Anthropic cracks down on hijacked user accounts mining AI tokens
Anthropic has begun clamping down on stolen Claude sessions after identifying a wave of infostealer malware being repurposed to hijack user accounts and exploit their paid AI usage. Rather than paying for their own access, criminals are using commodity malware to steal login credentials, session cookies and multifactor authentication data, then using this to run up premium Claude usage on victims' accounts. Anthropic has told at least one affected user it detected suspected fraud, logged them out and deleted their saved payment method, warning that AI account tokens are now a valuable target because they can be resold.
The case came to light via a Reddit user, WorriedAssociate7029, who shared an email from Anthropic after their social media accounts were compromised; they traced the infection to a cracked game download and later received a warning about an attempted API token theft, which Anthropic said it had blocked. Anthropic stressed the malware was unrelated to Claude itself and not some novel agentic AI threat, instead identifying well-known infostealers including Vidar, LummaC2, StealC, RedLine, Acreed and Atomic Stealer as responsible for harvesting Claude credentials and sessions alongside other stolen data. The user praised Anthropic's intervention but noted the company's customer service has historically been weak on refunds and account recovery for similar incidents.
- Infostealer malware is being used to hijack Claude accounts and steal paid usage
- Anthropic detected fraud, logged out a user and deleted their payment card
- Known malware like Vidar, LummaC2 and RedLine are behind the thefts
New here? Start with this
Claude is Anthropic’s AI assistant, available through paid accounts and through an API that lets developers connect software to its services. An account session is the information that keeps someone signed in; if criminals steal it, they may be able to use the account without knowing the password.
Infostealer malware is software that secretly collects information from an infected device, such as passwords and sign-in data. It can spread through downloads, including unofficial or modified games, and is used to take over many kinds of online accounts.
Stolen access to paid AI services can let criminals use the account’s allowance or sell access to others, leaving the account holder facing unexpected use or payment problems. The case highlights how AI accounts have become another target for established cybercrime tools, alongside email and social media accounts.