Google has filed a lawsuit against a Chinese cybercrime network called “Outsider” — a criminal service that allowed anyone to purchase phishing attacks starting at $88 a week. What makes this case unusual is that the criminals turned Google’s own Gemini AI against everyday people: they used Gemini to write convincing fake web pages designed to steal login credentials and financial information. In just two weeks, the network sent 2.5 million fraudulent text messages to people’s phones, resulting in hundreds of thousands of victims and an estimated $1.9 billion in losses across similar criminal platforms worldwide.
The Outsider network was more like a business than a gang. It had separate teams: developers who built over 290 fake page templates, data brokers who curated lists of targets, spammers who blasted out the text messages, and a Telegram channel where anyone could sign up and buy access. Google worked with AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon to block the fraudulent messages, and law enforcement ran “Operation Ghost Hook” to shut down the network’s infrastructure. The legal action is part of a broader effort to hold the operators personally accountable.