AI Sharing Site Scams Exposed: How Fake Version Numbers Harvest Traffic

When "GPT 5.6" and "Claude Opus 4.8" Flood Your Feed, It's Time to Stay Calm

Recently, domestic Chinese social media platforms have been flooded with clickbait content claiming that "ChatGPT 5.6" and "Claude Opus 4.8" are about to be released, using these claims to promote so-called "domestic VPN-free shared sites." However, anyone with basic knowledge of the AI industry can see — these version numbers are completely fabricated.

As of now, OpenAI's latest released models are GPT-4o and the o3 series, while Anthropic's latest models are Claude Sonnet 4 and Claude Opus 4. The so-called "5.6" and "4.8" version numbers are pure fiction, serving only one purpose: using sensational headlines to attract traffic and funnel users to shared sites for monetization.

Understanding Model Version Numbers: Why "5.6" and "4.8" Are Obviously Fake

OpenAI's model naming has evolved from GPT-1 through GPT-4, with each major version number representing a significant architectural or capability upgrade. After GPT-4, OpenAI shifted to function-oriented naming, such as GPT-4o (where "o" stands for "omni") and the o1/o3 series (emphasizing reasoning capabilities). Anthropic's Claude uses a "generation + capability tier" naming system, such as Claude 3.5 Sonnet and Claude 4 Opus, where Haiku, Sonnet, and Opus represent lightweight, mid-tier, and flagship capability levels respectively. Understanding these naming conventions makes it easy to identify fabricated version numbers like "GPT 5.6" and "Claude Opus 4.8" — they don't conform to either company's naming conventions, nor is there any official source to corroborate them.

How AI Sharing Sites Operate and Their Security Risks

How Do Sharing Sites Work?

The core model of these sites isn't complicated: operators purchase several paid accounts like ChatGPT Plus, then use technical means to "share" access to these accounts with a large number of users. Users don't need to register themselves or use a VPN — seemingly convenient.

From a technical implementation perspective, sharing sites typically achieve multi-user access through API key pooling or reverse-engineering the official web interface. In the API model, operators purchase multiple API keys and build an intermediary proxy layer for request distribution and load balancing. The web reverse-engineering model simulates browser login behavior by capturing and reusing official session tokens. Some sites also use edge computing services like Cloudflare Workers as proxy relays to circumvent regional restrictions. This architecture means all user requests must pass through servers controlled by the operator, creating natural conditions for a Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) attack — operators can intercept, log, and tamper with all communications without users' knowledge.

The site shown in the video claims to offer an "official original experience," supporting all mainstream LLMs including GPT, Claude, DeepSeek, Gemini, and Grok, with "unlimited usage."

Potential Risks of Using Sharing Sites

However, this model carries multiple hidden dangers:

1. Extremely high data security risks. Everything you input on a sharing site — including personal information, business documents, code, etc. — passes through third-party servers. Site operators have full capability to log, store, and even sell your conversation data. Legitimate AI service providers typically follow strict data protection frameworks: OpenAI's API service promises not to use user data for model training (requiring users to actively opt-in), while Anthropic emphasizes its Constitutional AI safety design philosophy. In China, the Personal Information Protection Law and the Interim Measures for the Management of Generative AI Services clearly regulate data collection, storage, and usage for AI services. Sharing sites, as unauthorized third parties, are neither effectively bound by these regulations nor equipped with the data security infrastructure of legitimate providers — user data is left completely unprotected.

2. No guarantee of service stability. Shared accounts can be banned by the official platform at any time, and sites may disappear overnight. Claims of "long-term free access" are usually just marketing tactics, with a high probability of transitioning to paid models later.

3. Violation of terms of service. Account sharing explicitly violates the terms of use of companies like OpenAI and Anthropic, creating legal compliance risks.

4. Features may not be "full-powered." Although the video claims that "many domestic mirror sites are crippled versions," implying theirs is the "full version," the stability and feature completeness of sharing sites themselves are equally difficult to guarantee.

Why Does Fake AI Information Persist?

Traffic Anxiety Breeds Clickbait

The information gap in the AI field is a massive traffic gateway. Many ordinary users lack understanding of model version numbers and release cadences, making them susceptible to phrases like "just released" or "coming soon." Content creators know this well, fabricating non-existent version numbers to create urgency — "Others are already using next-gen AI while you're still stuck at the registration step" — precisely targeting users' FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) psychology.

FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) is a typical psychological phenomenon of the social media era, referring to the anxiety people feel from worrying about missing important information or opportunities. In the AI field, this psychology is repeatedly exploited by marketers: by creating the illusion of a "technology gap," they imply that users will be left behind if they don't act immediately. Cognitive psychology research shows that when people are in an anxious state of information asymmetry, their decision-making quality drops significantly, making them more likely to accept unverified information and act impulsively. This is the psychological foundation for the widespread dissemination of fake AI information — it's not persuading your rationality, it's hijacking your emotions.

Driven by Profit Chains

These videos typically pin promotional links in the comments section, profiting through registration commissions and membership fees. A single viral video can bring in thousands of registered users, with considerable economic benefits behind it.

Safety Tips for Using AI Tools Correctly

Official Channels Are Always the Best Choice

For users who have the means, using official services directly is the safest and most stable option. There are also many excellent LLMs available for direct legal use within China:

• DeepSeek: A domestic open-source model with excellent performance, directly accessible in China
• Tongyi Qianwen (Qwen): Made by Alibaba, comprehensive in features
• Kimi: Made by Moonshot AI, outstanding in long-text processing
• Doubao: Made by ByteDance, good daily usage experience

As of 2025, domestic Chinese LLMs have reached world-class levels in multiple benchmark tests. DeepSeek-R1 excels in mathematical reasoning and code generation tasks, and its open-source strategy has earned widespread community support. The Tongyi Qianwen (Qwen) series continues to iterate on multimodal understanding and tool calling, now supporting ultra-long context windows. Kimi is known for its 2-million-character long-text processing capability, making it particularly suitable for document analysis and academic research. These models are all deployed on domestic servers, require no VPN, offer guaranteed data compliance, and mostly provide free or low-cost usage quotas. Rather than risking data leaks by using dubious sharing sites, it's better to fully explore these readily available quality tools.

Develop AI Information Literacy

When facing various claims in the AI field, consider adopting these habits:

1. Verify information sources: Major model releases always come with official blog posts and technical reports, not just self-media promotion
2. Check version number plausibility: Understand the naming conventions and release cadences of mainstream models
3. Be wary of "free lunches": If a service seems too good to be true, it probably isn't true
4. Pay attention to data security: Any third-party platform that requires you to input sensitive information deserves scrutiny

Final Thoughts

The rapid development of AI technology is genuinely exciting, but precisely because of this, we need to maintain rationality and judgment. Real technological progress doesn't need fake version numbers to create hype. Rather than chasing a non-existent "GPT 5.6," it's better to learn how to properly use the AI tools already at your fingertips — their capabilities may far exceed your imagination.

Choosing legitimate channels, protecting personal data, and improving your ability to discern truth from fiction — that's how you truly "keep up" in the AI era.