Is That Free AI Subscription Giveaway Real?

Short answer: usually not. Fake giveaways for free ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini subscriptions are built to steal your Google account, and the trick they use fools even careful people.

What the fake giveaway looks like

Paid AI tools can cost $20 a month or more, so a free month sounds like a real treat. Scammers know that. In September 2026, security researchers found a fake page claiming that Anthropic, the company behind Claude, had passed 100 million users and was giving away 10,000 free one-month subscriptions to Claude Max.

A counter on the page showed fewer than 750 places left, dropping every few seconds. None of it was real. The number was made up inside your own browser and started again every time the page was reloaded. Its only job was to make you hurry.

The fake sign-in window

To "claim" the subscription, the page asks you to sign in. It says Apple sign-in is not working, which steers you to the Google button. Click it, and a window appears that looks exactly like Google's real sign-in page, with a padlock and the correct Google web address at the top.

That window is not Google. It is a picture of a window, drawn inside the scam page itself, address bar and padlock included. Whatever you type into it goes straight to the scammers.

How to tell a fake sign-in window from a real one

1. Try to drag it. On a computer, grab the top of the sign-in window and drag it outside your browser. A real Google window is separate and moves freely. A fake one is stuck inside the page and stops at its edge. This is the simplest test there is.
2. Look at the real address bar. The one at the very top of your browser, not the one inside the pop-up. If it shows the giveaway site and not google.com, you are still on the scam page.
3. Watch your password manager. If your browser or password manager normally fills in your Google password but stays quiet here, that is because it knows this is not really Google.
4. Be wary of "only a few left" counters. Real companies rarely give away paid plans through a countdown on a page you reached from a link.

Fake AI tool websites are a wider problem

Giveaways are not the only trap. Researchers also found more than 100 look-alike websites selling subscriptions to AI tools, some copying real product names and others inventing new ones, with prices from under $10 a month to more than $2,000 a year. Sign in, and you land on a pricing page, not a working tool. Several of them also ask you to upload documents, photos, or recordings for the "AI" to process.

Before you pay for, or upload anything to, an AI tool you found through an ad or a link, check the web address against the company's official site, look for independent reviews, and look for its app in the official app stores. Never upload private documents to a service when you cannot tell who runs it.

If you already signed in on one of these pages

1. Change your Google password now, by going to your Google account yourself, not through any link.
2. Turn on 2-Step Verification if it is not already on, so a password alone cannot get someone in.
3. Check your devices and connected apps in your Google account security settings, and remove anything you do not recognize.
4. Change the password on any other account that used the same password, starting with your email and banking apps.
5. If you paid a fake AI site, call your bank or card company using the number on the back of your card and ask about stopping the payment.

The rule is the same for every free offer: if you want a free trial of ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini, go to the company's own website or app by typing the address yourself.

Sources: Malwarebytes: Fake Claude Max giveaway hides a Google account phishing trap · Malwarebytes: The fake sites using a cheap toolkit to sell $2,000 AI subscriptions