Google is targeting fraudsters exploiting the AI ​​Hype.

Tech giant Google filed a lawsuit on Monday in US District Court in San Jose, California, alleging Facebook used copyright laws and hype around artificial intelligence to deceive the public.

According to court documents posted online by Reuters, the fraudsters used social media and fake ads using the Google logo to trick victims into thinking they had downloaded the latest version of Bard, the Google logo. The presentation is just what it says – two unnamed people or groups.

“The first sought to use public enthusiasm for generative AI to spread malware,” the company said in a post. “The second tool is the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which has created thousands of blatantly fraudulent copyright notices to the detriment of business competitors.”

In the file, Google said that the fraudsters introduced themselves as “Google AI”, “AIGoogle”, “aiGoogle”, “AIGoogle.Plus”, “AIGoogle Bard FB”, “AIGoogleBard” on Facebook. Along with the misleading ads, the fake Google social media posts included fake emails and domain names, including garrd-ai.info and gg-bard-ai.com.

“To increase the likelihood of confusion, the defendants use Google's proprietary letters and colors similar to Google's multi-color sequence, as well as images that appear to be from Google Talk events or feature Google CEO Sundar Pichai,” Google's lawyers said.

The lawsuit was filed to disrupt the scheme, raise public awareness and stop the fraudsters from doing more damage, Google said. Google is requesting a jury trial against the defendants.

“Today's actions are part of our ongoing legal strategy to protect consumers and small businesses, and to establish important legal precedents in new areas of innovation,” Google said. “Clear laws against fraud, swindling and harassment are essential – no matter how new the setting – and we're committed to doing our part to protect people who use the internet.”

A Google spokesperson declined to comment on the case, instead referring Decrypt to the company's filing on the lawsuit.

Instead of running Bard, victims run an installer for malicious code.

“The malware is designed to send and receive users' social media login credentials to the defendants, who then use the stolen credentials to access social media accounts,” Google's lawyers wrote in the lawsuit. “As discussed below, the defendants target users of commercial and advertising accounts on large social media platforms, often targeting small businesses.”

Google said it did not identify the individuals involved, but the hackers appear to be behind an “extensive” malware campaign to steal social media credentials from servers in Vietnam and Los Angeles, California.

Due to the rapid development of artificial intelligence, cybercriminals have used the technology to create sophisticated online scams. Law enforcement agencies have sounded the alarm and warned the public that fraud using AI deep faxing is on the rise.

Last month, cyber security firm SlashNext reported that the number of phishing emails has increased by 1265 percent since the launch of ChatGPT.

“While there has been some debate about the true impact of generative AI on cybercriminal activity, we know from our research that threat actors are using tools like ChatGPT to help write sophisticated, targeted commercial emails and other phishing messages,” said SlashNext CEO Patrick Harr.

Edited by Ryan Ozawa.