Have you been the victim of a VPN scam?
With the growing interest in online privacy and security, there are new VPN services popping up every week, promising 100% online anonymity and a “secure and private” browsing experience. And of course, you’ll find plenty of fake reviews on various “best VPN” websites to tell you they’re legit.
Unfortunately, I’ve found that many VPNs are misleading people with false marketing claims, sales gimmicks, and various scams. And because VPNs are often located in overseas jurisdictions, they will probably never be held accountable for dishonest marketing and/or outright fraud.
Since most people don’t know what to watch out for, many fall victim to these common VPN scams.
But you’re smarter than that.
Here are seven issues to avoid:
1. Lifetime VPN subscriptions
Running a fast, safe, secure network of worldwide VPN servers with good apps and support is expensive with fixed recurring costs.
Given these high costs, how can so many VPNs be offering cheap “lifetime subscriptions”?
There are a few different explanations:
- The “free” or cheap VPN is collecting user data and selling it to third parties and advertisers. This is a popular and lucrative business – and it’s most likely the business model behind most free VPNs.
- The VPN blasts you with ads or redirects your browser to third party websites – and then earns commissions on sales.
- The “lifetime” claim is a lie and they will simply cancel your “lifetime” subscription after a year or two (see VPNLand example below).
- The VPN is similar to a Ponzi-scheme, requiring an ever-increasing number of new subscribers to remain financially solvent, until the house of cards collapses.
Bottom line: The “lifetime” is actually referring to the lifetime of the VPN company – not the customer. After selling a large amount of lifetime subscriptions, the owners could simply pay themselves out and then close the business. Buyer beware.
Some VPNs are simply cancelling all “lifetime subscriptions” and converting these accounts to recurring paid subscriptions. Here is one example I found with VPNLand, which is no longer operating (as of 2021):
According to one user, he was given the following reply after he complained:
Just fyi. A “lifetime” account does not mean it will be valid till someone dies. It could be anyones lifespan – such as a cat, or lifespan of a hardware.
Don’t fall for the lifetime VPN scam.
2. Free VPNs
Why are there so many free VPNs?
Answer: Free VPN services are being used as a tool to collect your data and resell it to third parties. Most people focus on the word “free” and ignore the dangers.
Just like with Gmail, Facebook, and other free products/services, free VPNs are are just another way for companies to profit off your private data. Data collection is the basic business model.
Example: This free VPN app is called “VPN Master – Free VPN Proxy” and is officially listed in the Google Play store. Notice that it has a high rating (4.5) and approximately 100,000 downloads.
However, the “VPN Master – Free VPN Proxy” app also had eight positive hits for malware.
Below are the test results from VirusTotal:
Extra Note: This is why you should never trust ratings in the Google Play and Apple stores.
Free VPN apps make money by:
- Stealing your data (via malware, spyware, tracking, logging etc.) and reselling it to third parties
- Redirecting your browser to “partner” websites, such as e-commerce or financial sites
- Stealing your bandwidth and reselling it to third parties (see Hola on the VPN Warning List)
As the saying goes, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Or better yet, when something is free, you are the product.
On a positive note, a VPN subscription also does not have to break the bank. There are a number of cheap VPNs to choose from — but choose carefully.
There are also free trial VPN services to consider as well (try before you buy).
3. Shady free VPN apps
In general, free VPN apps have proven to be a problematic in terms of privacy and security. Recently, there was news about free VPN apps in the Google Play Store that were “designed to deliver financial malware” to unsuspecting victims. While there may be a few exceptions, the vast majority of free VPN apps you find in the Google Play or Apple stores are dangerous and insecure.
One team of researchers published a study of free Android VPN apps and found:
- 84% will leak your real IP address
- 82% attempt to access your sensitive data (user accounts, text messages)
- 75% utilize third-party tracking
- 38% contain malware (malware, trojans, malvertising, riskware, spyware) to steal or damage your information
- 18% don’t even encrypt your data
- 16% steal user bandwidth
When you look closely at the growing VPN app scam, the scariest thing is that many of the most malware-infested apps are highly rated. This means there are literally millions of people using VPNs that contain malware and tracking. This is especially the case for free VPN apps – see the review for Betternet or VPN Master.
Note: Even some paid VPNs were named in the study. We covered this in our Hotspot Shield review, where this VPN had tracking libraries in the Android app.
4. Fake VPNs
With the growing interest in VPNs, fake VPNs are also coming onto the market. In other words, there is no VPN service at all – the scammers sell “VPN subscriptions” and then take your money and run. One example of this was MySafeVPN – but there are other examples as well.
In general, it’s smart to avoid the new VPNs flooding onto the market, promising to make you “anonymous” with their software.
If the VPN service does not have a history and track record of good performance and support, it should probably be avoided.
5. Bogus VPN claims and faulty features
The VPN market is full of false claims. Here are a few common examples:
- No Logs – There are a lot of VPN providers claiming to be a “no logs” or “logless” VPN services, but then carefully disclosing the information that is “collected” in their terms. Examples of this include Betternet and PureVPN. Always read the fine print (privacy policy). See the VPN logs guide for a crash course on this topic.
- “Fastest” VPN – Many VPN services claim to be the “world’s fastest VPN.” Of course this is just marketing, with many VPNs having very mediocre speeds (usually because their servers are overloaded with users).
- IP address “leak protection” features – Lots of VPNs promote various leak protection features that don’t actually work. The only way to verify the features is to run the VPN through a variety of VPN tests and checks.
Here is one example from the PureVPN review. Notice the DNS leaks:
Have your scam radar on high alert when reading the claims and features on various VPN websites.
6. Fake reviews, testimonials and comments
Every week there are new VPN services being offered and dozens of fake reviews to tell you they are amazing.
Over the years, I have seen various VPN providers bombarding forums, comment sections, and social media platforms with fake reviews of their products. This trend has been going on for years and it does not seem to be subsiding.
There also appears to be armies of paid commenters advocating how great certain VPNs are, especially whenever someone posts something negative. It’s good to be cautious of everything you read online when it comes to VPNs, including:
- Reviews
- Testimonials
- Comments
Keep in mind, many VPN “reviews” aren’t based on actual testing. These reviews aren’t reviews at all, but instead just paid marketing slogans.
There have also been VPN review sites caught promoting VPNs they own. Conversely, there are also VPNs that own review sites…
7. VPN-owned “review” websites
Would you trust a movie review that was written by the movie’s own director? What about a book review that was written by the book’s author? The answer to these questions is probably no, because there is an obvious conflict of interest in these cases. So why do we find so many VPN “review” websites owned by VPNs?
All the way back in 2017, I explained how some “VPN review” sites are probably operated by VPN services themselves. Well, this prediction has come true. Below are two examples where the “review” website and the VPN are owned by the same company.
The parent company of PCMag (J2 Global) is buying up VPNs, to include StrongVPN and now IPVanish. They recommend IPVanish in some of their “best VPN” guides, a trend I first reported in 2017. PCMag is a large publisher of digital content and owns many different websites discussing VPNs.
I wrote a report on this issue in 2021 after a major player in the VPN industry bought up a collection of review websites, and then promptly changed the recommendations. In this case, the parent company was Kape Technologies, which owns CyberGhost, Private Internet Access, and Zenmate VPN services. Kape made news when it purchased a company called Webselenese, which runs vpnMentor and Wizcase, two prominent VPN review websites.
Shortly after the purchase, I pointed out how the VPN rankings coincidently changed, with Kape Technologies’ own VPNs (PIA and CyberGhost) getting a boost in the rankings. Here is the top of the website vpnMentor, which describes the new ownership if you click on the “Ownership” link:
There are other examples of this in the industry, some which are documented, and others which are not. So do you think this is a VPN scam, a questionable practice, or perfectly acceptable business venture? I’ll let you be the judge.
8. Third party sales websites
There seems to be a large market right now for third parties selling lifetime VPN subscriptions. These middle men should generally be avoided.
This trend raises a few questions:
- Why trust your private information and banking details to third party sales websites?
- Why is the VPN service even partnering with third party websites to offer “sales” or “lifetime subscriptions”?
This is something we noted in the Windscribe review, although the VPN is no longer selling these types of subscriptions.
It’s best to avoid middle men and third party websites. Buy your subscription directly from the VPN company itself.
I have also seen examples of VPNs cancelling all lifetime subscriptions that were purchased through third parties. When the user complains, neither the VPN company nor the third party sales website take any responsibility.
My recommendation: only deal with your VPN directly, no third parties.
Watch out for VPN scams in 2021
At the end of the day, a high-quality VPN service will not be free and will not resort to various gimmicks to boost their sales numbers. They will also be transparent and should have a strong track record of providing people with a good service.
If you are done reading about scams and want to see some high-quality VPNs that have passed all the privacy and security tests (and are located in good privacy jurisdictions), see my overview of the best VPN services.
You can also browse our page that lists all VPN reviews we’ve conducted over the years (the good and the bad).
Last updated and revised on June 14, 2021.
Got a message saying amazon winner claim your free prize links you to your amazon account and say pay £1 you pay it and then they say sorry but due to high demand you cannot get this prize your bank has not been charged but you end up being charged and no prize
Hi sir! Is it good for a person to torrent movies as long as his or her intention is just to watch them?
And another thing, is EUT VPN a good one? Thank you!
With torrenting, the answer depends on where you live. But the answer is probably no, it is not legal to stream, torrent, or download from unofficial sources. Some governments are going after people for merely streaming sporting events from unauthorized sources. So use a good VPN for torrenting to be on the safe side. Check out our guide on VPNs for torrenting here.
“is EUT VPN a good one?”
No, we do not recommend this free VPN service. Go with a reputable paid VPN, preferably one that has been audited, such as NordVPN, Surfshark, or ExpressVPN. And see our VPN reviews to narrow down your choices.
Hi I want know if hyperGuard VPN is safe or scam
i tried VPN for one day and after i could get installed and tried to contact VPN all i got was a robot telling how to fix the problem there is not phone number to all and you will not talk to a live person so save your money and find another system take care and be safe
Is mobclaw faster VPN a scam?
Is trigger VPN safe?
Hi there!
This morning I opened my Safari and something popped up that looked like it was from the Apple Support Security team. I got sucked into opening an app from the apple Support. It said my phone was compromised with Malware and that my phone could overheat, lose my social accounts and pictures. I took the steps that it told me to take and had me download “Lock VPN”
I then realized it was most likely a problem app so I called Apple Support and they said it looked like it was “phising” They would reimburse the $89.99 that it charged and they advised I delete the app.
Do you think it could do damage in that hour of having the app? Also other than trying to charge the money? Should I be concerned that they now have my credit card info/personal privacy information? Is there someone who can help verify that my personal information is not hacked?
Thank you for your time!
Yes, I would be on high alert with all your accounts and it would probably be a good idea to change your credit card number.
They are all scams we think. Tried many and slowed everything down and why would anyone want to cheat and get Netflix or whatever from another country anyway. They pull you in with very little per month but want the whole amount up front. I’ve been burned three times by vpns claiming to be best. They follow you around too if you pay for torrent app they show up causing nothing but annoying ads. If they are so great why are they so bothersome. We download torrents all the time no problems. Not interested in cheating Netflix or any other of their claims which never worked for us. If they are so great why the dishonesty.
I do fine without them and don’t trust the how do you know they are in this or that country doing what they do correctly?
Yes, free VPNs are generally scams. Paid, reputable VPN services, however, generally deliver on their promises. And accessing different content libraries through your paid Netflix account with a VPN is hardly cheating, assuming you are a paying subscriber.
Hi there
I am using sentinel vpn. It’s a dvpn. Is it good ?
I have the same question too. But as I’ve read somewhere that this vpn is using a different techniques than traditional vpns. They are using something like p2p similar to torrents. But I’m not sure how secure is it although they claim as open sourced.
privateVPN is a scam. after payment they said my transaction id is wrong and they blocked my ip. i even tried to login using another ip address but couldnt. they are totally ripping people off
Hey i just wanted to know if you can figure out if hexatech vpn is a scam or not I need to know
Looking to up my internet security, downloaded the “VPN Sentinel” app for iOS weekly subscription of $12.
What’s your take on it? Should I do more research? How do I know that this app is doing its job/worth the money?
Cheers!
Will VPNs work with subscription based services like Adobe, Sketchup, Office365?
Yes.
Any info on UNITY VPN?
They offer FREE INTERNET with Globe and TM SIM cards.
My wife and daughter live it, I am suspicious as hell. Free Internet? They actually do get online free.
Generally speaking, when something is free, they are figuring out how to monetize the user in some nefarious way. And today, that is by collecting your private data, which is valuable to advertisers.
Agree 100%.
How do I find out exactly what the hustle is?
I need to find the fine print, so I can explain this to my Filipino wife.
Hello Sven
Would like a simple straight forward answer.
After all of the information you have provided, are you suggesting that a VPN is useless, and provides no protection? Even the top 2 – Express and NordV?
Thank you
Ron
Answer: No a VPN is not useless. A VPN is a necessity for privacy, security, and unblocking content around the world. Perhaps the biggest reason to use a VPN is that your internet provider (ISP) is most likely logging every website you visit and handing this information over to third parties. In the UK and Australia, this is mandatory for all telecom providers. In the US, internet providers have been able to collect and sell all your data to advertisers since March, 2017. Now, new laws allow government agencies to demand access to your online activities from your ISP, without a warrant.
A VPN is basic digital self defense because it encrypts and anonymizes your internet traffic, so your ISP and other third parties cannot see what you are up to. But it’s important to choose a good VPN service and avoid the bad apples.
From us seniors, please just once when beginning the article, write out what VPN means? Yes I looked it up! but now can’t remember.
I’d steer clear of SpiderVPN too, as they are based in the UK and the parent company, SoftWorxUK, has recently been declared insolvent and the company has been dissolved. Nevertheless, the website still appears to be trading but I won’t link to them here for obvious reasons.
[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/zenmate-vpn-best-cyber-se/fdcgdnkidjaadafnichfpabhfomcebme]
From the reviews I found online people seem to like them.
Any input is appreciated.
Reviews on the Google Play store mean nothing. Many malicious VPNs there have great reviews. Zenmate is owned by a company that makes malware.
I believe I am a victim of cybercrime. A criminal representing Iniscope and another company exploited my ignorance about computers as I am just a 62 year old gramma that plays games and shops on line. I was sold a lifetime VPN that was never delivered and a fraudulent firewall from Webroot was installed on my desktop. I have contacted the owner of the VPN company and she said my money would be refunded, but I think I’m being manipulated still and I’m probably going to have to report them to the authorities. Do you have any suggestions for me. I am so ashamed that I got into this trouble as an ignorant fool who trusts too much.
Hi Toni, many people fall for these marketing scams, not a big deal. After uninstalling the software, you could perhaps try disputing the payment with your bank, credit card, or whatever you used to pay.
I have a windscribe lifetime subscription since 2016 offered by Engadget.com and I only paid $35. I don’t have any problem with it since 2016 and I still check my account and my windscribe lifetime subscription is still there. No problem on my ends…
However I agree with this post, most people gotta be careful with what VPN they choose and purchased. I heard NordVPN is #1 and they are throwing in the 72% off now for 3 years if you purchased 1 or 2 or 3 years with them.
How do you know they don’t collect all your information? No company can ever in good faith promise to deliver a lifetime service for $35. Think about it. Running a service will keep incurring cost they have to pay for. If the don’t close the company, the will have to make the money another way.
Regarding the NordVPN is #1, I think alot of the review pages are bogus with fake reviews. NordVPN for me was a bad relationship. It kept dropping out, slow connection etc. Lastly if a company keeps having an “offer” for 72% off, its no longer an offer, but the normal prize, and it is a pretty sheady marketing trick
I was just looking at that 72% offer. I queried it and the chat was dropped, giving me a good indication of what kind of service i can expect. I am now looking for a decent VPN. Any comment on ExpressVPN?
Here’s the ExpressVPN review.
I also use Wind Scribe and have since 2017. That lifetime offer was a promotion and limited to only a certain number of subscriptions. It was then closed and not offered again. This was when they were still fairly new to the scene.
I also ran all the leak tests recommended and have absolutely no leaks: Did that a few minutes ago. The only thing that popped up was one of the testing sites not liking that I am not using IPV6 protocol, but this machine doesn’t have that capability so I am not worried about that. Yes it is expensive to run one of these services and that is why that offer from Wind Scribe was so limited. Have tried dozens of VPNs and this one I am very pleased to use.
If you want to try the service a free account gives you 10 Gig a month. If you want to know more and get help from the community with questions or usage I would suggest joining the discord server. You can find a link to it on the website.
LadyLei
I also signed up when windscribe was offering lifetime subscriptions. I am happy with my “lifetime” windscribe account.
It seems like VPN operators offer lifetime accounts when they are new to attract users. If the reviews are positive it will attract more users by reccomended review.
just because one shady vpn folded and cancelled lifetime accounts doesnt mean none are to be trusted.
Hi Sven, if you download the app, and quickly delete it, will they still charge you. It was the SECNET VPN, which pop up while I was using Safari, it said my phone had been hacked and I had two minutes or my info would be hacked, it directs you to the App Store to download. It offers a 3 day trial and then you would be charged a $89 fee, but I didn’t press anything I just deleted the app. Worried
PrivateVPN will not honor their 30 day money back guarantee. They give you the complete run around and will not accept any valid reason. Others have encountered this as well such as saying you’ve used too much data. There is no phone number. They are complete scam artists. Avoid!!!
I dont agree. I tried PrivateVPN last year. I did get my money back after using them for 21 days. They are not “scam artists” I guess we should believe you just because you post it?
I got sucked into opening an app from the apple App Store
VPNVAST
Immediacy
It said I had malware on phone
I then realized it was most likely a problem app
I deleted the app from my phone
Do you think it could do damage in those few minutes of opening the app?
Thank you for your time
It all depends on what data it got access to on your phone.
How do I get the VPN vast off my phone.
I made the same mistake
As the guy above
Is there a way to find out what the app accessed?
Do I need to change all my passwords?
You should be able to uninstall any app, but it’s hard to say what it accessed (no idea).
yup
Isn’t the VPNs charging a lot less for long subscription times a scam? I just want something that isn’t so expensive but can be paid monthly.
No, Dan, I don’t think charging less for something is a scam. You’ll find the exact same pricing model in many other industries, i.e. discounts for longer subscription commitments – see web hosting for example.
This article misses scam #8, which is VPNS selling crypto. A handful of players are starting to offer this, although I have yet to find one w an actual coin that is created and on an actual market.
Most just offer a ‘voucher’ for coins down the road, but the plans to justify, support and develop such a coin is lacking. As an examle, check out yin.bi.com – brought to you by Lantern VPN, which used to be my go to service, but I’ve noticed a real drop in service latey. Maybe it’s the reprioritization of coins over sevice…who knows, but if you ask me, its a scam.
Hi Sven,
Vy informative article. I have some questions about FastestVPN. FastestVPN doesn’t seem to be leaking per ipleak.net; they claim to be based in the Caymans (thus not 14 eyes); their website indicates a no-log policy. However, cpu usage is running about 25-30% and the internet kill switch requires manual reconnect . My questions: Is this CPU usage normal? Is the manual reconnect after internet kill switch operation normal? Do you have any info regarding the veracity of their logging policy?
Thx
Hi Jerry, I haven’t tested FastestVPN yet, it is a relatively new provider, but I may have time to review it in the coming months.
I received a message on my Apple phone, XR, that said my phone was compromised with 6 virus’s and to go to the iOSVPN code.com website to remove the viruses. I did not as I thought this was a scam?
Of course… a website doesn’t have a way to scan your phone for viruses when you just have accessed it.
Beware of ProtonVPN , they are opening ports and then denying it yet it’s easily detected on Shodan, ShieldsUp and many other test sites. UDP connections are opening port 443, 8080 and recently they started opening port 21 (FTP). Port 443 is acceptable but 8080 on UDP is not. The connection is not a true VPN tunnel it’s just a cached proxy. As for port 21, there is no acceptable reason to have them opening a file sharing port unless they are up to no good. Check it out for yourself and save your money while protecting the integrity of your data.
So is proton vpn a scam? I’m worried bcs I’m using it currently.
This is a misconception.
It’s true that ShieldsUp shows e.g., 443 is open. But it is *not* the users computer; it’s ProtonVPN’s server. ShieldsUp shows e.g., 89.39.107.194 as the user’s IP. This is not true. This is the main point of VPN; this is the IP of ProtonVPN’s server. And it’s ProtonVPN’s server which has 443 open.
When you connect to https://89.39.107.194:443 in the browser and let browser display the certificate you will see: nl-113.protonvpn.com.
Run e.g., nettop in your terminal and you will see: No 443 (or 21 or whatever) is open on your local machine.
I just saw this and wanted to clarify.
Hi Sven,
What do you know about Strong VPN? Is this a good one?
Hi Jill, I’ve been meaning to review it. I’ve heard it is a decent VPN, but it’s based in the US (Five Eyes).
I have been trying to reach their support to dispute an unauthorised charge, and they aren’t responding to website or phone. My experience has been horrible, and I recommend not using them.
Hello I was on my browser one day and I saw a new tab opened called r-vpn.info I was just wondering if this was a scam. Thank you
If you didn’t pay for it, you probably don’t want it on your computer collecting data.
Is Luna a good VPN?
Is LUNA safe to use?
Oh, Sven, I used a VeePN, I need it for a work, and I never have a problem with it, does that means it’s a good VPN?
If it is a free VPN, I would say no.
Is innetvpn a safe choice?
How do you get rid of a VPN ?
Well, normally you just uninstall the app.