It seeks views on proposals to ban the manufacture, import, sale, hire and possession of SIM farms (devices for more than four SIM cards) in the UK, and whether the ban should include other technologies used almost exclusively to commit fraud. The farms are used to send scam texts, send phishing messages and run scam call campaigns.
The consultation, ‘Preventing the use of SIM farms for fraud’, closes on 14 June.
The Home Office aims to cut fraud by 10% by 2025 through its Fraud Strategy, published this month.
Other proposals include specific Judicial College training for judges and magistrates on dealing with long and complex cases, investigating whether more fraud cases could be heard by magistrates, improving the disclosure regime and extending the use of serious crime prevention orders to disrupt criminal activities.