A stolen Gemini API key turned a $180 bill into $82,000 in two days

AI Economy: A team of three developers in Mexico is facing a roughly 455× increase in monthly AI service expenses after an API key associated with their project was allegedly compromised. The key was later used to access Google Gemini services at scale. The small company has reportedly attempted to negotiate relief with Google, but says the company has not offered a payment adjustment.

One of the affected developers shared the incident on Reddit. According to the post, the Google Cloud API key was compromised between February 11 and February 12 and was primarily used to access Gemini 3 Pro Image and Gemini 3 Pro Text services.

The company's typical monthly AI service expense was approximately $180, but the unauthorized usage generated a bill of about $82,314.44. The developers say they were operating under tight financial conditions and were hoping their product would eventually become profitable. Even ...