Host leaked your AI key: how to ask OpenAI / Anthropic for a refund

What each provider says

• OpenAI. "An exposed API key can allow unauthorized API usage through your account, which can result in charges." On prepaid credits: "Credits are non-refundable unless required by law or contract, or an approved exception applies"; unused credits may qualify for "confirmed unauthorized activity", and credits already used "may qualify only for confirmed unauthorized use or a verified billing correction, subject to applicable law or contract."
• Anthropic. "If someone obtains and uses your API key, they incur charges on your behalf." On credits: "All credit purchases are non-refundable." Its compromised-key article says to revoke the key and, "If you continue to see any suspicious API activity or have other concerns," contact support.
• Our note: OpenAI states a path for used credits; Anthropic doesn't. Ask either way, and expect Anthropic to treat it case by case.

Before you ask

1. Revoke the key. OpenAI: "Delete the affected key through the API key dashboard." Anthropic: on the API keys page of the Claude Console (platform.claude.com/settings/keys), the three-dot menu next to the key, then "Delete API key." Create the replacement on the same page and put it only in your new host's secret store.

2. Export the usage. OpenAI: "Review your API usage for unexpected activity and keep the details"; it supports tracking usage by API key. Anthropic recommends the Logs (platform.claude.com/logs) and Usage (platform.claude.com/usage) pages for your keys. Note the key's name, the hours and models that aren't yours, and the total.

3. Cap what a leaked key can spend. OpenAI: an organization or project hard limit "to stop affected API requests when tracked spend reaches that amount" (enforcement "is not instantaneous"). Anthropic: spend limits on the Billing page for custom rate limit orgs; for standard orgs, auto-reload settings, which it calls "a safeguard against unexpected high usage that could result from leaked keys."

4. Secure the account if more than the key leaked. OpenAI's fraud article: update your password, "Log out of all sessions", rotate the API key. On Platform, Your Profile > Security > Log out of all devices.

Want us to run it for you? The Ship Check Audit lists every key that ever left your server and confirms each old value now gets a 401 or 403: $149, within 48 hours.

Where to ask

• OpenAI: open a new chat on any Help Center page and "Include details of activity you didn't perform or authorize," or use the Fraudulent Activity webform and choose "Report unauthorized activity involving my account."
• Anthropic: in the Console, click your initials or name in the lower left, select "Get help", then "Send us a message"; the support bot passes cases that need investigation to the Product Support team, whose reply arrives in the same conversation and by email.

What to send

Our list, built so support can separate your traffic from the attacker's. Never paste the key itself: Anthropic says not to include API keys in support tickets, even to Anthropic.

• The key's name or ID, and the project (OpenAI) or workspace (Anthropic) it belonged to.
• The window in UTC: when the host says the breach started, when you noticed, when you revoked the key.
• The usage export for that window, and the same key's usage for a normal week so the difference is visible.
• A link to the host's incident notice. For this autumn's breaches, Black October: every AI dev platform breach in one list links each vendor's own notice.
• What you changed: the replacement key, the spend limit, where the new key now lives.

A card dispute can block the refund

OpenAI, on card charges: "We cannot issue a separate refund while a dispute is active or after funds have already been returned through that dispute," and on prepaid billing, "If a payment is disputed or refunded, credits equivalent to that amount are removed from your account." Our note: if auto-reload charged your card for the attacker's usage, ask the provider first and tell support if you have already opened a dispute.

Then check that the old key is dead

1. 401 means revoked:

   curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}\n" \
     https://api.openai.com/v1/models \
     -H "Authorization: Bearer $OLD_OPENAI_API_KEY"
   
   curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}\n" \
     https://api.anthropic.com/v1/models \
     -H "x-api-key: $OLD_ANTHROPIC_API_KEY" \
     -H "anthropic-version: 2023-06-01"

2. Our note: don't count on automatic revocation here. OpenAI disables keys it finds "on the public internet, or leaked inside an app in an app store," and Anthropic deactivates keys GitHub reports from public repositories. A key read out of a host's database is in neither place.