Google Sues Chinese Operators of Lighthouse Phishing Ring

Google filed a lawsuit on Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against 25 unnamed individuals believed to be operating from China, accusing them of running a massive SMS phishing operation known as Lighthouse. The suit targets a phishing-as-a-service platform that has victimized more than one million people across 121 countries through fraudulent text messages impersonating trusted entities like the U.S. Postal Service, EZPass toll services, and Google itself.

The defendants, described in the complaint as part of a cybercriminal network sometimes called the Smishing Triad, allegedly provide a subscription-based toolkit that enables less sophisticated fraudsters to launch large-scale smishing campaigns. For fees ranging from weekly to permanent access, users receive hundreds of pre-made website templates, backend management tools, and infrastructure to send deceptive texts. These messages typically alert recipients to issues such as unpaid tolls, stuck packages requiring redelivery fees, or account problems, prompting them to click links that lead to fake sites designed to capture personal data.

Once victims enter information on the spoofed...