São Paulo Civil Police arrested a 26-year-old man on Monday (February 23) after an investigation dubbed "Operation Erbs Fake" traced fraudulent SMS activity to an apartment in the Aclimação neighborhood of central São Paulo.
The suspect, Moacir do Carmo Magalhães, was caught operating clandestine telecommunications equipment designed to hijack cellphone signals and blast out SMS messages containing malicious links, a technique commonly associated with fake base station (IMSI catcher/stingray-style) attacks. According to the police report, Magalhães informally confessed to operating the equipment.
Officers gained access to the apartment building with the help of the building's property manager. Agents from Anatel (Brazil's National Telecommunications Agency) were also on scene and confirmed that the equipment was actively interfering with legitimate cellular carrier signals.
Anatel technicians used specialized signal-tracking equipment to pinpoint apartment 303 as the source of the rogue transmissions, confirming it was the base of operations for the fraudulent SMS blasts.
Inside the apartment, police found Magalhães with the devices still in operation. Authorities seized two cellphones, a laptop, a telecommunications antenna, a transmitter, and a vehicle. All seized items were sent for forensic analysis.
