Secret Service Dismantles High-Risk SIM Farm in New York

The U.S. Secret Service discovered and partially dismantled a massive and highly organized SIM farm operation just as world leaders gathered for the UN General Assembly in New York City. This covert infrastructure, spread across multiple sites in the tristate area, contained more than 100,000 active SIM cards and over 300 servers.

Law enforcement believes the system could have paralyzed telecom networks, disrupted communications for millions, and potentially been used for espionage or surveillance.

The operation is one of the most concentrated SIM farm busts in U.S. history, with implications going beyond typical spam or scam activity. Investigators say it may have been used by cybercriminal networks, international fraud rings, or even foreign nation-state actors.

The case shows growing weaknesses in mobile infrastructure and how criminal or adversarial groups exploit legal telecom tools at scale.

Why It Matters: SIM farms now represent a tangible national security risk. Their capacity for mass impact shows that even low-cost hardware can become a serious threat to digital infrastructure and public safety.

• A Network Quietly Taken Offline: The SIM farm was discovered to be operating quietly across several facilities in the New York tristate area, all within a 35-mile radius of Manhattan. With over 100,000 active SIM cards controlled through advanced “SIM servers,” the infrastructure had the theoretical capacity to send around 30 million messages per minute. Law enforcement officials warned that if fully activated, the system could have overwhelmed local cell towers, disabling wireless communications for the entire city, which would parallel outages seen during major national emergencies like 9/11.

• Not Just Spam: Though SIM farms are commonly associated with spam and phishing operations, experts warned this setup was sophisticated enough to enable far more dangerous activities. Given its proximity to the United Nations and the scale of the equipment, analysts suggested it could have been used to intercept sensitive communications or conduct covert surveillance on diplomats and officials. The Secret Service emphasized that the equipment could have been repurposed for cyberattacks targeting infrastructure or individuals.

• Connected to Swatting Attacks, Organized Crime, and Suspected Nation-State Actors: The investigation reportedly began after the SIM farm was tied to a series of swatting attacks on U.S. lawmakers in December 2023, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Sen. Rick Scott. The attacks were linked to Romanian and American cybercriminals, and further analysis revealed the infrastructure had likely been used by multiple threat actors, including organized crime groups and foreign entities. While no arrests have yet been made for the SIM farm operators, officials confirmed its reach extended into networks already known to law enforcement.

• Set up Hints at Extensive Resources and International Supply Chains: Photos released by the Secret Service show clean, highly organized racks of equipment, with each SIM box capable of hosting up to 256 cards. Experts described the setup as more professional than most known SIM farms, and noted that the equipment was likely smuggled into the U.S., possibly disguised as other electronics like audio gear. Similar setups have previously been discovered in Ukraine, where Russian-affiliated SIM farms have been used for information warfare, including fake social media campaigns and disinformation.

• Telecom Carriers and Regulators Now Grappling With SIM-Based Threats: SIM cards included those from MobileX and other low-cost telecom providers. These vendors are attractive to cybercriminals because they offer anonymous or low-barrier activation, making them harder to trace. MobileX acknowledged that its cards were part of the federal investigation and emphasized its willingness to work with authorities. The incident has triggered renewed scrutiny of telecom policy and security oversight, which has allowed infrastructure to operate undetected.

Go Deeper -> ‘SIM Farms’ Are a Spam Plague. A Giant One in New York Threatened US Infrastructure, Feds Say – WIRED

How ‘SIM farms’ like the one found near the UN could collapse telecom networks – PBS NewsHour