ChatGPT started surfacing fraudulent clones of defunct retail sites when users asked for product recommendations.
Ask Silver, a scam‑checking service, flagged 27 malicious URLs on June 5, 2026. The fake storefronts mimic real brands and aim to steal credit‑card data. The problem was first reported publicly on June 10, 2026, after users began posting screenshots of the bogus links.
The episode shows that large language models can still pull in harmful content from the web, despite OpenAI’s safety filters. It also highlights the need for real‑time monitoring of AI‑generated links, a step many providers have yet to make.
For now, the recommendation is simple: treat any AI‑suggested shopping link as unverified and double‑check the URL before entering payment details.