Google on Friday said it’s pursuing legal action against a Chinese cybercrime network, accusing it of using its Gemini artificial intelligence (AI) agent to send phishing text messages targeting Americans.
The network is said to be behind the development and management of a phishing-as-a-service (PhaaS) software kit called Outsider, per the tech giant.
“The operation weaponized Gemini to help generate fraudulent phishing pages and deploy massive SMS phishing (‘smishing’) attacks, often through text messages impersonating legitimate brands, alerting recipients of ‘brokerage account issues’ or insisting they are eligible for ‘rewards through their mobile phone carrier,'” Google said.
“The texts prompt users to click a link leading to a fraudulent website that mimics trusted institutions to steal personal and financial information.”
Google said it’s filing the lawsuit to dismantle the network’s infrastructure, and that it’s partnering with AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon to block such messages from reaching customers.
Outsider’s operations, according to the company, are coordinated through Telegram, with the network distributing phishing kits that make it possible for threat actors to push fake text messages that claim to be from trusted brands. These schemes are estimated to have victimized more than 100,000 people, leading to millions of dollars in losses.
In addition, 9,000 fake websites and more than 1.59 million fraudulent URLs tied to the phishing service have been identified between November 14, 2025, and April 14, 2026. In a two-week period from May 18 to June 1, 2026, Outside was responsible for 55,000 spam texts flagged by Android users.
During the same timeframe, 2.5 million messages were sent by the network to Android users containing links to Outsider-generated websites. For as little as $88 a week, the kit allows criminals to create fraudulent websites, launch phishing campaigns, and steal victims’ credit card numbers, bank account credentials, and personal data. A license can be purchased via a “self-service ordering bot” on Telegram (@OutsiderCodeBot).
The service also offers more than 290 pre-built templates that impersonate legitimate websites of trusted institutions, real-time keystroke logging, and a performance dashboard to track the effectiveness of a campaign.
“As if Outsider’s plug-and-play simplicity were not alarming enough, the Enterprise has made the tool even more powerful by providing step-by-step instructions on how Outsider can weaponize AI-generated code,” Google said in its complaint filed in Manhattan federal court.
“Following those instructions, Enterprise members can use AI tools to generate programming code for a shell website, and copy and paste that code into Outsider to transform that shell into a fraudulent site that can be used to steal personal or financial information from their victims.”
Google said the prompts for Gemini…
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