FBI, Google Disrupt AI Phishing Ring Tied to $1.9 Billion in Losses

3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Jun 17

Operation Ghost Hook seized Outsider Enterprise administration servers, phishing domains, a Shopify storefront and about $100,000, disrupting a China-based phishing service the FBI says enabled mass credential and card theft.
Google linked the network to more than 9,000 fake websites and over 1 million fraudulent URLs, alleging in a New York civil suit that the kits used AI tools including Gemini to build more convincing scam pages and messages.
FBI officials said the infrastructure was tied to 3.87 million stolen credit cards and $1.9 billion in losses, while Google detected 2.5 million messages sent to Android users over two weeks in May.
The scam typically began with texts posing as carriers, delivery firms or toll agencies, pushing victims to fake payment or login pages; Google said it is working with AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon to block more of those messages.