GoKawiilCyberCartel used Grok, Claude AI agents to automate attacks on Latin American banks
Cybersecurity startup Straiker found that CyberCartel, a hacking group active since 2012, has been using AI agents such as Grok and Anthropic's Claude to automate attacks on financial institutions and payment apps across Latin America, stealing passwords and customer data and accessing bank accounts. The group reportedly bypassed AI safety guardrails by telling models they were operating in test environments, switching models if one refused, and deploying malware when all models declined.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
The case shows that AI safety protections meant to block misuse can be circumvented with simple social-engineering prompts, letting criminal groups scale attacks that once required significant manual effort. Straiker has alerted Anthropic and SpaceX, with Anthropic already blocking the group's access to Claude, suggesting AI firms may need faster, more coordinated responses as such abuse spreads across providers.
- CyberCartel used AI agents including Grok and Claude to automate attacks on Latin American financial institutions.
- Hackers bypassed AI safety guardrails by claiming test-environment use and switching models when refused.
- Anthropic has blocked the group's Claude access, while Straiker is still trying to reach Moonshot AI about similar misuse.
Source: tomshardware.com — Oliver Haslam, 2026-10-23
Published there as: “Claude and Grok among AI agents used to automate attacks on Latin American institutions”
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