How we're combatting AI scams with security, legislation and more

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You've seen the texts: fake package alerts, urgent bank warnings, panicked messages about your compromised account. Behind them is an AI-powered cybercrime network built to steal your passwords and credit cards. Today, we're fighting back.

We're filing a lawsuit to dismantle their infrastructure, coordinating with the FBI who will be taking law enforcement actions, and will continue to work with AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon to block these texts before they reach you. Litigation alone won't end this. So Google is also advocating for federal legislation to make these protections permanent.

Dismantling the "Outsider Enterprise"

Our civil lawsuit targets an organized cybercrime operation known as the "Outsider Enterprise." Based in China and coordinating through Telegram, this network distributes "phishing kits" that allow criminals to blast out fake text campaigns that look like they're from Google and other trusted brands.

The scale of the operation is massive:

• Hundreds of thousands of victims have been financially scammed with losses estimated in the millions.
• 9,000 fake websites and over 1 million fraudulent URLs connected to this group.
• 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.
• 2.5 million messages were sent by the Enterprise to Android users containing links to Outsider-generated websites over this two-week period.

Updating laws for AI-driven threats

As threats evolve, our laws must, too. That's why Google is advocating for seven bipartisan bills to fight back against scams, including those created with AI:

Keeping people safe on our products

We use AI-powered tools to fight AI-powered scams. This includes scam detection on Android to alert users to suspicious conversations and contacts during calls, and built-in messaging defenses that intercept more than 10 billion malicious messages monthly. By combining powerful security defenses with aggressive legal action, we're fighting against scammers and working to build a safer internet for everyone.

Read statements from our partners and members of Congress below:

FBI: "The criminals behind the Outsider Enterprise built a business out of impersonating trusted brands to defraud hundreds of thousands of victims. 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." - Brett Leatherman, Assistant Director Brett Leatherman of the FBI's Cyber Division

Member of Congress: "I have spent my career confronting criminal networks that prey on Americans - first as an FBI agent and federal prosecutor, and now in Congress. Today, those networks are using AI, spoofed messages and trusted brands to defraud families, seniors and small businesses at massive scale. This is not spam. It is organized transnational crime moving through our phones, and it demands a response as coordinated and aggressive as the threat itself. Google's action is a major step in disrupting one of these networks, and it proves a larger point: no company, agency or sector can fight this alone. My Stop SCAMS Act turns that same model of coordination into a national strategy - bringing law enforcement, government and industry together to disrupt these schemes, hold bad actors accountable and protect American families from the criminals targeting them." - Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick

Member of Congress: "International cybercriminals are robbing our families of their hard-earned savings, and we need a permanent solution to bring them to justice. My Stop SCAMS Act would bring every level of government together to aggressively crack down on scams and the organized crime rings behind them. I'm grateful to have Google's support and look forward to partnering with law enforcement and industry partners to stop cyber scams once and for all." - Congressman Josh Harder

AT&T: "We appreciate Google's teamwork and actions to help protect consumers. AT&T blocks or labels billions of robocalls and spam texts every month using AI, we help take down imposter websites and we work with the Industry Traceback Group to track spam calls to the source - leading directly to law enforcement actions. Fighting fraud requires collective defense, and each technology provider in our industry plays an important role." - Rich Baich, AT&T Chief Information Security Officer

T-Mobile: "At T-Mobile, protecting customers from evolving threats like AI-powered phishing and smishing scams is paramount. Scammers are moving faster and using more advanced tools, so we are meeting that challenge on multiple fronts. We're proud to work with Google, law enforcement and others across the industry to fight the bad guys, block scam traffic, disrupt malicious activity and help keep people safe. As threats grow more sophisticated, we'll continue investing in advanced technologies, network-level protections and partnerships that give customers greater confidence that the messages they receive are authentic." - Jeff Simon, T-Mobile EVP and Chief Information Officer

Verizon: "Verizon is focused on protecting our customers from fraudulent activity and securing our networks. As cybercriminals increasingly leverage advanced technologies like AI to execute sophisticated text-messaging scams, defeating these threats requires a unified, cross-industry response. We look forward to standing with Google, the telecom industry and federal law enforcement in this coordinated effort to dismantle malicious domains and disrupt global cybercrime operations. Technical defenses alone are not enough, which is why we think it is important to combine aggressive legal action and collaboration with federal and state governments and to help consumers secure themselves with the comprehensive protection they deserve." - Nasrin Rezai, Verizon Chief Information Security Officer

• Safety & Security