Are you concerned about VPN scams? Trust me – you are not the only one! With increasing common interest in Internet security and privacy; VPNs are growing more and more mainstream. Perversely, there are shady characters who use this as an opportunity to profit from unsuspecting victims. Here’s how to spot these scams.
VPN Scams and How to Avoid Them
With increasing concerns over Internet security and privacy, it is wise to spend in a good VPN. Beware: you should practice prudence when deciding on your VPN provider. The VPN market is riddled with lots of scams and fake VPNs.
How can you save yourself from these VPN scams?
In this article, we cover seven VPN scams you should be conscious to help you pick a VPN provider that promises Internet privacy and security.
VPN Scam #1: Free VPNs
You know how the old saying goes: you get what you pay for. This is particularly true for VPNs.
Free VPNs are the biggest scam to watch out for in that they are the immediate contradiction of what a VPN is supposed to do. When you employ an excellent VPN, you have peace of mind because you know that your Internet data will not be passed on to advertising agencies and marketing agencies by your ISP.
But this is precisely what free VPNs like Hotspot Shield VPN do – they keep logs of your Internet activity and trade it to 3rd parties.
Free VPNs have been known to:
- Inject malware onto user devices to improve tracking of your Internet activity
- Direct you to ads
- Not encrypt your internet data
VPN Scam #2: Fake VPNs
Apart from free VPNs (which are one of many fake VPNs), there is more to consider when it comes to identifying a good VPN from a fake VPN. Some counterfeit VPNs like this case with Hola VPN, use your device(s) to create a botnet and free-ride off your Internet bandwidth that you pay for to allow users to see geographically restricted content like Netflix.
Other fake VPNs can be more hostile. Remember: when connecting to a VPN, they can see all your Internet activity – sometimes including bank details – and can quickly count on the information back to you such as advertisements, spam emails or ransomware threats.
The best VPN providers are transparent in their goals, where they operate, and the type of encryption they use. Make sure you read through their terms of service carefully and do your research to determine if the VPN service you’re looking to purchase is legit.
VPN Scam #3: VPN Reviews on Apple & Android App Stores
Never trust reviews and ratings on mobile app stores. Take Betternet VPN for example – the free VPN service has over 12.2 thousand ratings on the Apple App Store and has 4.6 stars.
Unfortunately for the 12.2 thousand users that ranked Betternet, they were probably clueless to the fact that Betternet VPN is among the worst VPN providers out there according to the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) in Australia.
CSIRO’s list of the ten worst VPN providers
Betternet VPN is guilty of everything you should avoid in a VPN including:
- Logging user data and selling it to 3rd Parties
- Injecting malware and adware onto user devices
- Leaking user IP addresses
- Not being transparent on user encryption
- Lying that it does not collect, log, store, or share any user information
- When choosing a VPN, be thorough in your due diligence and review expert websites and opinions rather than trusting the views of unaware users on the Apple and Android markets.
VPN Scam #4: “We don’t log any user data.”
You should always be cynical of the statement “we don’t collect, log, or store any identifiable personal information of users.” More than likely, your VPN is deceiving you.
Perversely, even the best VPN claims to have no log policies and practice them to improve their service.
The issue is that there are no means for users to validate these claims and we eventually have to take providers at their words.
Even if a VPN provider does perpetuate itself to no-logging; it’s likely that the owners of the servers VPN lease do.
Consequently, when deciding on a VPN, read the fine print and try to spot any contradictions in the statements of no-logging policies. Also if they do log the data, how will it be employed? Will it be used to benefit the service; or will the provider market out to 3rd parties?
We should not concentrate on false assurances of anonymity and instead direct our consideration toward transparency, trust, ease of use, performance and reliability in a VPN.(also check, 5 Best Offshore VPN in 2018)
VPN Scam #5: Unsubstantiated Claims
Comparable to being sceptical of VPN that denies logging user data of any kind, you need to be cautious of any provider that claims about being the most high-speed VPN on the market or offers the best encryption.
If you have watched any of my VPN video reviews, you will see that in the speed tests that no provider stands on top of all the others and speeds vary significantly based on the factors such as distance to the closest server or the time of day you are logging on to the service.
Hence, if a provider claims they have the fastest VPN speed on the market, not only are they dishonest, but ultimately they are using this as a promotion tactic. The same goes for encryption.
VPN Scam #6: Fair Pricing
Do not fall victim to scams where you either pay a huge sum of money or completely nothing for service. When reviewing pricing, be sure also to know how much you will pay and when you will be billed.
200 users fell for paying a $400 per month service fee in a crazy scandal involving Mobile protection: Clean & Security VPN (notice the typo in the title). The app claimed to charge users $0.99 a week for the premium service, among many other significant lies.
Along with the misprint in pricing, the product description is riddled with grammar mistakes which should immediately doubt the validity of the service. That did not stop 50,000 people from downloading the service though.
Therefore, before subscribing to a service, first make sure it is genuine and also shop around to get a feel for how much a competitive VPN will run you. Most VPN services bill you either monthly, bi-annually or annually. It’s rare for a VPN service to bill you weekly.
Most legitimate VPN services will cost you anywhere between $40-$99 per year.
VPN Scam #7: VPN websites that are not secure
Apart from looking into pricing, read through VPN product descriptions and verify that the services advertised are services. When looking at Mobile protection: Clean & Security VPN (mentioned above in Scam #6), the service offers protection from “duplicate contacts” along with “instantly use full of smart anti-virus.”
I have no idea how Apple initially approved this app for its app marketplace, but even after its deletion, many other scam apps like this remain. While Mobile protection: Clean & Security VPN is fake (although it did not stop 50,000 people from downloading it), other scammers are more careful with their words. (also see, Most Secure VPN Services in 2018)
For those new to VPNs, details on the VPN, particularly on encryption, can be confusing. Before subscribing, do plenty of research to ensure that the services offered are both real and of high quality.
Another way to gauge a quality VPN from a scam is by checking whether the VPN provider website is secure. Take MySafeVPN as an example; a sham provider whose site is not secured with HTTPS (HTTPS encrypts communication whereas HTTP does not).
If a VPNs website isn’t even secured, how can you trust that its service will be?
Taking a moment to see if the VPN provider website is secured with HTTPS in the website URL can help save you from falling for a scam. If a VPN does not encrypt their website; you can bet that any promises of anonymity and being “state of the art encryption” are false.
Conclusion 7 VPN Scams You Need to Avoid
An onslaught of VPN scams has met rising public concerns on Internet privacy and security. You should be alert for these scams whenever you’re looking to purchase a VPN. Apart from the tips listed above; the best way to avoid VPN scams is to use multiple genuine sources to review any VPN provider before subscribing thoroughly.
