Chinese cybercrime operation that used AI to scam ‘hundreds of thousands of victims’ sued by Google
Key takeaways
- Google is suing to dismantle the infrastructure behind an alleged massive AI-powered cybercrime operation.
- 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.
- The company said it has been collaborating with AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon to block the scam text messages, and said it is coordinating with the FBI.
Why this matters: a development in AI with implications for how people work, create, and decide.
Google is suing to dismantle the infrastructure behind an alleged massive AI-powered cybercrime operation.
On Friday, the tech giant announced a lawsuit against an alleged Chinese cybercrime network called Outsider Enterprise, which Google says uses AI in its campaigns to send scam text messages impersonating Google and other brands to steal passwords and credit card numbers.
Outsider Enterprise has financially scammed “hundreds of thousands of victims” with losses “estimated in the millions.” The group 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.