You have probably seen the texts. A fake alert from your bank. A message claiming your package is stuck. An urgent warning that your Google account has been compromised. These are not random nuisances. They are part of a large, organized cybercrime operation that uses artificial intelligence to steal passwords and financial information at industrial scale.
Google has now announced a civil lawsuit against the group behind many of these attacks, while simultaneously coordinating with the FBI on law enforcement action and working with AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon to block the texts before they ever reach your phone. The move reflects a growing recognition across the tech and telecom industries that no single company can fight this alone.
Beyond the lawsuit, Google is also pushing for new federal legislation. The company argues that existing laws were not built for AI-powered scams and that Congress needs to act to make protections permanent. This combination of legal action, industry coordination, and legislative advocacy is one of the most aggressive responses to text-based fraud seen from a major tech company to date.
Who is behind the scams
The lawsuit targets what Google calls the “Outsider Enterprise,” a cybercrime network based in China that operates largely through Telegram. The group sells so-called phishing kits, ready-made tools that let criminals quickly launch fake text campaigns impersonating Google, major banks, delivery services, and other trusted brands.
The numbers involved are staggering:
- Hundreds of thousands of people have been financially defrauded, with total losses estimated in the millions of dollars
- The network is connected to roughly 9,000 fake websites and over one million fraudulent URLs
- Android users flagged 55,000 spam texts from this group in just two weeks in May, more than two complaints per minute
- The Enterprise sent 2.5 million messages to Android users containing links to its fake websites during that same two-week window
Brett Leatherman, Assistant Director of the FBI’s Cyber Division, confirmed the bureau’s involvement: “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.”
The push for new legislation
Google is backing seven bipartisan bills currently in Congress, each targeting a different aspect of the scam problem. The company’s position is that laws written before the rise of generative AI are no longer sufficient.
The bills Google supports include:
- National Strategy for Combatting Scams Act
- Strategic Task Force on Scam Prevention Act
- STOP Scams Against Seniors Act
- AI Plan Act
- Stopping Cross-border Attacks and Manipulation (SCAM) Act
- Artificial Intelligence Public Awareness and Education Campaign Act
- Stop Schemes, Cyber Fraud, Abuse, Manipulation, and Swindles (SCAMS) Act
Senator Rick Scott, chair of the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, pointed to the National Strategy for Combating Scams Act as a way to bring federal agencies together and eliminate the fragmented approach that currently leaves many Americans unprotected. Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick, a former FBI agent and federal prosecutor, was direct in his assessment: “This is not spam. It is organized transnational crime moving through our phones.”
How Google’s own products are fighting back
On the product side, Google is using AI to counter AI. Android now includes scam detection that alerts users to suspicious conversations and contacts during phone calls. The platform’s built-in messaging tools block more than 10 billion malicious messages every month.
The major carriers are running parallel efforts. AT&T says it blocks or labels billions of robocalls and spam texts monthly using its own AI systems. T-Mobile has committed to continued investment in network-level protections. Verizon emphasized that technical defenses alone are not enough, which is why cross-industry coordination matters.
The broader point all of these companies are making is that scammers are now operating like organized businesses, with supply chains, distribution networks, and specialized tools. Stopping them requires the same kind of coordination on the defensive side.