Honey Browser extension GIGA scam exposed today

[tenfo]

11 hours ago, mmKay said:

Use Wise or Stripe if you can, it has way lower commissions and you can email an invoice just like with PayPal . 

I use Wise already and it is my preferred way of payment, along with direct bank transfer.

The thing is that sometimes PayPal is the only way to get paid, depending on the country. 

 

[mmKay]

The ripple effect has started 

 

 

 

 

[Leo Gura]

We gotta boycott and bury this devilish Honey thing.

Make Paypal regret ever acquiring it.

We need some lawsuits for fraud and theft.

Edited December 25, 2024 by Leo Gura

[mmKay]

Wise man's gut instinct predicts Honey scandal

 

The fact that millions of people used it for years without ever noticing the scam makes me wonder how many other scams like this have gone unnoticed.

This practice is not new and is illegal. Look up " Cookie Stuffing " or " Affiliate Hijacking"

Edited December 27, 2024 by mmKay

[RightHand]

I wonder why Google hasn’t thought of this. They could capture all affiliate marketing revenue through Chrome.

[Leo Gura]

2 hours ago, RightHand said:

I wonder why Google hasn’t thought of this. They could capture all affiliate marketing revenue through Chrome.

Google is gonna be lucky if it still owns Chrome a year from now.

[something_else]

2 hours ago, mmKay said:

This practice is not new and is illegal. Look up " Cookie Stuffing " or " Affiliate Hijacking"

What Honey is doing is probably not categorically illegal. They only update the affiliate cookie when you click on their browser extension which pops up at checkout, so in theory they could probably argue that they got the 'last click' from the user and thus are owed the affiliate money.

The issue is that almost everyone can see that this is extremely unfair. Especially when Honey can't even find you a coupon and their extension pops up with a little 'dismiss' button that if you click, will still replace the affiliate cookie with honey, despite them doing nothing for you. However, it likely isn't illegal because you did click on their service.

 

[mmKay]

17 minutes ago, something_else said:

Extremely unfair but not illegal 

 

Sounds absolutely mouth-watering for a certain type of mind 😉

[RightHand]

29 minutes ago, something_else said:

However, it likely isn't illegal because you did click on their service.

 

Would that fly in court ? 

[Lyubov]

On 12/25/2024 at 11:25 AM, Leo Gura said:

We gotta boycott and bury this devilish Honey thing.

Make Paypal regret ever acquiring it.

We need some lawsuits for fraud and theft.

If this doesn’t bring PayPal down… nothing will. Forget all the lack of seller protections which let scammers steal from small businesses. I remember reading how one guy literally recorded himself with a GoPro shipping packages to customers because he had a zero protection if a customer wanted to charge back. Let’s not forget the absolutely insane fees. It’s a horrible service. Like I said, I have no idea how they are still in business 

Edited December 28, 2024 by Lyubov

[Leo Gura]

Nothing will bring down Paypal. That's not the problem. The problem is the Honey plugin.

All payment processors charge about 3% fees.

Edited December 28, 2024 by Leo Gura

[Scholar]

9 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

Nothing will bring down Paypal. That's not the problem. The problem is the Honey plugin.

All payment processors charge about 3% fees.

The solution is we need to not have a monopoly on every single online media aspect, including online banking. It's simply not good.

We need to have various versions of twitter, paypal, youtube and so forth. 

[Leo Gura]

 

On 12/28/2024 at 3:19 AM, Scholar said:

The solution is we need to not have a monopoly on every single online media aspect, including online banking. It's simply not good.

We need to have various versions of twitter, paypal, youtube and so forth. 

There's not a monopoly on online payments. There are many payment processors you can choose from. Most of them charge about 3%. And none of them are lovable companies. Payment processing is a hollow and extractive business model.

I have used Paypal for 12+ years, processing nearly $2 million in payments and really have no complaints. It has been smooth all around. The only thing I would like is lower fees, but 3% is industry standard.

Edited Thursday at 05:01 PM by Leo Gura

[Scholar]

2 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

 

There's not a monopoly on online payments. There are many payment processors you can choose from. Most of them charge about 3%. And none of them are really loveable companies. Payment processing is a hollow and extractive sort of business model.

I have used Paypal for 12+ years, processing nearly $2 million in payments and really have no complaints. It has been smooth all around. The only thing I would like is lower fees, but 3% is industry standard.

I don't think there are relevant alternatives to paypal given that most alternatives are not integrated into the respective sites that require such payment methods.

[mmKay]

 

Not much of a new perspective but it does help to spread the word.

[UpperMaster]

hahaha ripple effect is crazy 

[mmKay]

Linus is getting some real heat in the comments for not ringing the bells a few years ago when they discovered Honey's affiliate hijacking.

It's somewhat of a "sin by silence," case . Remaining silent in the face of wrongdoing can make one complicit.

It's understandable why people are upset with him.

However, most of us would have acted the same if we had something to lose , aka fearing upsetting the PayPal mafia and shaking  our bizz.

" It's not our story to break, I'm the victim here " -- true , but don't go Pikachu surprised face when your lack of bravery is publicly criticized, even if it's not fair or not really deserved

 

He's visibly uncomfortable . I'm not sure how to feel about his answer, it feels pretty weak and like he's playing stoopid not understanding what's this about.

 

---

A second part of Megalags video has yet to be released about an even more insidious part of honey: how sometimes Honey actually works as intended and actually offers huge discounts.

My intuition is telling me it's going to something along the lines of  " predatory pricing" ,  like what AliExpress does , where they actually floor the prices, sell products at a loss just to choke competitors margins and drive them out of the market, making any margins impossible.

But it would be in a targeted way? - This is just speculation though and IDK how would it work in detail.

Edited Thursday at 04:58 PM by mmKay

[Leo Gura]

Class action lawsuit filed!!

Hazzah!

 

Edited yesterday at 12:36 AM by Leo Gura

[RightHand]

2 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

Class action lawsuit filed!!

Hazzah!

 

I was just rewatching Better Call Saul 

[Leo Gura]

This thing is gonna turn into a huge clusterfuck for Paypal.