In mid-2023 security researchers (SlashNext, Netenrich) documented WormGPT and FraudGPT, generative-AI tools sold on dark-web forums and Telegram with the safety guardrails removed. They were advertised to auto-generate convincing multilingual business-email-compromise (BEC) and phishing lures, malicious code, scam pages and undetectable malware.
AIC-0025 S4 · Severe
WormGPT and FraudGPT: 'no-guardrails' criminal LLMs sold on the dark web
- Harm
- Lowered the skill barrier for large-scale fraud and cyberattacks; SlashNext linked WormGPT to real BEC campaigns and reported a surge in AI-crafted phishing.
- Detection
- Identified by cybersecurity firms monitoring dark-web/Telegram marketplaces; publicized July 2023.
- Outcome
- The original WormGPT developer shut down the public version by late summer 2023 amid scrutiny, but copycats/successors (FraudGPT, DarkBARD, Evil-GPT) proliferated.
A documented entry in the AI Crime Registry, a Defici non-profit initiative. Sourced from public reporting; corrections: [email protected].