Ban text scammers from buying Sim cards without ID, says policing chief

High street stores must be barred from allowing text scammers to buy phones and Sim cards without proof of ID, says the new police watchdog.

In an interview with The Telegraph,  Andy Cooke, the new HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary, said the failure to crack down on “burner” phones and Sim cards that can be freely bought on the high street without ID was fuelling “serious criminality”.

He said the registration of a person’s ID for any purchase of a mobile phone or Sim card should be a legal requirement to help police curb the surge in fraud and combat county lines drug gangs who use the phones to run their illegal businesses.

“You should not be able to have a ‘burner’ phone. There should be proper records in relation to purchases of phones and who has that phone number,” said Mr Cooke, the former chief constable of Merseyside, one of Britain’s biggest forces.

“It’s much harder to identify someone. Attributing phones to individuals can be very difficult. Policing should not have to go to those levels to do that. Registration of mobile phones should be part of modern life.”

As many as 36 million people are afflicted by text scams on their phones every month, with an estimated 6.5 million of those receiving more than 10 every month, according to polling data.

Text scams almost doubled since 2019

Text scams have almost doubled from 20,109 in 2019 to 39,364, with losses up from £134 million to £150.3 million. Many of the texts claim to be from trusted organisations like the NHS, Royal Mail or major high street banks.