aceAI chatbot fraud: the ‘gift card’ subcription that may cost you dear
Abstract: David Duggan* was so impressed with the ability of the Claude chatbot to answer medical questions and organise family life, that a $20-a-month (£15) subscription seemed like money well spent. But then his wife spotted two $200 payments on his credit card bill for gift cards to use the artificial intelligence tool. Duggan, who lives on the east coast of the US, had not bought them, and immediately realised something was wrong. “My wife asked me: ‘Hey, did you make these $200 purchases?’ It was $400 in total. And the
David Duggan subscribed to the Claude chatbot for $20 a month to answer medical questions and organise family life. His wife later noticed two $200 charges on his credit card bill for gift cards to use the AI tool that he said he had not bought. When he contacted Anthropic his account was suspended and he received computer-generated responses that did not clarify what happened.
The case matters because it shows how AI tool subscriptions can become a vector for payment fraud and consumer loss, with $400 at stake for one household. It raises questions about account security, billing controls, and support for Anthropic users. What remains uncertain from the supplied text is how the purchases were authorized and why genuine vouchers were sent to his personal email.
- Subscriber lived on the east coast of the US and paid $20-a-month for Claude
- After contacting Anthropic his account was suspended
- He received computer-generated responses that did not explain the charges
A Claude chatbot subscriber was billed $400 for two unauthorized $200 gift card purchases for the AI tool
Sources
- JournalismThe Guardian2026-05-03
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