Google is suing whoever is behind text message scam

Google has filed a federal lawsuit over a text-message scam but doesn’t know yet whom it is suing.

The company sued John Does in New York federal court on Nov. 12, seeking an injunction to stop a scam that tells recipients of text messages they can pay tolls or delivery fees with Google Pay.

All that’s known about the perpetrators is that they are a group of “foreign cybercriminals who have engaged in relentless phishing attacks against millions of innocent victims” the company dubbed the “Lighthouse Enterprise.” Google is harmed by the unauthorized use of its trademarks and services, the lawsuit says.

“In facilitating and executing these phishing campaigns, the Lighthouse Enterprise preys on the public trust in Google, a leader in the technology space, by misappropriating Google branding, including by using Google logos on fraudulent websites," the lawsuit says.

“The Lighthouse Enterprise also causes financial harm to Google, interferes with Google’s relationships with its users (and potential users), harms Google’s reputation, impairs the value of Google’s products and services, and forces Google to devote substantial resources to investigate and combat the Lighthouse Enterprise’s criminal activity.”

Over 20 days, about 200,000 fraudulent websites were created to carry out the scam. As many as 115 million credit cards may have been compromised in America, the lawsuit says.

Google filed its lawsuit under the federal racketeering law, alleging coordination among multiple actors to execute large-scale phishing attacks.

Laura Harris of King & Spalding represents Google.

“Disrupting the Lighthouse Enterprise will require persistence because the Enterprise can execute new phishing schemes with little effort, thanks to the Lighthouse software and coordination on Lighthouse discussion forums,” the lawsuit says.

“As the Enterprise detects threats to its infrastructure, it adapts its tactics and can shift its servers and domains within a matter of hours.”