- Google has filed a lawsuit to dismantle a Chinese cybercrime network using its Gemini AI for phishing scams.
- The “Outsider” service sent over 2.5 million smishing texts in two weeks, victimizing over 100,000 people.
- For $88 a week, criminals could use the kit to generate fake sites via AI and steal financial data.
- Major U.S. telecom carriers AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon are partnering to block the fraudulent messages.
On June 12, 2026, Google announced it is pursuing legal action against a Chinese cybercrime enterprise in Manhattan federal court, accusing it of weaponizing the company’s Gemini AI agent to launch phishing attacks on Americans. The network managed a phishing-as-a-service kit called Outsider, which generated fraudulent websites and massive SMS phishing campaigns.
“The operation weaponized Gemini to help generate fraudulent phishing pages and deploy massive SMS phishing (‘smishing’) attacks,” Google said. Consequently, these texts impersonated legitimate brands to steal personal and financial information from victims.
Between November 2025 and April 2026, investigators identified 9,000 fake websites and 1.59 million fraudulent URLs linked to the service. Furthermore, during a two-week period in May and June 2026, the network was responsible for 55,000 spam texts flagged by Android users alone.
The Outsider Enterprise operated through interconnected groups, including developers, data brokers, and spammers collaborating via Telegram. For as little as $88 a week, purchased through a Telegram bot, criminals could access the kit’s 290+ pre-built templates and AI-generated code features.
“As if Outsider’s plug-and-play simplicity were not alarming enough, the Enterprise has made the tool even more powerful by providing step-by-step instructions on how Outsider can weaponize AI-generated code,” Google stated in its complaint. The scams are estimated to have caused millions of dollars in losses.
Meanwhile, Google is partnering with AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon to block such messages. “Criminals increasingly use AI to make fraud like this more convincing and harder to detect,” said FBI Cyber Division assistant director Brett Leatherman.
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