OpenAI announced in November 2025 that it would cooperate with the identity authentication platform SheerID to provide US active duty military personnel or military personnel within 12 months of retirement (and retirement) with a free 1-year ChatGPT Plus subscription. After opening the subscription, you can use the subscription benefits and some priority features provided by OpenAI for free.
Normally, to subscribe, users need to upload U.S. military ID or retirement certificate and other materials to SheerID for verification. However, the plan was immediately abused after its launch, and many fake or even forged documents appeared in the community for verification for the purpose of free prostitution.
There are even some black and gray industry groups who obtain ChatGPT Plus subscriptions by forging identity certificates in batches and then resell them at low prices. OpenAI has previously removed illegal accounts on a small scale, and now it is removing them on a larger scale.
According to discussions in X/Twitter, Reddit and other communities, OpenAI is strengthening the review process for military identities and verifying existing certifications. Many accounts that have been fraudulently used or forged certificates have been unsubscribed or even banned.
Judging from community discussions, the measures taken by OpenAI include:
Some illegal accounts have been canceled ChatGPT Plus free subscription
Some illegal accounts have been suspended or even permanently banned.
The SheerID verification process has been optimized, adding manual review and anti-fraud detection
Currently, OpenAI continues to provide free ChatGPT Plus subscriptions to U.S. military personnel, and the relevant application portals are still open. However, it may no longer be realistic to continue to forge information to apply for ChatGPT Plus subscriptions after enhanced verification.
In addition, many states in the United States have legal provisions regarding impersonating military personnel. Therefore, behaviors such as impersonating or forging materials not only violate OpenAI’s usage agreement, but may also violate relevant U.S. laws and result in criminal liability.