{"id":623618,"date":"2026-04-23T16:18:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T16:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/623618\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T16:18:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T16:18:13","slug":"sms-blasters-that-mimic-cell-towers-seized-in-toronto-cybercrime-investigation-nanaimonewsnow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/623618\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018SMS blasters\u2019 that mimic cell towers seized in Toronto cybercrime investigation | NanaimoNewsNOW"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776961093_552_imageRedirect.jpeg\" class=\"object-fit-cover\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>A Toronto police officer&#8217;s uniform is seen during a press conference on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Cole Burston<\/p>\n<p>By The Canadian Press<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\tApr 23, 2026 | 8:06 AM\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>TORONTO \u2014 Toronto police say they have seized the first mobile \u201cSMS blasters\u201d known to have been used in Canada, in what they call an emerging public safety threat. <\/p>\n<p>Police say the mobile units mimic cell towers and send fraudulent text messages to connected phones with links to websites deigned to steal personal, financial or log-in information. <\/p>\n<p>Toronto police say three men from Markham and Hamilton have been arrested and charged with offences including fraud and mischief. <\/p>\n<p>Police say in November 2025, a \u201ccybersecurity partner\u201d alerted law enforcement to a mobile SMS blaster operating in downtown Toronto.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Toronto police officer&#8217;s uniform is seen during a press conference on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. THE CANADIAN&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":623619,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194291],"tags":[879,49,48,2467,2461,2468,2460,2462,2463,44,2464,2465,2466,82,3302],"class_list":["post-623618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-breaking-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-central-vancouver-island","tag-nanaimo","tag-nanaimo-breaking-news","tag-nanaimo-news","tag-nanaimo-news-now","tag-nanaimonewsnow","tag-news","tag-oceanside","tag-parksville","tag-qualicum","tag-sports","tag-toronto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=623618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/623619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=623618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=623618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=623618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}