Gujarat Police to question Google over 5,00,000+ fake Gmail IDs linked to hoax bomb threats

Google has come under scrutiny as the Gujarat Police is reportedly set to question the tech giant over gaps in its safeguards following the bust of a criminal network that created lakhs of fake Gmail accounts to send hoax bomb threats to government offices.

Authorities busted the criminal network that set up and managed over 5,00,000 fake Gmail accounts to send bomb threats, Reuters reported, citing a police official on Tuesday.

Also Read | Delhi Assembly, mayor’s office receive bomb threats; police call it hoax

'Inter-state' bomb threats

This week, Gujarat Police broke up an email network that they described as sending "inter-state" bomb threats, the report said. Furthermore, the officials uncovered 5,13,847 Gmail IDs and passwords being used by the syndicate since 2022.

The police also arrested two individuals.

Vivek Bheda, a senior cybercrime official of the Gujarat Police, told Reuters that the number of fake Gmail accounts in use is unprecedented.

"We will write to Google, ask them to make some policy changes so (safeguards) cannot be bypassed," Bheda said.

The official emphasised that police planned to formally designate Google as a subject of the probe.

Also Read | Noida authority office gets ‘hoax bomb threat mail

Bomb threat hoax ahead of BRICS summit

This investigation by Gujarat Police started after the state government received a hoax bomb threat on September 10, shortly before the New Delhi BRICS summit.

According to a police statement, cited in the report, the hoax had also threatened countries cooperating with India during the high-profile and crucial global summit. Bheda stated that the threats proved to be false.

It was found that one arrested individual maintained contact with a buyer in Bangladesh who purchased the accounts in bulk to send the fake emails.

The cybercrime official also revealed that each fake account used two-factor authentication.

Also Read | HC, Delhi airport get hoax bomb threats ahead of I-Day

India as Google's largest market

The report highlighted that India is one of Google's largest markets by users.

However, the company is already facing scrutiny over criminals misusing its Firebase platform to facilitate financial scams.

Delhi Legislative Assembly receives bomb threat

In a separate incident, the Delhi Legislative Assembly received a bomb threat email on September 8, Tuesday, and it later turned out to be a hoax, HT reported earlier, citing police.

Following this, security agencies were alerted, and necessary checks were initiated.