This week: a fake charge that wants you to call, the scam that hunts scam victims, and free ChatGPT gets better
A Friday read on what actually happened across AI, hardware, and the web. Curated, not chased. If nothing mattered, we’d say so.
Three this week — one scam doing the rounds, one that’s colder than most, and one bit of good news if you use ChatGPT without paying.
The “$149.99 charge” pop-up that wants you to phone
Security researchers at Malwarebytes flagged a scam catching people out this week: a full-screen pop-up, dressed up to look like Apple or Amazon, warning that a $149.99 purchase has gone through on your account. It uses the right logos and fonts and a red alert icon, and it gives you a phone number to call to “cancel” the charge.
The charge isn’t real. The phone number is the trap — call it and a friendly “support” person will try to talk you into installing remote-access software, handing over account details, or paying a “refund fee” in gift cards. A telling detail researchers spotted: the same phone number appears on both the fake Apple and the fake Amazon versions.
What this means for you: real companies don’t tell you about a charge with a pop-up that hands you a number to ring. If one appears, don’t call it — close the tab (force-quit the browser if you have to). Then, if you’re worried, check the account yourself the way you normally would: open the Amazon or Apple app, or type the address in by hand. Your real order history is the only thing that settles it.
Verify it yourself: Malwarebytes · FTC — how to spot tech-support scams
The scam that goes after people who’ve already been scammed
The US Federal Trade Commission put out a warning this week about one of the coldest tricks going: recovery scams. Criminals buy lists of people who’ve recently lost money to fraud, then get in touch promising to get it back — for a fee. They pose as a government agency, a law firm, or a consumer group, and some are brazen enough to impersonate the FTC itself.
There is no magic recovery service. Anyone who asks for an upfront “retainer”, “processing” or “administrative” fee — especially paid in gift cards, cryptocurrency or a wire transfer — is running the second scam on top of the first.
What this means for you: hold onto one rule and it covers all of it — nobody legitimate charges you money up front to recover money you’ve lost. If it happens to you or someone you know, the real steps are free: report it to your bank and to the official fraud line, and be extra wary of the “help” that arrives straight afterwards. There’s more on why these messages feel so convincing in this week’s feature, How scammers know your name.
Verify it yourself: FTC consumer alert · AARP — recovery scams
Free ChatGPT just got a quiet upgrade
Some better news to end on. This week OpenAI made its newer GPT-5.6 model the default for people on the free (and low-cost “Go”) plans, and said it’s removing the cap on how many text chats free users can send — previously you’d hit a limit and be asked to wait or pay. Free users also get a new “Think” button that tells the assistant to take a bit longer on harder questions. The limits that remain are on the heavier stuff: uploading files and images, generating pictures, and voice.
What this means for you: if you use ChatGPT casually and never pay, it just got more capable and less naggy — worth knowing before you assume you need a subscription. One thing that hasn’t changed: a more confident-sounding AI is still an AI, and it can still state something wrong with a straight face. Keep the ten-second habit of checking anything that matters, exactly as we covered in When AI makes things up.
Verify it yourself: OpenAI · TechCrunch