"If you have a mobile phone, you have no doubt seen some dodgy texts. They might declare that you have an overdue road toll, and urge you to "Click here to pay." Or maybe they inform you that there's a package waiting, but the address is wrong; "Click here to fix it." More often than not, these texts are scams. The websites you are directed to are fakes, often decked out with a misappropriated Google logo to trick you into typing in sensitive payment or sign-in information. It's called a "phishing" attack or "smishing" when it's done via SMS."
"On Wednesday, the tech giant went on the offensive, filing a lawsuit with the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York targeting what it alleges is a sprawling criminal organization based in China called "Lighthouse" that provides software and support to online scammers. The lawsuit alleges that the Lighthouse network runs a "Phishing-as-a-Service" operation, selling a software kit that offers hundreds of fake website templates to would-be scammers."
"Halimah DeLaine Prado, Google's general counsel, said over 100 of the templates to make fake websites have included the company's logos in places where people were directed to sign in or make payments, creating the illusion of legitimacy. "We are a global company. This hits all of our users," she said. "We're concerned about the damage to user trust and not knowing what websites are safe.""
Mobile phone users receive scam SMS messages posing as toll notices or package alerts that urge recipients to click fraudulent links. Those links lead to fake websites that mimic legitimate services and frequently display misappropriated Google logos to capture payment or sign-in credentials. Google filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against a China-based criminal network called Lighthouse. The complaint alleges Lighthouse operates a Phishing-as-a-Service, selling hundreds of fake website templates, nearly 200 of which mimicked U.S. sites, and that the network targeted victims in over 120 countries and swindled millions.
Read at www.npr.org
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