GCD AI RADAR
incidents/AIR-2024-0063

AkiraBot Operators Leverage OpenAI API to Automate Widespread Contact Form Spam

AI-enabled attack3 Confirmed exploitationAI phishing / social engineeringOther

Threat actors deployed a bot framework integrated with OpenAI's API to bypass CAPTCHAs and generate automated spam across tens of thousands of websites. OpenAI revoked the associated API key following notification by security researchers.

Details

type
AI-enabled attack
Attackers used AI as a meaningful part of a cyberattack against someone else.
categories
  • AI phishing / social engineeringprimary
    Phishing, lures and social engineering produced or personalised at scale with AI.
  • Other
    In scope, but none of the categories above fits. Reviewed periodically for new categories.
owasp llm top 10
no entry for these categories
mitre atlas
Both rows are derived from the type and categories (OWASP 2025 edition, ATLAS release 2026.09), not classified per record. How
severity
3 · Confirmed exploitation
Used against real targets; limited or unclear impact.
targets
Individuals, Enterprise deployment
products
ChatGPT API, AkiraBot
incident date
1 Sep 2024
first reported
1 Sep 2024
origin
AI Incident Database
Derived from the AI Incident Database (CC BY-SA 4.0).
classifier confidence
0.95 · published at or above 0.80; see the methodology
tags
akirabot · spam · openai · captcha-bypass
record
created 2026-10-18 06:33Z · updated 2026-10-18 06:59Z · json

Sources · 1

  1. 2024-09-01
    AkiraBot Reportedly Used OpenAI to Spam Website Chats and Contact Forms at Scale
    AI Incident Database · incidentdatabase.ai/cite/1365

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

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