An investigation warns about the danger of several applications available on Google Play and the App Store seeking to scam people using the name of ChatGPT.
Since its launch in late 2022, ChatGPT has become the undisputed hero of the tech sector. OpenAI’s generative artificial intelligence-based tool, capable of generating essays, summarizing books, writing code and many other aspects that facilitate users’ daily lives, brings together more than 100 million people every day Which take advantage of AI possibilities. , And, because of its popularity, many people have tried to take advantage of it in the most harmful way possible: trying to scam people out of their money.
Currently, if the stakeholders want to avail the benefits of the chatbot then they can use two options. On the one hand, they can use the standard version of ChatGPT; On the other hand, there is a premium model available, a possibility that integrates GPT-4 and makes the most of its capabilities. However, despite the fact that these are the only two options, many applications available on Google Play and the App Store promise access to ChatGPT in exchange for a monthly subscription. And this, in essence, means that developers charge users for access to the free version of the bot.
Scammers are not afraid of getting caught.
One of these applications is “Chat GBT”, an app that was advertised as free, but as they point out from the TechSpot portal, it was blocked after three uses. At this time, the app offered a three-day free trial (with consequential terms and conditions that grant access to your personal data), upon completion of which, a monthly subscription of $10 to take advantage of all of ChatGPT’s features. Subscription activated. As such, this is just one of many examples available on both Google Play and the App Store, two platforms that usually act ex officio against this type of scam. However, scammers have their own modus operandi to continue collecting money after they have been removed from digital stores.
Apparently, once they realized the trick behind this app, the action is taken by the Google Play and App Store staff to remove the app so that it doesn’t fool more people. But unfortunately for them, the developers modify some parameters (like name or some settings of the application) and resubmit their work, that’s why it gets published again and hence, it scams more people. able to continue doing. Thus, if you have downloaded an app of this type, we recommend that you remove it and use bots only on the official ChatGPT portal. Or, if you want to do it via WhatsApp, you can take advantage of the free bot Luzia, which connects the messaging service to ChatGPT.
