Criminals hid fake Claude download pages on claude.ai and promoted them with Google ads. Following the steps installs malware that steals passwords and crypto.
Criminals placed fake "Download Claude" pages on claude.ai, the real website of Anthropic, the company behind the Claude AI assistant. They also paid for Google ads so the pages showed up in search results. The pages told visitors to paste a command into their computer, and that command installed malware built to steal passwords and cryptocurrency.
The fake pages were Shared Chats or public Artifacts, which are normal sharing features on Claude. Because they live on claude.ai, the web address, padlock and logo all looked genuine. Claude does show a thin banner saying the content is user-generated and unverified, but it is easy to miss.
The links carried Google Ads tracking codes, which shows the attackers paid to promote them. Researchers at Gen Digital also found several rotating Artifacts tied to two ad campaigns. That points to a funded, ongoing operation, not a one-off. Gen published its full report on October 26, 2026.
On Mac, the page showed a box titled "Install on macOS" with four steps: open Terminal, click Copy, paste, and press Enter. There was no real installer. Anthropic never published these instructions. The copied command was scrambled, so the visitor saw only gibberish. Because the user runs it personally, many built-in defenses do not stop it. This method is called ClickFix.
The result was Atomic macOS Stealer, known as AMOS. It is built to steal passwords, browser sessions, cryptocurrency wallets and other sensitive data. It can also swap the real Ledger and Trezor desktop apps for modified copies that ask for the wallet recovery phrase.
A second campaign targeted Windows with the same idea. An Artifact called "Install Claude on Windows" told people to press Win + R, then Ctrl + V, then Enter. The final program hides inside a normal Windows process, checks for antivirus software, takes screenshots, and keeps a connection open for more commands. It also searches for Electrum, Exodus, Ethereum, Bitcoin and Ledger wallets.
Anyone on a Mac or Windows PC who searched for the Claude desktop app could have landed on one of these pages. People who hold crypto face the biggest risk. The harm described here starts when someone follows the steps and runs the pasted command, so people who never did that are not described as affected.
The alert box above lists the steps. The key point is that a search ad and a genuine-looking address are not proof of safety. Anthropic's real download page is claude.com/download. Anyone who already ran one of these commands should assume the device is fully compromised and act from a clean device. Never type a wallet recovery phrase into software that asks for it unexpectedly.
The material does not say how many people were affected or whether the pages are still online. Similar AMOS campaigns have used paid ads to push Mac users toward Terminal commands and fake Ledger and Trezor apps, so this pattern is likely to keep showing up with other brand names.
Never paste a command from a web page into your computer, and get Claude only from claude.com/download or a bookmark.
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