A Claude user in South Korea says Anthropic sent him payment failure notices two days in a row — first for $1.67 million, then for $16.63 million, roughly ten times the previous amount.
The emails came from Stripe, Anthropic's billing system. The user's bank also received an overseas charge request but blocked it because it exceeded the single-transaction limit. No money was actually taken.
The user says his account page shows a free plan and zero API usage. After checking for bots, agents, and automated scripts, he found no Anthropic API keys that could have generated charges.
Anthropic Korea says it can't provide details because the account is personal, and suggests the user contact customer support. Anthropic's headquarters hasn't released an official statement yet.
Earlier, billing audit firm Vaudit said that in a review of $34 million in AI bills, it found about $1.7 million in suspected overcharges, mainly involving Claude Code. Anthropic denies widespread overbilling.