How to Tell ChatGPT Scams Apart From the Real Thing

Justin Duino / How-To Geek
To keep away from ChatGPT scams, go to the true ChatGPT web site at https://chat.openai.com/ or elsewhere on openai.com. Don’t click on suspicious hyperlinks in emails or elsewhere on the net.ChatGPT is probably the most refined chatbot ever made—to this point. This huge language mannequin (LLM)-based chatbot is all the fad, so it’s no shock that scammers are promoting faux ChatGPT scams to steal folks’s private info.

How you can Spot a ChatGPT Rip-off
You’ll be able to keep away from getting scammed by faux variations of ChatGPT by working towards secure web shopping. Listed below are 5 essential ideas for protecting your self secure on-line—each from ChatGPT scams and different threats:

Examine the Web site Tackle
Scammers could attempt to trick you into submitting private info by means of a faux web site that appears just like the true ChatGPT web site, which is on openai.com — both https://chat.openai.com/ for the service or https://openai.com/weblog/chatgpt for the informational signup web page.
Learn the web site tackle rigorously to ensure it’s the true deal. You are able to do this by wanting on the high of your browser’s window.A faux web site might be spelled incorrectly, have completely different phrases, have completely different area extensions, and extra.
For instance, our web site tackle at How-To Geek is “howtogeek.com”. A scammer making an attempt to mimic us by utilizing a faux web site could have an internet site tackle like “howtogeek.org” or “how2geek.com”.
Look at the E mail
If a scammer is focusing on you thru an e mail, they will imitate an actual firm or actual folks. Rigorously learn the e-mail tackle to see whether it is spelled appropriately.
OpenAI has emailed us bulletins from noreply@e mail.openai.com. Going straight to an internet site slightly than clicking hyperlinks in an e mail is an effective safety observe, whether or not you need to entry your financial institution’s web site or ChatGPT.
Keep away from replying to suspicious emails, too. You’re higher off visiting the web site on to verify for official info. Scammers (or their bots) that obtain a reply to their rip-off emails can register your e mail tackle as energetic, which might result in you getting increasingly more rip-off emails. Don’t reply to suspicious messages—mark them as spam in order that they go straight to your unsolicited mail folder!
Don’t Click on Suspicious Hyperlinks
Pretend hyperlinks to ChatGPT can lead you to net pages that look just like the true factor. On these faux pages, you might be requested to enter private info. There are many methods to disguise hyperlinks, so the very best safety in opposition to this sort of menace is to query the context.
For instance, for those who get an e mail from somebody you don’t know with an obvious hyperlink to ChatGPT, that is probably a rip-off. One other instance can be for those who’re shopping an unrelated web site and the remark part seemingly has a hyperlink to ChatGPT.
Be sure you go on to the official ChatGPT web site at https://chat.openai.com/. You’ll be able to plug chat.openai.com into your net browser’s tackle bar slightly than clicking hyperlinks to it elsewhere, or create a bookmark in your browser to entry it.
Examples of ChatGPT Scams
In February 2023, Dominic Alvieri, a cybersecurity analyst and safety researcher, tweeted a few faux ChatGPT web site. The web site tackle for this faux seems to be virtually respectable, so you’ll be able to see how it may be tough to determine ChatGPT frauds.
The web site tackle is completely different from the one the place you’ll discover the true ChatGPT, and there’s additionally a “DOWNLOAD FOR WINDOWS” button. That is one thing that’s not featured on the true ChatGPT web site. That button redirects you to a obtain web page for one thing referred to as “ChatGPTOpenAI.rar”, which turned out to be a sort of malware referred to as “RedLine Stealer”.
Dominic Alvieri / Twitter
Whereas these fakes might be considerably convincing, there are additionally some poorly cobbled-together makes an attempt to rip-off you. For instance, right here’s a ChatGPT rip-off we discovered. It is a buy web page for nothing. There aren’t any services or products talked about—it’s only a window to enter your private info.

If the aforementioned lack of element wasn’t sufficient of a giveaway, there’s the hilariously faux web site tackle that includes the time period “ftw“. This seems to be extra like a gamer tag than a respectable web site tackle.
The one method this faux web site tackle could possibly be any extra apparent is that if it contained numbers like “420” or “69”. Someway, not like many of the different ChatGPT frauds, this notably poor try and rip-off folks is (as of penning this) nonetheless stay. Possibly that’s as a result of it does such a foul job at scamming folks that it’s not thought of a menace. Level and snigger, pals.
The place to Discover the Actual ChatGPT

The web site tackle the place you’ll discover the true ChatGPT is likely one of the following:
https://openai.com/weblog/chatgpt

https://chat.openai.com/chat
There isn’t any obtain or cost required to make use of the bottom model of ChatGPT.
Nonetheless, OpenAI has created a premium model of this chatbot referred to as ChatGPT Plus. ChatGPT Plus comes at a subscription price of $20 monthly. You’ll be able to study extra on ChatGPT Plus’s official webpage.
Does ChatGPT Have an App?
No, ChatGPT doesn’t have an app. It’s at the moment solely instantly accessible by means of your browser by way of the web site tackle talked about above (https://openai.com/weblog/chatgpt).
Whereas ChatGPT has been used as a part of some app capabilities (like with Duolingo and Stripe), there may be (on the time of penning this) no ChatGPT app that’s made and run by the corporate that created ChatGPT (OpenAI).
Additionally, there is no such thing as a model of ChatGPT obtainable for obtain—it’s a browser-only chatbot. Nonetheless, you’ll be able to set up it as an “app” with some browsers. For instance, you need to use Microsoft Edge to obtain the web site as an “app”. That is executed by clicking the ellipsis button within the top-right, hovering over “Apps” after which clicking “Set up this website as an app.” It will allow you to open ChatGPT’s official webpage out of your desktop.
There are many ChatGPT-like chatbots on the market. These chatbots imitate ChatGPT in that they use related—albeit much less refined—AI to answer to your messages. None of those clones are created by OpenAI.
With that stated, clones are completely different from scams. Loads of the ChatGPT options you’ll discover on the Google Play retailer (and elsewhere) are easy chatbots which are solely making an attempt to capitalize on ChatGPT’s present fame. Lots of them are usually not explicitly making an attempt to steal your private info.
Conversely, a few of them might be scams, so you need to at all times watch out when downloading apps! Preserve an eye fixed out for imitation ChatGPT apps that ask you to enter bank card particulars or different private info. These are those most definitely to be scams.
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