Hi everyone,
I’m a solo developer. In May 2026 I bought $10 of Gemini API prepay credits and only generated a few test images. My API key was accidentally exposed in a front-end Vercel deployment. Google suspended the project, my restore request was refused, and I deleted the project.
Months later, my first time opening AI Studio billing, I see a balance of -$57.68. I never turned on auto-reload, and I didn’t make that usage. It looks like abuse of the leaked key that went past my prepaid credits before the cut-off.
I tried to contact Cloud Billing Support, but every console page (billing, support, chat) redirects to “Upgrade Google Cloud account to continue with Express mode”, which requires adding a payment method. I can’t afford the balance and don’t want to add a card just to open a ticket.
Could someone from the Google team please review this balance and grant a one-time adjustment for the unauthorized usage, or tell me how to reach billing support without upgrading?
I can share my billing account ID by private message. Thank you!