Police alerts about new SMS "blaster" scams used for smishing

Police warn people of SMS "blasters" after a man was jailed for over a year in prison for using a blaster to send out fraudulent messages.

The so-called SMS ‘blaster’ allows criminals to send out texts without needing a person’s number and while avoiding anti-spam measures.

The blaster will typically lure devices away from legitimate networks to an attacker’s radio device with a stronger signal. Blasters allow crooks to control every part of the message, so they can alter it to resemble one that could have been sent from a trusted organization.

This week, Ruichen Xiong, a student from China, was jailed for more than a year for operating an SMS blaster while driving around London using the tool between 22nd and 27th March 2025. He managed to send messages to tens of thousands of potential victims via an SMS Blaster transported around in the boot of a black Honda CR-V.

A police officer, who was sent to arrest him, received a text on his phone allegedly from HM Revenue and Customs, asking for details to process a refund.

These messages typically include a fraudulent link that requests personal details, which are then passed on to fraudsters.

In 2024, a man was arrested in Taiwan for driving around in a van with an SMS blaster and sending over 100,000 SMS phishing texts an hour to people living in Bangkok. The messages stated: "Your 9,268 points are about to expire! Hurry up and redeem your gift now."

Similar attacks are known as ‘smishing’ – where victims are tricked into revealing personal information using text messages purporting to be from reputable companies.

But how do you prevent these attacks? Google advises Android users to disable 2G, while iPhone users can filter messages from unknown contacts. In the US and the UK, users can forward suspicious messages to 7726 for further investigation.

“Over the previous two years, Virgin Media O2 has blocked more than 168 million fraudulent texts from reaching customer phones and we’re flagging more 50 million suspected scam calls each month.

“However, as this conviction shows, criminals will stop at nothing when targeting the public. If in doubt, don’t engage with calls and texts from unknown users and report them to 7726 for free so we can help keep you safe from scams,” Murray Mackenzie, Director of Fraud Prevention at Virgin Media O2, said.