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You search the app store for a homework chatbot, and the top results all have a robot face or a name one letter off. Some are real. Some are lookalikes built to show ads, push a weekly subscription or install malware. You can check most of them in a couple of minutes, before you tap Install.
What is a fake AI chatbot app?
A fake AI chatbot app is one that borrows the name, icon or look of a well-known AI service so you think it is the official app or connected to it. Both big stores ban this. Apple's App Review Guidelines tell developers not to "make some minor changes to another app's name or UI and pass it off as your own". Google Play's impersonation policy says it does not allow "apps that mislead users by impersonating someone else" or another app. Lookalikes still get through.
In its 2023 FleeceGPT report, security firm Sophos described "fleeceware" apps such as "Chat GBT", which was full of ads and locked after just three uses until you signed up for a subscription. Others kept interrupting with free-trial prompts that led to recurring charges. One, Genie AI Chatbot, charged $7 a week or $70 a year, and Sophos, citing Sensor Tower data, reported it had made over $700,000 in the previous month.
The problem has grown since. Kaspersky reported in May 2026 that its products detected more than 92,000 attacks by malware and potentially unwanted applications disguised as AI services between January and early May 2026. Fake ChatGPT applications made up 49% of those attacks, and fake Claude and Gemini apps 18% each.
How do you spot a fake AI chatbot app before installing it?
Run these five checks on the store page. If an app fails even one, skip it.
Developer name. Tap the developer name under the app title and read it in full. The official ChatGPT app is listed under OpenAI on Google Play and OpenAI OpCo, LLC on the App Store. A different name, or a developer whose other apps are all "AI Photo" and "AI Wallpaper", is a warning sign.
Permissions and data. On Google Play, open the Data safety section, where developers describe how their app handles your data. A chatbot has no reason to want your contacts, SMS or precise location. After installing, Android lets you set permissions such as location, camera and microphone to Allow only while using the app, Ask every time or Don't allow.
Reviews, sorted by newest. Skip the star average and read recent one- and two-star reviews. Look for the words "charged", "subscription", "can't cancel" and "ads". Sophos found some of these apps kept interrupting users with requests for a rating, so a high average tells you little.
Payment prompts. A paywall before your first question, a weekly price, or a "free trial" with a tiny close button suggests the app is built around the subscription rather than its answers.
Where the download came from. Install only from the official store or a link on the company's own website, never from an APK file sent on WhatsApp or Telegram. Kaspersky advises sticking to AI services from reputable companies with strong privacy and security track records.
What does a fake app look like in practice?
Here is a made-up listing built from the patterns above. Try it as a drill with your teenager.
Name: "Chat GTP: AI Ask Anything"
Developer: "Smart Mobile Tools Ltd", whose other apps are a flashlight and a QR scanner
Data safety: collects contacts and precise location
Reviews: a high star average, but the newest say "charged after free trial, can't cancel"
First screen: "Start free trial" in a big button, with a small grey X in a corner
Each line fails one check. If you are a parent, say it like this: "Before you install any AI app, show me the developer name and the price screen. If both look right, go ahead."
The same habit works for any study tool you pick, ours included. If you try Fermi's AI tutor, a one-to-one tutor that explains and works through problems alongside you, check that the address is beta.fermi.ai before you sign up. Our guide to what parents should check for privacy in learning apps goes deeper on data, and the same permission logic applies to AI homework browser extensions.
What should you do if you already installed or paid?
Cancel the subscription in the store, not in the app. On Android, follow Google Play's cancel a subscription steps. On iPhone, go to Settings, tap your name, then Subscriptions, as Apple's guide shows.
Uninstall the app.
If you typed a password into it, change that password.
If you shared personal details in the chat, read what not to share with an AI chatbot and stop sharing more.
If money was taken by fraud, the Ministry of Home Affairs runs the toll-free helpline 1930 for reporting financial fraud, linked to the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal at cybercrime.gov.in.
