How a SIM farm threatens telecom networks

The US Secret Service has found and is quietly dismantling a massive network of “SIM farms" across the New York area just as world leaders gather for meetings at the United Nations.

- By SHAWN CHEN and JULIE WALKER

THIS PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE US Secret Service, in NEW YORK, Sept. 22, 2025, shows a wall of SIM boxes at the location where they were seized by the agency. (AP)

(AP)

Matt McCool, the special agent in charge of the Secret Service's New York field office, said agents found multiple sites filled with servers and stacked SIM cards, of which more than 100,000 cards were already active. Though the investigation is ongoing and no arrests have been made, he described it as a wellfunded, highly organized enterprise and possibly run by nation-state actors - perpetrators from particular countries.