Popular Honey extension caught cheating users and YouTubers

PayPal Honey is a very popular browser extension that promises users the best deals when shopping online. Right before you check out, the tool scans the web for relevant coupon codes and theoretically presents them all to you. Sounds too good to be true, right? That’s because it is. A new investigation has revealed how the Honey extension actually works, apparently cheating both the creators who promote it and the customers who rely on its discounts.

The YouTube channel MegaLag has investigated how PayPal Honey works in the background and revealed the malicious activities it chooses to harm everyone involved. For years, many well-known YouTubers, bloggers and other creators have promoted the browser extension on their platforms. Little do they know that Honey has been stealing their affiliate income all along.

When a customer lets Honey search for coupons during checkout, the service silently deletes the existing affiliate cookies and injects its own. This unmatched behavior gives PayPal Inc. opportunity to earn the commission – despite the fact that creators actually direct users to the chosen products. In short, YouTubers have been promoting a tool that steals from them all the time.

Honey’s implications extend beyond creators; the service also affects you – the user – negatively. Although the extension promises to find the best deals online, it sometimes hides them from you on purpose. When a merchant signs up for Honey’s (negligible) cashback program, it gives them full control over the coupons that the extension presents. This allows sellers to hide better discounts shared publicly online from Honey users.

Given the blind trust, many customers do not bother to search online, believing that Honey gives honest results. So they end up missing out on the most beneficial promotions shared elsewhere as they opt for the lesser ones presented by the fraudulent extension.