Fake ChatGPT App scours Mac App Mall: 99% of the code is the same, "changing face" fraudulently obtains money.
CTOnews.com, April 26 (Xinhua)-- Alex Kleber, a researcher at security agency Privacy 1st, posted a blog post last weekend, saying that dozens of fake OpenAI / ChatGPT apps have sprung up on Mac App Store and made a lot of money from them.
Users can see a variety of fake applications by searching for the keywords OpenAI or ChatGPT on Mac App Store. The blog post said that these developers used keywords, misleading marketing strategies, fake marketing and other strategies to mislead Mac users to click on and use these applications.
The blog post mentions Pixelsbay and ParallelWorld, developed by a Pakistani company, with 99% of the same code, but with a different name and icon.
All these fake apps aim at the current situation that users don't know much about, charging relatively high prices, thus making a lot of money for application developers.
ChatGPT is free to use. OpenAI offers a "Plus" program that is more responsive and gives priority access to new features at a price of $20 a month (CTOnews.com Note: currently about RMB 138). Microsoft's OpenAI-based Bing chat robot is available for free, and Google's chat robot version of Google Bard is also free.
