UK households are being warned about a scam involving the Claude AI chatbot that has led to unauthorized payments of up to £150. After subscribing to the Claude chatbot, a family discovered mystery payments on their credit card bill.
Family's Experience
The family subscribed to Claude for £15 per month. Soon after, the wife noticed $200 payments (approximately £150) on the credit card bill for gift cards related to the AI tool. The husband told the Guardian: "My wife asked me: 'Hey, did you make these $200 purchases?' It was $400 in total. And then there was a third one, but that needed a confirmation and did not go through."
Online Complaints
Searching online, the family found other victims on Reddit. One Reddit user shared an email titled "You've received a gift!" stating a subscription to Claude had been sent, with a link to redeem it. Another Redditor reported: "A few days ago I received about 10x transactions on my bank account all for Anthropic for the Claude Pro subscription (each one being £18). I have no clue how this may have happened... I've seen a few posts regarding the same issue from a few months ago so this isn't the first time it happened." The user contacted Anthropic support but received no timely response.
Advice for Users
Users are advised to monitor their accounts for unauthorized transactions and report any suspicious activity to their bank and Anthropic immediately. The scam appears to target gift card subscriptions, with fraudsters using stolen payment details to make purchases.
