AI-powered phishing empire Outsider Enterprise dismantled in multi-agency takedown
The FBI, with Google and Black Lotus Labs, dismantled Outsider Enterprise, a Chinese AI‑powered phishing‑as‑a‑service that operated thousands of fake sites and over a million fraudulent URLs to steal credit card data and passwords via AI‑assisted SMS campaigns impersonating trusted brands. Authorities seized admin servers, a Shopify storefront, a Telegram bot, and about $100,000 in USDT, while thousands of domains were redirected to an FBI splash page. Google reports 2.5 million SMS messages sent in two weeks, hundreds of thousands of victims affected, and roughly 3.8 million credit card records stolen, contributing to about $1.9 billion in losses. Google filed a civil suit and urged anti‑scam legislation (Stop SCAMS Act); Android defenses block more than 10 billion malicious messages monthly.
