ChatGPT has been ubiquitous lately and it’s easy to sign up to ChatGPT and try it for free, but where there’s a lot of interest there are bound to be scammers looking to take advantage of it.
Cybersecurity firm Sophos has caught the latest case of this, with fake ChatGPT apps on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store that are free to download but then bombard users with ads until they pay a subscription to remove them (via Wired ).
What is fleece goods?
Unlike some other fake ChatGPT apps we’ve seen, this isn’t malware, it’s fleeceware. The only harmful thing that happens is that after you download and install the app for free, the app tries to deprive you of your money by subscribing to remove the ads it uses to track you.
While you might think you’d just uninstall the app right away, not everyone is so clear-headed. According to a SensorTower report, at least one of these apps has grossed over $1 million in the past month. Apps and subscriptions vary in price, but in the end it’s the same thing: each one costs something that’s otherwise free to use on your phone.
The creepy 6
These are the six apps that Sophos identified. All have since been removed from the App Store and Google Play, but the team is sure there are more. If you have any of these apps installed on your phone, they will not automatically charge you, but you should delete them anyway.
- AI Chat – Chatbot AI Assistant
- AI Chatbot – Ask the AI Assistant
- AI Chatbot – Open Chat Writer
- AI Chat GBT – Open the chatbot app
- Genius – AI Chatbot
- Open Chat GBT – AI Chatbot App
Use ChatGPT for free
While there are legitimate paid apps that use ChatGPT, if you just want to try the service for yourself, you don’t have to pay for it. We showed you how to sign up for ChatGPT. If you’re a Bing fan, Bing AI Chat even lets you use enhanced GPT-4 for free.
There is currently no official ChatGPT app, but the service works fine in your mobile browser. Once you’re signed up, you can simply navigate to https://chat.openai.com/ in Chrome, Safari, or any other browser of your choice and try the web’s most popular AI chatbot for free to your heart’s content.
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