Let me tell you an ugly story. It starts with me (of course), a cup of coffee in a local cafe bar (regular, please), and a realization. I was scrolling through some reviews online when it hit me…. My digital wallet that held my money was holding me hostage.
Yeah, you know the one I’m talking about. PayPal. Elon’s brainchild before he got a God complex, a nose correction, and a hair-transplant.
This so-called “secure” payment option is as trustworthy as Dutch politicians who are promising you tax cuts. Have you ever tried to cancel a subscription on PayPal? It feels like breaking up with a clingy ex who just won’t leave.
But, this story ain’t about PayPal alone.
No, it gets worse.
Have you ever heard of “Honey”?
No, I’m not talking the stuff that Winnie’s supposed to like (btw. ever seen “Winnie the Pooh, blood and honey”?)
Off-topic, I know.
What I wanted to say, is that Honey is that cute little browser extension that promises to save you money.
It is a “Find the best deals” extension.
At least, that is what they said.
“Save on everything you love” that is what their pitch was.
Well, it turns out that Honey isn’t about giving you best deals, but more about stealing cookies. And I don’t mean the chocolate chip kind.
The data kind.
And with it, they were pulling off one of the slickest scams in tech history. Made possible by PayPal. Their parent company, yes.
Here’s the deal with honey
It started off innocent enough.
You get a little plugin to help you find coupons.
I’ve have a few before, and they can get you between 10 and 20% discount on most deals.
Does sound sweet.
Right?
Wrong.
But it was that Honey did more than just clipping digital coupons. It was tracking everything I did. And I mean everything. My purchases, my clicks, and my browsing habits.
Then, it made you interact.
Even when you didn’t want to.
Why?
So it could steal affiliate commissions.
And the heist was oh so simple, and beautiful on it’s own f* up way. I think that it’s a masterpiece of digital thievery.
Honey had 20 million users.
That’s 20 million people who were all to happy to hand over their data, all so Honey could rake in tens of billions.
Yeah, billions.
Not millions.
BILLIONS!
And how it did this thievery was short of brilliant.
“Best deals” extensions are usually just a passive middleman who is collecting its cut (say 10% on avg). But honey was a straight-up commission thief. Because their cookies were so invasive, it could push away other intermediates (like an influencer) and steal their cut.
Ok, let’s make a mental picture of this: You are a content creator, a writer. You have built a fairly large community that you can start to monetize. And now you want to drive traffic to a product link. Of course you’ve got your affiliate deal set up, and every sale that someone makes through your link should earn you a little commission.
That’s kinda how it works.
Wrong, my intellectually gifted friend.
Because here comes Honey. And it is slipping in all your purchases like a digital pickpocket.
When a potential buyer is about to check out, Honey flashes its “look at me, I’m helpful” discount pop-up. And when the user clicks it, Honey hijacks the affiliate link.
Now, instead of you (the content creator) getting paid for driving the sale, Honey swoops in and takes the commission for themselves.
This is theft way beyond any scale. AND it is corporate fraud with a friendly UX.
And they didn’t skim from individuals alone.
They undermined entire affiliate ecosystems. Small creators, bloggers, and influencers, all got screwed. Businesses that were paying to reward real partners, got screwed too. And Honey laughed all the way to the bank.
And this wasn’t the only trick they pulled……
And I need you to sit back, and think about this…now how does a company shell out cash to everyone and their grandma to promote its product while also claiming to get you the “best deals”?
The thing is that Honey doesn’t find you the best deals on the internet. It shows you their deals (the ones they profit from). The ones they decide you should see. This is not saving you money, it is about funneling your purchases through their commission machine.
And the worst part is that you trust it. You see the shiny pop-up, click “apply coupon”, and feel like you’re winning. But you’re not. The real deals are hidden. Buried. Not on their radar because those discounts don’t make them money. Honey is a gatekeeper, and they are controlling what you can access and steering you straight into their pockets.
Avoid it, unless you like being played.
More anti big-tech after the commercial brake
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Let’s do some calculation
If Honey had 20 million users (real number) and was skimming affiliate commissions from every transaction, the numbers get way up there, really fast. Let’s do some napkin math.
Let’s assume:
- Each user generates $100 in online purchases annually (conservative for frequent online shoppers).
- Honey takes an average of 10% in affiliate commissions (a common rate).
Here’s the math:
20 million users × $100 × 10% = $200 million annually.
Now multiply that over, say, five years of active scamming:
$1 billion.
But this is a very conservative estimate. Because Honey’s reach went beyond just individual users. Think of the businesses and partnerships involved. The dark underbelly of affiliate marketing likely pushed these numbers even higher, like into the multiple billions when you factor in non-user-driven gains and corporate deals.
So, yeah. Honey was a deal maker, yeah. Mainly for itself. It was a money printer disguised as a helper.
Thank you Elon.
And when the scam came to light, guess what happened.
Nothing.
Sure, they lost 3 million users on Chrome.
Big whoop.
They still have 17 million left.
They got caught with their hands in the cookie jar and walked off with the whole jar.
Honey’s parent company: PayPal
But let’s talk about the real villain here. PayPal. Yeah, Honey’s parent company. The digital mafia boss of the online payment world. They excel at enabling this kind of crap. And people are starting to realize they are the brains behind many scamming ops. They have the integrity of my Tinder dates who claimed they’re 6’5’’ and love Dachshunds.
Their reviews show the truth behind their corporate face… People are begging for their money back after PayPal froze their accounts for “security reasons”. Ever try getting your funds back after PayPal decides that you’re a risk? Good luck, apparently. Maybe you’ll see your money again in 180 days. Maybe not.
Oh, and those terms of service are a joke. They can do whatever they want. Close your account. Lock your funds. Fine you $2,500 for “misinformation”. Remember that little mishap some time ago? They updated their policy to fine people for saying things they didn’t like.
Fine people..
Just get your dirty greedy little fat fingers out of my wallet.
Mistakenly, they said. Of course, threatening your users with massive fines for free speech is a mistake.
A mistake you hopefully won’t recover from.
Yet it did.
PayPal is holding on to your money. And they’re holding on to your data. Every click, every purchase, every transaction. They know more about you than your ex.
And they don’t care.
Because they’re too big to go bust.
They’ve got the market in a chokehold. Do you have frozen funds? Wow, it just sucks to be you. They’re untouchable.
So, what do we do.
Class action lawsuits?
Sure, that’s cute.
Not you, my intelligent friend.
PayPal’s lawyers eat lawsuits for breakfast. They will settle for pennies on the dollar and keep right on going. And if you think this is about Honey alone, well this is gonna be an eye-opener. This is the corporate playbook. Exploit the user. Steal the data. Profit. Repeat.
Here’s my advice.
Delete PayPal.
Delete Honey.
Hell, delete your whole damn browser if you have to.
Start over. Go analog. Cash under the mattress. Barter chickens with your neighbors. Anything but this. Because if you’re still using PayPal, you might as well tattoo “scam me” on your forehead.
Signing off with all the warmth of a frozen PayPal account, by saying this to you.
Marco
Well, that’s a wrap for today. Tomorrow, I’ll have a fresh episode of TechTonic Shifts for you. If you enjoy my writing and want to support my work, feel free to buy me a coffee ♨️
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