AI chatbot fraud: the ‘gift card’ subcription that may cost you dear

A subscriber to the Claude AI chatbot discovered unauthorized $200 gift card charges on his credit card, leading to his account's suspension and reports of similar incidents by other users [1]. David Duggan, a U.S. subscriber paying $20 a month for Claude, found two unauthorized $200 charges for gift cards on his statement, totaling $400 [1]. His wife first alerted him to the suspicious payments [1]. After contacting Anthropic, the company behind Claude, his account was suspended, but the response did not clarify the incident [1]. Duggan later found multiple Claude users reporting similar unauthorized charges on the online forum Reddit [1]. Following the fraud, Duggan changed his credit card details, which blocked further attempted payments, and is working with his bank to recover the funds [1]. Anthropic states it is implementing new protections to prevent fraudulent gift card purchases, cancels scam subscriptions, and issues refunds when identified [1]. The company advises affected users to contact its support, cancel the compromised bank card, and change their login details, though it notes no evidence that card details originated from its systems [1].