Three men holed up in two Sydney apartments allegedly sent more than 80 million fraudulent text messages as part of an elaborate SMS phishing scam.
Police smashed in the doors of two units in Burwood on February 15, after detectives working with a telecommunications company allegedly triangulated the location of special electronic devices which are used to send out bulk text messages.
Detectives allegedly found three Subscriber Identity Module boxes inside one of the units in Sydney’s Inner West, where police also arrested two men, aged 43 and 37.
The black boxes are similar in size to a desktop hard drive, with 64 transmission aerials.
In the second unit, police arrested a 35-year-old man and allegedly seized a large amount of identity information, SIM cards, cannabis and eight mobile phones.
Police allege the tens of millions of texts sent by the trio tried to trick recipients into believing the messages were from well-known, major Australian companies and institutions.
Links in the messages allegedly contained a fraudulent link, which directed victims to an illegitimate website where cybercriminals would try to steal money, police allege.
The older men were both charged with network and identity offences.
The 35-year-old was charged with similar offences and possession of cannabis.
All three were refused bail and will appear in Burwood Local Court on March 1.
Scammers stole almost $400m from Australians between January and September last year, latest data from the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission showed.
Investigations are continuing.
