The rise of smishing scams across the UK has prompted renewed warnings from law enforcement after officers uncovered an extensive haul of luxury goods seized from fraudsters.
Inside a secure evidence room, Det Ch Insp Paul Curtis gestures toward shelves stacked with designer handbags, shoes, and accessories — a visual testament to the lucrative criminal industry built on fraudulent text messages.
“They don’t keep money; they spend it here and now,” Curtis explains, surrounded by thousands of items retrieved during raids and house searches.
Brightly coloured Gucci stilettos and pristine leather handbags fill the room, representing what he estimates to be between 8,500 and 10,000 pieces of evidence. The smell of premium leather permeates the space, highlighting how fraudsters readily convert stolen money into high-end goods.
The offenders behind these collections specialise in smishing — a form of phishing that uses SMS messages to trick people into sharing sensitive information, such as bank passwords or PIN numbers.
Smishing has surged in recent months, with Ofcom reporting that half of UK mobile users received suspicious messages between November 2024 and February 2025.
Curtis works with the Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit (DCPCU), a joint team from City of London Police and the Metropolitan Police Service supported by the banking industry. While London-based, the unit operates nationwide and focuses on dismantling networks exploiting digital communication to commit financial fraud.
One recent case revealed the staggering volume at which these criminals operate. In March, Chinese student Ruichen Xiong drove around London using specialised equipment to send more than 15,000 scam messages in just five days.
The messages, disguised as alerts from banks, delivery firms, or government agencies, targeted thousands of potential victims. Xiong was estimated to earn around £100,000 a month from the scheme before his arrest and 58-week prison sentence in June.
For victims, the consequences are both financial and emotional. Gideon Rabinowitz, a 64-year-old former IT manager from Berkshire, lost more than £1,400 after receiving a text appearing to be from his bank. “I felt like a massive fool, like I’d been violated,” he says.
The scam began with a simple query asking whether he recognised a transaction. Within hours, he had been manipulated into transferring money directly to a criminal account.
Rabinowitz describes the aftermath as deeply unsettling. “It really shook me. I felt very vulnerable, and I don’t know who to trust now,” he says, noting the scammers seemed to know personal details about him, including where he lived.
Fraudulent texts often pretend to be from well-known companies — such as supermarkets, courier services, or utility providers — and include links to convincingly designed fake websites. Once clicked, victims are prompted to enter sensitive information, which criminals then use to bypass security checks or persuade them to transfer funds under false pretences.
These scams are enabled by two primary technologies. The first is the SIM farm — a device holding dozens of SIM cards that enable criminals to blast thousands of messages quickly. The second, an SMS Blaster, mimics mobile phone masts and forces nearby phones to connect, allowing mass distribution of fraudulent texts in seconds.
The government has acknowledged the severity of smishing and recently confirmed that SIM farms will be banned by late next year. Possessing or supplying such devices without legitimate justification will become illegal under the upcoming regulations. Officials say the move aims to “close down a key tool for criminals and safeguard consumers”.
However, cyber experts warn that policing smishing is inherently challenging. Ciaran Martin, former chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre, says many operations originate overseas.
“Even when it’s done from within the UK, it’s very easy to do and hard to trace,” he explains. While police can dismantle major networks, Martin stresses that public awareness remains the strongest defence.
“The strategic answer is for people to understand that serious businesses don’t ask for money by text,” he says, urging companies to adopt more secure verification methods.
Police advice remains clear: never click on links in unsolicited messages. Anyone who believes they have been targeted should contact their bank, report the incident to Action Fraud, and forward the suspicious text to 7726 for investigation.
This article was created using automation technology and was thoroughly edited and fact-checked by one of our editorial staff members
