This is the platform that Google claims is behind an “amazing” text scam.

Chinese cyber criminals are Fraud the world. Over the past few years, these scammers have sent millions of dollars Fraudulent text messages-mostly Impersonating USPS Or road toll collection companies – and Allegedly They earned more than a billion dollars from their brazen schemes. SMS scammer groups pose a prolific and annoying threat to millions of people.

Now, in one of the most high-profile actions against scammers to date, Google is filing a lawsuit against alleged members of a “cruel” Chinese Phishing The group claims to have tried to scam people in more than 120 countries around the world. In a A civil lawsuit was filed today In the US Southern District of New York, Google alleges that 25 unnamed individuals worked as part of the “Lighthouse” fraud network and targeted millions of Americans with text messages in a “astonishing” operation.

In addition to “stealing” information and money from people globally, the Lighthouse Enterprise, sometimes known as part of “The phishing triadThe company’s lawsuit also alleges that it “preys on the public’s trust in Google” by using its logos on fraudulent websites and abusing its systems and technology. “With fraud on the rise, it is largely due to the operation of organized crime networks, most of which are transnational,” Halima Delén Prado, Google’s general counsel, claims in an interview with WIRED. “The Lighthouse network has enormous reach.”

Al Manara Group is One of several Chinese-language phishing groups that have emerged in recent years. On a large scale, the groups send fraudulent messages to thousands of people using SMS, Google’s RCS, or Apple’s iMessage. Each fraudulent text impersonates an organization – such as delivery companies, banks or law enforcement services – and includes a link to a fraudulent website. If someone enters their details into these fake websites, scammers can collect their personal information and banking details in real time. Some groups are also known to create fake online shopping sites that can also steal data.

Central to Operation Lighthouse is a scam program called Lighthouse. This software is developed by cybercriminals and then sold as a subscription service to less technically capable scammers who use it to send fraudulent text messages. Scammers can purchase “weekly, monthly, seasonal, annual, or lifetime” subscriptions to use the software, Google’s lawsuit alleges.

“The Lighthouse platform is a phishing tool used by cybercriminals to steal bank and card information,” says Halit Alptekin, chief intelligence officer at the security company. “It offers ready-made phishing templates, fake websites, and back-end management tools, enabling the collection of usernames, passwords, and one-time codes. It also supports large-scale message delivery across iMessage and RCS (Rich Communication Services) channels in Google Messages instead of just SMS.” Prodaft, which tracks Chinese speakers Phishing ecosystem. “It uses advanced anti-evasion techniques such as IP and user agent-based filtering, time-limited URLs, and domain rotation to hamper detection,” says Alptekin.