It’s a stark reminder of how deeply interconnected our world has become, where local vulnerabilities can be exploited globally.”