Google fires sueball at alleged Chinese phishers over AI-powered fraud ops
Jump to main content
Search
REG AD
security
Google fires sueball at alleged Chinese phishers over AI-powered fraud ops
Telegram-based 'Outsider Enterprise' accused of sending millions of scam texts and impersonating trusted brands
Carly Page
Carly<br>Page
Published<br>fri 12 Jun 2026 // 13:14 UTC
Google has sued an alleged China-based cybercrime operation it says used AI-powered phishing kits to blast out millions of scam text messages and funnel victims to fake websites designed to steal passwords, payment cards, and other sensitive information.<br>The complaint targets a group Google refers to as the "Outsider Enterprise," which the company describes as a sprawling criminal network that operates on Telegram and supplies phishing tools to other fraudsters.<br>According to Google's filing, the operation has been linked to more than 9,000 fraudulent websites, over one million malicious URLs, and scams that have allegedly defrauded hundreds of thousands of people.
REG AD
The group's biz model centers on distributing phishing kits that enable criminals to impersonate Google and other trusted brands through large-scale text message campaigns, Google claims. Victims are directed to fraudulent websites designed to steal login credentials, payment card details, and other sensitive information, it adds.
REG AD
Google's allegation is not that AI is somehow breaking into people's phones, but rather that the technology appears to have been used to help churn out phishing content, allowing the operation to push more scams, more quickly, and with less effort.<br>Android users flagged more than 55,000 spam texts linked to the operation during a two-week period in May, we're told, while the company detected roughly 2.5 million messages containing links to Outsider-controlled websites sent to Android devices during the same time frame.
MORE CONTEXT
ChatGPT blindly trusts browser content, turning the page into a payload
Nearly half of UK businesses pwned last year as phishing keeps doing the job like it's 2005
Hundreds of orgs compromised daily in Microsoft device code phishing attacks
US cybercrime losses pass $20B for first time as AI boosts online fraud
The lawsuit forms part of a broader effort involving federal law enforcement and US telecom providers. Google said it is coordinating with the FBI, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon to disrupt the infrastructure behind the campaigns and block malicious messages before they reach users.<br>"The criminals behind the Outsider Enterprise built a business out of impersonating trusted brands to defraud hundreds of thousands of victims," said Brett Leatherman, assistant director of the FBI's Cyber Division.<br>"Criminals increasingly use AI to make fraud like this more convincing and harder to detect. Together with partners like Google, we can disrupt criminal networks in ways no single organization could on its own."<br>The lawsuit may never put the alleged operators in a courtroom, but it could still help pull apart the infrastructure behind the campaigns. ®
google<br>ai<br>phishing<br>telegram<br>security
REG AD
OFFBEAT
World Cup AI predictor now lets users ask daft what-ifs
Spoiler: It doesn't end well for Team Register
Networks
AWS rolls the dice for faster, more efficient networking
Honey, I flattened the datacenter network
ZTE wins three Selular Award 2026 honors for AI-powered network innovation
PARTNER CONTENT: Recognized for breakthrough achievements in FWA, Network Ecosystem, and Native AI Baseband, ZTE solidifies its role as a key driver of Indonesia’s 5G-Advanced and AI economic growth
Databases
NHS patients can't opt out of Palantir's data platform – but their hospital can
Minister says trusts can go it alone on procurement as Parliament mulls February 2027 FDP contract renewal
PAAS AND IAAS
Graviton 5 impresses, but please, for the love of all that's holy, stop calling them 'AI chips'
AWS better at running chip fabs than their mouths
offbeat
XP-era Windows spotted haunting London's driverless railway
A blast from the past greets commuters
MOST POPULAR
security
GitHub nukes 70+ Microsoft repos, breaks CI/CD pipelines, following suspected worm infections
public sector
GOV.UK goes Dutch on payments as it dumps Stripe
Security
Angry bug hunter with Microsoft beef drops new Windows 0-day
Security
Signal says UK plan to scan devices for nude images 'endangers us all'
SECURITY
Every employee’s password was stored in a single Excel file
EVENTS
Thriving Through Volatility: The Everpure Advantage in an Uncertain Market
Learn how a consumption-based operating model provides flexibility, improves efficiency, and brings predictability to infrastructure investments.
From Prompt to Exploit: How LLMs Are Changing API Attacks
Modern applications are API-driven, interconnected, and often over-permissioned, making them an ideal target for AI-assisted attacks.
Architecting the Future: Unlocking...