Cheap AI Token Resellers: The Secret Ingredient is Fraud

Hackaday reports that a shadowy market is selling access to cutting‑edge AI models for roughly one tenth of the normal price. The sellers acquire API tokens for free—by exploiting fresh‑account credits, using stolen or temporary payment cards, initiating chargebacks, or reverse‑engineering consumer software and hijacking poorly coded chatbots. They then wrap those tokens in a polished relay API and resell the service, a practice that’s difficult to trace because token relaying itself isn’t illegal. The article advises that increasing the friction of obtaining free tokens, such as tighter account verification and usage monitoring, can raise fraudsters’ costs and curb the scheme.

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