Beware of some advertisements inviting you to use Bard. Google is suing scammers who are using the fame of its new AI chatbot to get people to download malware.
Google explained in a statement that a fraudulent group is creating social media pages and publishing notices encouraging you to download “the latest version” of the chatbot. But it is actually a fraudulent version of Bard, which delivers malware to victims and steals their social media login details.
The company presented the complaint this Monday before a court in California, USA. In the document, cited by The Verge, detailed that the accusation is directed at three people who apparently operate from Vietnam. Google noted that they have used several of its trademarks, including Google, Google AI, and Bard.
“As public enthusiasm for new generative AI tools grows, scammers are increasingly taking advantage of unsuspecting users,” Google said in a post on its website. Blog. He added that bad actors have already deceived “numerous people around the world.” Since April, he added, they have filed approximately 300 complaints related to this group.
How to recognize the fraudulent version of Bard?
Google explains in the complaint that scammers are specifically using fake profiles on Facebook to promote the fraudulent version of Bard. It also highlights that its artificial intelligence tool It is free and does not need to be downloaded, as these ads say.
With the legal action, the company is seeking an order to prevent scammers from setting up more domains like these and allow them to deactivate them with US domain registrars. “If this is successful, it will serve as a deterrent and provide a clear mechanism to prevent similar scams in the future,” Google general counsel Halimah DeLaine Prado wrote in the blog.
Gmail blocks more than 100 million phishing attempts every day, Google Safe Browsing protects more than 5 billion devices, and Google Play scans more than 100 billion apps. “Keeping you safe online is essential to our business,” the company highlighted.