The popular Honey extension has caught cheating users and YouTubers

PayPal Score is high popular browser extension It promises users the best deals during e-shopping. Right before checkout, the tool scans the web for applicable coupon codes and, in theory, presents them all to you. Sounds too good to be true, right? Because it is. A new study has revealed how the Honey extension actually works, and it appears to be deceiving both the creators who promote it and the customers who rely on their discounts.

There is a YouTube channel MegaLag investigated PayPal exposed how Bal worked behind the scenes and the malicious activities he chose to do to harm everyone involved. For years, many well-known YouTubers, bloggers, and other creators have been promoting browser extensions on their platforms. What they don’t know is that Honey has been stealing their affiliate income the whole time.

When a customer allows Honey to search for coupons at checkout, the service silently deletes existing shared cookies and inserts its own cookies. This predatory behavior allows PayPal Inc. to rake in the commission, even though creators are actually directing users to select products. Simply put, YouTubers have been promoting the tool that stole from them all this time.

Honey’s effects go beyond the creators; the service also has a negative impact on you – the user. While the extension promises to find the best deals online, it sometimes intentionally hides them from you. When a merchant signs up for Honey’s (insignificant) cashback program, it gives them full control over the coupons offered by the extension. This allows sellers to hide better discounts from Honey users that are publicly shared online.

Given the blind trust, many customers do not search the web, believing that Honey provides honest results. Thus, they miss out on the most profitable promotions shared elsewhere because they opt for the smaller ones offered by the deceptive extension.