'Beyond the financial risk, there are real public safety implications': Hackers crawled Canadian streets with SMS blasters, attacking every target in sight — causing 13 million network disruptions and hacking thousands of devices

A roaming cyberattack forced mobile phones to connect to fake networks

by · TechRadar

News By Efosa Udinmwen published 1 May 2026

(Image credit: UK Finance Via The Guardian)

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  • Fake mobile towers forced phones to disconnect from legitimate networks nearby
  • Millions of disruptions revealed how easily cellular connections can be manipulated
  • Attackers reached thousands of devices simultaneously without telecom infrastructure

Authorities in Canada have disclosed details of a mobile cyber operation that relied on SMS blasters mounted inside vehicles moving through urban areas.

Three suspects drove around downtown Toronto with these hidden devices running in their cars, impersonating cell towers.

The Toronto Police Service confirmed that this marked the first operation of its kind ever recorded in the country, with the campaign causing 13 million network disruptions in total.

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How fake cell towers manipulate connections

Investigators say the devices mimicked legitimate cellular base stations, forcing nearby phones to connect automatically due to stronger signal proximity.

Once connected to the rogue system, phones received messages that appeared to originate from credible institutions.

These messages often directed users to fraudulent websites designed to extract credentials or trigger unauthorized payments.

Because the communication bypassed standard telecom safeguards, typical protections such as carrier-level filtering became ineffective, allowing the attackers to deliver smishing campaigns directly to inboxes at scale.

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