Google Takes Aim at Chinese Cybercrime Network Using AI for Scams

The tech giant is seeking to dismantle the infrastructure behind the alleged massive AI-powered cybercrime operation, which has financially scammed hundreds of thousands of victims.

Google has filed a lawsuit against a Chinese cybercrime network called Outsider Enterprise, which allegedly uses AI to send scam text messages impersonating Google and other brands. The group has financially scammed “hundreds of thousands of victims” with losses “estimated in the millions,” according to Google.

Outsider Enterprise deployed 9,000 fake websites, one million fraudulent web domains, and 2.5 million texts sent to Android users in a two-week period, according to Google. The company said, “55,000 spam texts were flagged by Android users in just two weeks this past May — that’s more than two text spam complaints a minute.”

Google uses “AI-powered tools to fight AI-powered scams,” which enable the company to detect scams and alert users of suspicious calls and text messages, leading to the interception of more than 10 billion scam messages a month. The company has been collaborating with AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon to block the scam text messages, and is coordinating with the FBI.

The FBI spokesperson told TechCrunch that the bureau, in coordination with Google and Lumen's Black Lotus Labs, seized several domains used by the cybercriminals, as well as Shopify storefronts and accounts used to test the operation’s phishing service.

The Outsider Enterprise operation is made up of several groups of cybercriminals: those who develop and maintain the phishing software and website templates; those who supply lists of targets curated from public records, social media, and data breaches; a “spammer group” that provides tools and the infrastructure to send scam texts in bulk, which includes smartphone banks, SIM cards, and modems; and those who monetize the stolen credentials and launder the stolen money.

The cybercriminals have stolen “at least 36,000 payment cards issued by financial institutions in 95 countries,” according to Google. The company accused the people behind Outsider Enterprise of impersonating Google and its brands, of infringing its copyright, of racketeering activities, of committing wire fraud, and false advertising.

With the lawsuit, Google is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, and an order to stop the criminals from carrying out their activities. The company said the Outsider software has been used to create over a million phishing websites to swindle innocent victims out of millions of dollars.