Google Sues Global Cybercrime Ring Over Massive Smishing Campaign: Report

• In mid-October, Google said that the threat of online scams and fraud “is an ever-present reality in our connected world, and the volume of scams is only growing.”
• According to Google, the crime group has stolen between 12.7 million and 115 million credit cards in the U.S. alone.
• CNBC added that Google is looking towards dismantling the group and the “Lighthouse” toolkit.

Alphabet Inc.’s (GOOG, GOOGL) Google on Wednesday reportedly filed a lawsuit against an international cybercrime group responsible for orchestrating a large-scale SMS phishing, commonly known as “smishing,” campaign.

According to a CNBC report, the group, referred to by some cyber researchers as the “Smishing Triad,” operates primarily out of China, as per Google. It leverages a phishing-as-a-service toolkit named “Lighthouse” to create and launch attacks using fraudulent texts.

“They were preying on users’ trust in reputable brands such as E-ZPass, the U.S. Postal Service, and even us as Google,” Google general counsel Halimah DeLaine Prado told CNBC.

“The ‘Lighthouse’ enterprise or software creates a bunch of templates in which you create fake websites to pull users’ information,” DeLaine Prado said.

Retail sentiment on Alphabet dipped to ‘bearish’ from ‘neutral’ territory compared to a day ago, with message volumes at ‘low’ levels, according to data from Stocktwits. Shares of the company were up 0.6% in premarket trading on Wednesday.

Google’s View On Scams

In mid-October, Google said that the threat of online scams and fraud “is an ever-present reality in our connected world, and the volume of scams is only growing.” The company noted that nearly 60% of people globally have experienced a scam in the last year.

Google has rolled out several features as part of its efforts to stop scams, including new protections in Google Messages, such as safer links. 

The company said that scammers often use text messages to send malicious links designed to steal information. If Google Messages suspects a message is spam, it will warn the user when clicking on any links within it and stop them from visiting the potentially harmful website.

Google said it also has a “Key Verifier” tool to protect users from impersonators and fraudsters. “It works by allowing you to scan a QR code for your trusted contacts, adding extra assurance that your end-to-end encrypted messages are truly private with the right person on the other end,” Google said.

Details Of The Lawsuit

The report added that Google is looking towards dismantling the group and the “Lighthouse” toolkit. The company has filed the lawsuit under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, the Lanham Act, and the Computer Fraud and Abuse (CFAA) Act.

According to Google, the crime group has stolen between 12.7 million and 115 million credit cards in the U.S. alone.

“The idea is to prevent its continued proliferation, deter others from doing something similarly, as well as protect both the users and brands that were misused in these websites from future harm,” DeLaine Prado told CNBC.

The report noted that Google said it has found over 100 website templates created by “Lighthouse.” These templates have used Google’s branding on their sign-in screens, leading the users to think that these sites were legitimate.

DeLaine Prado said that internal and third-party investigations found that a Telegram channel was used to recruit more members, share advice, and test and maintain the “Lighthouse” software.

Shares of Alphabet have jumped nearly 63% in the last 12 months.

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