Resellers move 1,000+ Claude accounts a month

A threat-research write-up by Matt Lenhard traces where AI relays get their account supply: brokers who handle KYC checks and foreign cards, selling on to token resellers, to foreign model labs sourcing accounts for distillation, and to users dodging geo restrictions.

One broker presented itself as a UK-registered software design studio with a corporate address, while emailing around to source 1,000+ Claude accounts per month. One of the larger account marketplaces claims to be doing about $28,000 a day.

Chinese shops sell wholesale under Anthropic’s list price, so relays can pick up tokens below cost and resell them. On the Russian marketplace plati.market, retail buyers who can’t get a card to clear pay 69% above list for a month of Claude Max 5x.