Google Takes Legal Action Against Scammers for Distributing Fake Bard AI Malware

Google’s European Engineering Center has a picturesque logo. Acquire Licensing RightsIn Zurich, Switzerland, a logo is pictured at Google’s European Engineering Center on July 19, 2018. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

Google has accused Facebook scammers of using malware to steal social media accounts. The tech giant has filed a lawsuit in California federal court against anonymous individuals for allegedly marketing fake “downloads” of its artificial-intelligence chatbot Bard to install malware on victims’ computers. The defendants are accused of violating trademark rights by misusing Google’s trademarks to lure users into installing malware and stealing social-media login credentials.

The lawsuit alleges that the scammers use social media posts and web pages to advertise free downloads of Bard, which in reality is not downloadable. The malware downloaded by victims is then used to take over their social media accounts. The defendants have also been accused of violating Google’s terms of service by impersonating the company and hosting the malware on Google Sites and Google Drive.

The lawsuit seeks to block the scheme and requests the scammers’ profits and other monetary damages. Google has filed nearly 300 related takedown requests and sees such lawsuits as an effective tool for disrupting the tools used by scammers and raising the consequences for bad actors in the online space.

The case is Google LLC v. Does 1-3, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, No. 5:23-cv-05823. The attorney representing Google is Tiana Demas of Cooley. The attorney information for the defendants is not yet available.

Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington. Contact: +12029385713.