Overview
- Filed Nov. 12 in the Southern District of New York, the suit names 25 unnamed defendants and brings claims under RICO, the Lanham Act, and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act while seeking temporary and permanent injunctions.
- Google alleges the Lighthouse service scaled text‑message phishing across more than 120 countries, with filings citing research estimating 12.7 million to 115 million U.S. credit or banking card details stolen.
- Lighthouse is described as subscription software with more than 600 templates impersonating over 400 organizations—including 116 using Google branding—and supporting SMS, iMessage, and RCS delivery with anti‑evasion tactics like domain rotation and time‑limited URLs.
- Investigators say the enterprise coordinates on public Telegram channels with roughly 2,500 members and spans roles including data brokers, spammers, and theft groups; Google says it has spent hundreds of hours monitoring and remediating related activity.
- Google says it is the first company to take legal action against SMS phishing scams, is seeking court orders to compel broader takedowns, and is backing bipartisan bills targeting robocalls, scam compounds, and elder fraud; many alleged actors are based outside the U.S., complicating enforcement.