By Zoë Schiffer
Publication Date: 2025-11-19 22:09:00
Zoë Schiffer: So let’s switch gears and our next story deals with another inescapable fact of modern life, fraudulent text messages. Brian, how many scam texts or calls do you think you receive per week these days?
Brian Barrett: I mean, how many did I receive during this recording? It’s incessant, and that’s not even counting the political ones, which are legitimate but annoying. No, they are constant, Zoë. It is the most consistent communication I have in my life from scammers.
Zoë Schiffer: Yes, the same. So we have no way of knowing for sure, but you, along with millions of other Americans, may have been the target of a Chinese scam network called Lighthouse. In recent years, the group has sent millions of fraudulent text messages, often impersonating USPS or toll road collectors, and has reportedly made more than $1 billion from its schemes. Our colleague Matt Burgess learned that Google filed a lawsuit in the United States this week against…
