Mistype the name of an AI tool and you may end up on a page built to infect your computer. Researchers at the browser-security company Island say they found 186 lookalike addresses spread over 27 AI brands, and that simple slips of the finger on those names led to fake verification screens, hijacked browsers and extensions that quietly swap your search engine.
ChatGPT, Claude, DeepSeek, Perplexity, Midjourney, ElevenLabs and Cursor are among the names imitated. ChatGPT is the most copied with 25 lookalikes, ahead of Claude (18) and DeepSeek (16). Island has labelled the trick TypoPrompting: the wrong page asks you to prove you are human, install something or run a command, instead of showing the tool you wanted.
The slips Island lists are everyday ones: an S for an A in clsude, two letters swapped in cluade, a missing L in caude, an extra E in deeepseek. According to Island’s research post, such a domain first shows a parked page, then forwards the visit through an ad network that sorts people by country, operating system and browser. Some visitors see nothing harmful. Others are sent down one of three paths.
Path one starts at cloude[.]ai. A Windows user lands on a fake Cloudflare-style human check that says to press Windows+R, paste and hit Enter. The pasted text fetches a PowerShell script and runs it in a hidden window, skipping the usual script restrictions. The download address is typed as a single long number rather than four dotted groups, which slips past filters that look for ordinary IP addresses. The same back end serves 211 front-door domains, some imitating banks and insurers. Mac users get a similar fake Terminal or update prompt.
Path two took eight typos of Claude, DeepSeek, Copilot and ElevenLabs to a bogus “Security Check” page that pushed an app called Net Guard. Oddly, it is a genuine Microsoft Store listing, identical to the file the Store hosts and signed by Microsoft. Island’s code analysis says the app can change the default search engine, run scripts inside the browser and add extensions, with all of that switched on by default. Two other apps share the same code.
Path three began with a Perplexity typo and ended at the install page for a Chrome extension that routes address-bar searches through a third party. It belongs to a set of 30 made from one template. Thirteen are gone from the Chrome Web Store, while the remaining 17 were listing a combined 972,000 users on 3 November.
For ordinary readers the fix is simple: reach AI tools through a bookmark or the official app rather than typing the name, and never paste into the Run box or Terminal because a web page said to. Island’s own advice is aimed at company IT teams, who can set approved bookmarks and control extensions and installers centrally.
