The Home Office’s flagship Crime and Policing Bill aims to ban SIM farms, with limited exceptions. The bill, introduced in Parliament on February 25, 2025, would make it illegal for a person to supply or possess a SIM farm.
SIM farms are not currently regulated, and they are inexpensive and easy to purchase online. SIM farms are used to circumvent legitimate communications channels, send scam texts, conduct robocalling campaigns, and make live calls to trick victims into transferring money out of their accounts.
The Proposed Legislation
The bill defines a SIM card as a “removable physical subscriber identity module,” and it defines a SIM farm as
a device which is capable of using five or more SIM cards simultaneously or interchangeably, for the purposes of–
(b) sending messages to, or receiving messages from, such telephone numbers. (Clause 82.)
The bill would make it illegal for a person to possess a SIM farm without good reason or lawful authority. As detailed in the bill, good reasons for possessing a SIM farm include providing broadcasting services; operating or maintaining a public transport service or an electronic communications network; and tracking or monitoring freight. (Clause 80.)
The bill would also make it an offense to supply a SIM farm to another person. However, a person could assert a defense under the act if they supplied a SIM farm in the course of a business and took reasonable steps to satisfy themselves that the person receiving the SIM farm had good reasons or lawful authority to possess it. Additionally, before supplying the SIM farm, a supplier claiming this defense would need to record specified data, including the date the SIM farm was supplied; a description of the SIM farm; the name and address of the recipient; and the steps the supplier took to determine that the recipient had good reasons or lawful authority for possessing the SIM farm. (Clause 81.)
Background
The ban aims to “raise the barrier to entry for those engaging in illegal activities, making it more difficult for them to obtain and exploit SIM farms for fraud,” according to the Home Office, the lead government agency on crime. During the consultation process with stakeholders, some respondents opined that it would be better to license SIM farms than to ban them. But the government disagrees, stating, “our view is that a criminal offence would be more proportionate in line with the criminal nature of the activity that SIM farms can facilitate, and that licensing would actually be more burdensome for businesses than an exemption for legitimate uses.”
The government acknowledges that a ban will not completely stop the use of SIM farms for criminal activity. But it notes that a ban would enable law enforcement to detect and disrupt the use of SIM farms, which may also lead to the prosecution of individuals for other offenses facilitated by the use of SIM farms, such as fraud or money laundering.
The 2023 Fraud Strategy policy paper from the Home Office notes that fraud accounts for 40 percent of all estimated crime across England and Wales, with short messaging service (SMS, also known as texts) being a common method used to target the public. The Fraud Strategy paper states it has “identified no legitimate use for SIM farms.”
The Crime and Policing Bill is a wide-ranging proposal designed to increase police efficiency, boost transparency, and strengthen public confidence in law enforcement. It addresses several offenses, including possessing and distributing AI-generated materials involving child sexual abuse and encouraging another person to inflict serious self-harm.
Clare Feikert, Law Library of Congress
April 10, 2025
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