gcdRadar
archive/Breaches & attacks/AIR-2023-0026
closedclosed 15 Dec 2023Breaches & attacks3 Confirmed exploitationAI

Underground Market for LLMs Powers Malware and Phishing Scams

GPT-3.5, GPT-4, WormGPT, FraudGPT

Cybercriminals leveraged LLMs and malicious variants like WormGPT to develop malware and phishing scams. These underground tools bypassed safety controls to scale cyberattacks.

first report
1 Dec 2023
last update
1 Dec 2023

Timeline · 1

  1. 1 Dec 2023Underground Market for LLMs Powers Malware and Phishing Scams

Sources · 1

Research and catalogues

  1. 2023-12-01
    Underground Market for LLMs Powers Malware and Phishing Scams
    AI Incident Database · incidentdatabase.ai/cite/736

Titles and links belong to their publishers. The summary above is written by gcdRadar in its own words; data is CC BY-SA 4.0.

Classification

lane
Breaches & attacks
AI role
AI-enabled attack
categories
AI-generated malwareAI phishing / social engineering
severity
3 · Confirmed exploitation
targets
OpenAI, Open-weight model
owasp llm top 10
no entry for these categories
mitre atlas
AML.T0016.002 Obtain Capabilities: Generative AIAML.T0052 Phishing
tags
wormgptfraudgptmalwarephishing
dates
happened 1 Dec 2023 · first reported 1 Dec 2023
origin
AI Incident Database
Derived from the AI Incident Database (CC BY-SA 4.0).
record
confidence 0.90 · created 2026-10-18 06:33Z · updated 2026-10-18 06:59Z

Lane, AI role, categories and severity come from the classifier; the OWASP and ATLAS rows are derived from the categories. How these are assigned

Copy a brief

This record as a short Markdown brief, for a ticket, a chat or a coding agent.

the brief as text
# Underground Market for LLMs Powers Malware and Phishing Scams

https://gcdradar.vercel.app/incidents/underground-market-for-llms-powers-malware-and-phishing-scam · AIR-2023-0026 · closed 2023-12-15

- Lane: Breaches & attacks
- Severity: 3 (Confirmed exploitation)
- Fix status: No fix needed
- First reported: 2023-12-01
- AI role: AI-enabled attack
- Products: GPT-3.5, GPT-4, WormGPT, FraudGPT

## Summary

Cybercriminals leveraged LLMs and malicious variants like WormGPT to develop malware and phishing scams. These underground tools bypassed safety controls to scale cyberattacks.

## What to do

No action recorded; read the sources below and the vendor's advisory.

## Latest updates

- 2023-12-01: Underground Market for LLMs Powers Malware and Phishing Scams (https://incidentdatabase.ai/cite/736)

## Sources

- 2023-12-01 AI Incident Database: Underground Market for LLMs Powers Malware and Phishing Scams https://incidentdatabase.ai/cite/736

Verify against the vendor's advisory before changing production. Data CC BY-SA 4.0, https://gcdradar.vercel.app.

Related

  1. closed
    FIN7 Linked to Malware Distribution via Fake AI Nudify Websites

    Breaches & attacks · Exploited · since 2 Oct 2024

    AI
  2. closed
    ChatGPT ChatGPT Abused by Threat Actors to Develop Malicious Software

    Breaches & attacks · Exploited · since 21 Dec 2022

    AI
  3. closed
    WhatsApp Scammers Target WiseTech Global Staff with Deepfake Video Calls Impersonating CEO

    Breaches & attacks · Exploited · since 21 May 2024

    AI
  4. closed
    Microsoft Teams Scammers Used AI Voice Clone and Footage to Impersonate WPP CEO

    Breaches & attacks · Exploited · since 10 May 2024

    AI
  5. closed
    WhatsApp Audio Deepfake Impersonating LastPass CEO Targets Employee via WhatsApp

    Breaches & attacks · Exploited · since 10 Apr 2024

    AI
  6. closed
    007TG AI-Powered 007TG Platform Used in Scam Networks Linked to Millions

    Breaches & attacks · Real loss · since 1 Apr 2024

    AI