Google has filed a lawsuit against a Chinese cybercrime group accused of using its Gemini AI model to carry out online financial fraud targeting hundreds of thousands of Americans, the New York Times reported on Thursday.

The report said Google filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against the group known as Outsider Enterprise and asked the court for a restraining order.

It is also coordinating with the FBI, AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon.

Outsider Enterprise used Gemini to mass-produce fake websites impersonating Google, YouTube, the U.S. Postal Service and New York's E-ZPass toll service. Over two weeks, it used 131 software kits to generate 9,000 fake websites and more than 1 million fraudulent internet addresses. In May, it sent 2.5 million text messages to Android users and moved in an organised way, sharing tips and AI-based scam software kits on Telegram.

Brett Leatherman (브렛 레더만), deputy assistant director of the FBI's cyber division, said, "Criminals are using AI to make scams more convincing and harder to detect."

The FBI said Americans suffered about $21 billion in losses to cyber fraud last year. Of that, losses linked to AI were about $893 million. AI-based scams are growing faster than other types of phishing and fraud, the New York Times said.