Google is suing at least three people for using false ads for Bard, the company’s generative AI chatbot, to trick people into unknowingly downloading malware that gives the alleged scammers access to their social media accounts.

In another lawsuit, Google is going after fraudsters who have filed thousands of fake notices of copyright infringement against more than 100,000 websites.

The tech giant on Monday filed both federal lawsuits in the North District of California as “part of our ongoing legal strategy to protect consumers and small businesses, and establish needed legal precedents in emerging fields of innovation,” Google General Counsel Halimah DeLaine Prado wrote in a blog post.

“As public excitement in new generative AI tools has increased, scammers are increasingly taking advantage of unsuspecting users,” Prado wrote. “Clear rules against frauds, scams, and harassment are important – no matter how novel the setting – and we’re committed to doing our part to protect the people who use the internet from abuse.”

Google Turns to Copyright Law

In the first case, Google is suing three people “who appear to be based in Vietnam” for running an operation designed to entire victims into downloading malware that steals social media credentials. The scammers allegedly created five profiles on Facebook under the names “Google AI,” “AIGoogle,” “AiGoogle,” “AIGoogle.Plus,” “AIGoogle Bard FB,” and “AIGoogleBard.”

The alleged fraudsters use social media pages, posts, and ads – all made to look like they come from Google – pitching victims to download free versions of Bard and other AI products from Google via links to Google Drive or Google Sites.

Bard – which was launched in March, five months after OpenAI released ChatGPT – comes free with Google and doesn’t need to be downloaded.

When victims downloaded the file, it installed malware into the devices that would access their social media login credentials and then them to a server controlled by the bad actors, who would then use the credentials to get onto the victims’ social medial accounts.

The scammers targeted users – often small businesses – with business and advertiser accounts on large social media platforms, according to the lawsuit. Google noted that is uses multiple avenues to promote Bard and other AI products, including Facebook. The fraudsters “deliberately use this same platform for their own ads, to increase confusion among users who are accustomed to seeing legitimate Google AI ads on Facebook.”

According to Google’s Prado, the company has been pushing back against the scammers since April, filing abut 300 takedowns related to the group. Google doesn’t know the identities of those involved, though such lawsuits can be amended to include their names once they are learned.

The company is suing the three individuals for multiple reasons, including trademark infringement for using Google’s logo, product names, and other protected items in their schemes and for breach of contract.

Google Accounts Used in Fake Copyright Claims

In the second lawsuit, Google is going after unnamed bad actors who created dozens of Google accounts and used them file thousands of false copyright claims against websites. Prado wrote that the defendants were abusing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to fraudulently sue other businesses.

Due to the bogus claims, more than 100,000 businesses were forced to remote their websites, costing them millions of dollars and thousands of hours in lost employee time, she wrote. The DMCA was enacted in 1998 lets creators protect their work on the internet and enables users and businesses can create and share information online.

The act’s takedown process is used to enforce legitimate complaints of copyright infringement. Google is suing the bad actors for using Google accounts to run their scheme.

“We hope our lawsuit will not only put an end to this activity, but also deter others and raise awareness of the harm that fraudulent takedowns can have on small businesses across the country,” Prado wrote.

On a larger note, Google is also hoping that such legal action and working with the government “puts scammers squarely in the crosshairs of justice, promoting a safer internet for everyone.”