Google sues Chinese scammers using Gemini AI for fraud

The company is also promoting legislation to fight the potential of AI to create 'massive' scams.

Google sued a Chinese cybercrime network for using its Gemini AI to perpetuate a "massive" scam operation, the company announced . The search giant has coordinated with the FBI, along with carriers AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon to dismantle the operation. Google is also advocating for updated laws to deal with AI-driven attacks, saying the technology has the potential to "supercharge" threats.

"This is our first coordinated effort and lawsuit and that speaks to the breadth of impact that this particular scam has," Google's general counsel DeLaine Prado told The New York Times in an interview.

In its lawsuit, Google accused a Chinese organization called Outsider Enterprise of employing its technology and brand to commit fraud, requesting a restraining order so that the network can be shut down. The group allegedly used Gemini to create websites imitating Google, YouTube and government organizations including the US Postal Service and New York's E-ZPass toll service. Google didn't reveal what internal measures it took to address the issue, given it is in control of Gemini.

The scam has impacted "hundreds of thousands of victims," Google said, with losses estimated in the millions. The group created 9,000 fake websites and one million fraudulent URLs, while creating 55,000 spam texts flagged by Android users and 2.5 million messages with links to fraudulent websites over just a two-week period.

Google notes that all of this is from a single operation, which is why it's advocating for no less than seven bipartisan bills to curtail future AI scams. Those include the "National Strategy for Combatting Scams Act," "Strategic Task Force on Scam Prevention Act," "STOP Scams Against Seniors Act" and the AI Plan act. "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," said congressman Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pennsylvania).

"Criminals increasingly use AI to make fraud like this more convincing and harder to detect," added FBI assistant director Brett Leatherman. "And we need a permanent solution to bring them to justice."