So I got scammed...

Report is out there.
These type of scammers are widespread.

Must check this out.

 

I think the key here is that most criminals are not going to spend any money, which would likely involve sharing personal information for payment, to concoct a complicated fraud. That in mind, a generic email address (google.com and the like) can be obtained from all kinds of services for free, making that automatically suspect and worth a closer look.

The email address is simply a pointer, related to the internet domain name. The domain name is registered somewhere, either as part of a cloud service deal, or separately via a registrar then configured on their system to point wherever your stuff is hosted.

Sounds like you have subscribed to Google Workspaces, formerly known as Google for Business. I use that too. The risk with getting a domain name as part of a bundled service is: the provider owns and manages it. The enticement is usually a simpler setup process for you the end user, and they (service providers not just google) may offer the domain registration at a discount or free as part of the package. If you ever decide to move to another service provider, there is likely a process that must be followed, and potentially some sort of fee involved to do the change and buy the name.

My name is registered somewhere else. If I decide I don't like google any more, I can subscribe to some other mail server then login to my registrar and point the name to the new service.

I'm not saying you need to change anything - what i do works and looks the same way in use. Just pointing out some potential complications that could come up down the road. Then, if you have to deal with that at some point, know that there's a better but less convenient way to set things up next time.