Indian authorities are preparing to question Google following the discovery of a sophisticated criminal operation that utilized over 500,000 fake Gmail accounts to issue bomb threats. Police in Gujarat recently dismantled this network, which had been active since 2022, and arrested two individuals linked to the scheme. Investigators revealed that the suspects were selling these accounts—many of which were equipped with two-factor authentication—to international buyers, including contacts in Bangladesh, to facilitate malicious activities and digital extortion.

Law enforcement officials are now pushing for Google to implement stricter security protocols to prevent their platforms from being exploited on such a massive scale. This investigation follows a period of heightened scrutiny for the tech giant in India, as authorities continue to combat the country’s growing cybercrime crisis, which results in billions of dollars in losses annually. By planning to formally name Google as a subject in the ongoing probe, the police aim to force the company to address the policy gaps that allowed this unprecedented volume of fraudulent activity to persist undetected.