Google is trying to take down a group sending you all those spammy texts

If you’ve ever received a spammy text falsely alerting you to an unpaid toll or failed delivery, it might have come from a so-called Phishing-as-a-Service network that Google is now trying to take down. 

Google filed suit against several unnamed defendants it says make up an enterprise called Lighthouse. The company argues in a new complaint that Lighthouse makes a “‘phishing for dummies’ kit for cybercriminals who could not otherwise execute a large-scale phishing campaign.” 

The group would allegedly charge a monthly licensing fee to provide SMS or e-commerce software with hundreds of templates for websites closely resembling financial institutions or government-affiliated organizations that could trick consumers into entering sensitive details. In just 20 days, Google alleges, Lighthouse was used to spin up 200,000 fraudulent websites to attract over a million potential victims. It estimates that somewhere between 12.7 million and 115 million credit cards in the US were compromised by the scam.

While many people are familiar with the kind of spammy texts Lighthouse-enabled services allegedly help blast, the lawsuit details what happens after someone actually clicks on …read more