Security News > 2020 > February > BEC Group Abuses Google G Suite in Scheme Targeting Thousands of Firms
A group of business email compromise scammers that targeted thousands in the United States employed Google's G Suite for their infrastructure, Agari reports.
Active since at least 2013, the group engaged in check fraud schemes in 2014, and has sent out thousands of fake checks since then, "Adding up to millions of dollars in fraudulent funds using this scheme and others like it," Agari says in their report.
Tier II mules, newer to the network and not yet trusted with significant components of the BEC process, usually send money to the Tier I mules.
The scammers have been abusing G Suite, Google's collaboration and productivity solution, as part of their delivery infrastructure, with 98% of more than 1,400 domains used by Exaggerated Lion registered with Google.
Because Google only starts charging G Suite users after the first month, the scammers could register new domains and use each for the 30-day free trial period, which was more than enough to perform fraud.