Threat actors are distributing malicious loaders and cryptocurrency miners disguised as artificial intelligence (AI) desktop applications for Anthropic Claude and OpenAI ChatGPT. This campaign has been dubbed Yoba.
The activity involves the creation of fake GitHub projects that falsely claim to be desktop applications such as GPT-5.6 Sol, GPT-6 Astra, and Claude Opus. These fake applications are used to deliver a malware family.
These malicious applications abuse signed executables to deploy cryptocurrency miners, posing a security risk to users seeking AI tools.
Sources and references
Original report
Fake ChatGPT and Claude Apps Abuse Signed Executables to Deploy Crypto Miners
The Hacker News
Read on The Hacker News (opens in a new tab)Ref 00R4OVU3
Cite this
APA
Interestana AI Editorial. (2026, October 29). Fake AI Apps Deploy Crypto Miners Via Malicious Loaders. Interestana. https://interestana.com/articles/fake-chatgpt-and-claude-apps-abuse-signed-executables-to-deploy-crypto-miners-00r4ovu3
MLA
“Fake AI Apps Deploy Crypto Miners Via Malicious Loaders.” Interestana, 29 Oct. 2026, interestana.com/articles/fake-chatgpt-and-claude-apps-abuse-signed-executables-to-deploy-crypto-miners-00r4ovu3.
Chicago
Interestana AI Editorial. “Fake AI Apps Deploy Crypto Miners Via Malicious Loaders.” Interestana, October 29, 2026. https://interestana.com/articles/fake-chatgpt-and-claude-apps-abuse-signed-executables-to-deploy-crypto-miners-00r4ovu3.
BibTeX
@misc{interestana_00r4ovu3,
author = {{Interestana AI Editorial}},
title = {{Fake AI Apps Deploy Crypto Miners Via Malicious Loaders}},
howpublished = {Interestana},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
url = {https://interestana.com/articles/fake-chatgpt-and-claude-apps-abuse-signed-executables-to-deploy-crypto-miners-00r4ovu3},
note = {Summary of reporting by The Hacker News, https://thehackernews.com/2026/10/fake-chatgpt-and-claude-apps-abuse.html}
}Credit the source
Original reporting: The Hacker News, “Fake ChatGPT and Claude Apps Abuse Signed Executables to Deploy Crypto Miners”, https://thehackernews.com/2026/10/fake-chatgpt-and-claude-apps-abuse.html(opens in a new tab)
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