Australian police on
Wednesday charged a man living in suburban Sydney with sending 17 million scam
text messages, one for almost every adult in the country.
New
South Wales police said the unnamed 39-year-old was single-handedly responsible
for scam texts that have been plaguing mobile phone users across the country.
The
texts included fake links purporting to be from Australia Post or toll road
operators and were allegedly sent using “SIM boxes” that can send tens of
thousands of messages per day.
The
man was charged with using networked equipment to “commit serious offence” and
granted bail.
“SMS phishing is one of
the most common tactics deployed by scammers to obtain banking and other
personal information from a victim,” said Jason Smith, commander of the police
Cybercrime Squad.
“SIM
boxes can hold over 250 active SIM cards and will typically send out up to
150,000 messages per day containing phishing lures to various scams.”