You know, the browser extension that saves you money.

就是那個能幫你省錢的瀏覽器擴展。

Do you have Honey installed?

您安裝了 Honey 軟件嗎？

What's Honey?

什麼是蜂蜜？

Oh, no, no, no.

哦，不，不，不

Honey?

親愛的？

Honey is a free browser extension.

Honey 是一款免費的瀏覽器擴展。

Free browser extension.

免費瀏覽器擴展。

Free browser extension.

免費瀏覽器擴展。

Free browser extension.

免費瀏覽器擴展。

That automatically applies coupon codes when you check out online.

當您在網上結賬時，它會自動應用優惠券代碼。

Free money, basically.

基本上是免費的錢。

It's literally free money.

這簡直就是免費的錢。

It doesn't make sense to not be using this.

不使用它毫無意義。

So what's the catch?

有什麼問題嗎？

There is no catch.

沒有陷阱。

Join Honey.

加入蜂蜜。

Join Honey.

加入蜂蜜。

Join Honey.

加入蜂蜜。

Honey.

蜂蜜

Honey.

蜂蜜

Honey.

蜂蜜

Honey.

蜂蜜

Honey.

蜂蜜

Honey.

蜂蜜

Honey.

蜂蜜

Honey.

蜂蜜

Honey.

蜂蜜

Honey.

蜂蜜

Honey.

蜂蜜

Honey.

蜂蜜

Honey.

蜂蜜

Honey.

蜂蜜

Honey.

蜂蜜

Honey.

蜂蜜

Join Honey.

加入蜂蜜。

Yeah, I hate to break it to you, but your favorite influencers sold you a lie.

是的，我不想打斷你，但你最喜歡的有影響力的人向你撒了一個謊。

Honey is a scam, and the majority of claims promoted by those influencers aren't even remotely true.

蜂蜜是個騙局，那些有影響力的人所宣傳的大多數說法根本不是真的。

But it gets worse.

但情況更糟。

Honey hasn't just been scamming you, the consumer.

蜂蜜不僅僅是在欺騙你，欺騙消費者。

They've also been stealing money from influencers, including the very ones they paid to promote their product.

他們還從有影響力的人那裡偷錢，包括那些他們花錢請來推廣產品的人。

And I'm not just talking about a few bucks here.

我說的不僅僅是幾塊錢。

I believe the scam has likely cost content creators millions of dollars.

我相信這個騙局很可能讓內容創作者損失了數百萬美元。

Sound crazy?

聽起來很瘋狂？

I didn't believe it at first either, until I experienced it myself first hand.

起初我也不相信，直到我親身經歷了這一切。

In fact, I'm confident this might just be the biggest influencer scam of all time.

事實上，我相信這可能是有史以來最大的網紅騙局。

Which is insane, considering Honey is owned and run by PayPal, who purchased this company for $4 billion.

考慮到 Honey 由 PayPal 擁有和營運，而 PayPal 以 40 億美元收購了這家公司，這實在是太瘋狂了。

This three part series is the result of a multi-year investigation, where I believe I've uncovered signs of advertising fraud, affiliate fraud, the illegal collection of personal data, deception, lies, coercion, extortion, the list goes on.

這三部曲是我多年調查的結果，我相信我已經發現了廣告欺詐、聯盟欺詐、非法收集個人數據、欺騙、謊言、脅迫、敲詐等種種跡象。

I've reviewed hundreds of documents, adverts, sponsorships.

我審查過數百份文件、廣告和贊助。

I've reviewed emails between Honey and merchants, interviewed victims.

我查看了哈尼和商家之間的郵件，採訪了受害者。

Believe me, this runs deep.

相信我，這是有深度的。

Now, I want to be clear.

現在，我想把話說清楚。

The views, allegations, and conclusions expressed in this series are my opinions, based on evidence I have gathered, which will be shared throughout.

本系列文章中表達的觀點、指控和結論都是我根據收集到的證據得出的看法，並將在全文中與大家分享。

With that said, ladies and gentlemen, this is the Honey Trap.

女士們先生們，這就是 "蜂蜜陷阱"。

Now I know what you're thinking, it's a free browser extension, how bad could it be?

我知道你在想什麼，這是一個免費的瀏覽器擴展，能有多糟糕？

Well trust me, it's far more sinister than you might think.

相信我，它比你想象的要陰險得多。

You know what they say, if a product's free, it's likely you're the product.

你知道人們常說，如果一個產品是免費的，那麼你很可能就是那個產品。

And as you'll find out later in this investigation, that remains true for PayPal Honey.

在稍後的調查中你會發現，PayPal Honey 依然如此。

Now, like most people, I too fell for the lies.

現在，和大多數人一樣，我也被謊言迷惑了。

I mean, what's not to love about a free browser extension that saves you money?

我的意思是，一個能為你省錢的免費瀏覽器擴展有什麼理由不受歡迎呢？

It's a compelling product, and with the endorsement from what feels like every single popular influencer on YouTube, it's no wonder millions of people downloaded it.

這是一款引人入勝的產品，而且得到了 YouTube 上所有有影響力的熱門人物的認可，難怪會有數百萬人下載。

Ironically, the very influencers promoting Honey, seemingly had no idea the company was quietly picking money out of their very own pockets.

具有諷刺意味的是，那些宣傳 Honey 的有影響力的人似乎並不知道這家公司正在悄悄地從他們自己的口袋裡掏錢。

Well, at least one of them realized, but we'll get to that later.

至少有一個人意識到了這一點，但我們稍後再談。

So let me show you how Honey's been stealing money from influencers.

讓我告訴你，Honey 是如何從有影響力的人那裡偷錢的。

So let's say you're watching a video on YouTube.

比方說，您正在觀看 YouTube 上的視頻。

If you're into tech like me, maybe you're watching a Linus Tech Tips video.

如果你和我一樣對技術感興趣，也許你正在觀看萊納斯技術竅門視頻。

Linus tells you about this free browser extension that saves you money online, you install it in two clicks, and boom, you have Honey.

萊納斯告訴你這個免費的瀏覽器擴展可以幫你節省上網費用，你只需點擊兩下即可安裝，然後 "嘣 "的一聲，你就擁有了 "蜂蜜"。

Perfect timing, because it just so happens you're looking to buy a new CPU for your computer.

來得正是時候，因為您正好想為自己的電腦購買一個新的 CPU。

You come across another Linus Tech Tips video, and after watching, you're convinced you should buy the one recommended in his video.

你又看到了 Linus Tech Tips 視頻，看完之後，你確信自己應該購買他視頻中推薦的那款產品。

So you scroll down and find Linus' affiliate link to that product.

於是，你向下滾動，找到萊納斯的產品聯盟鏈接。

Now, for those of you who don't know, when you click an affiliate link and buy something, the influencer who promoted the product earns a commission for referring you to that store.

現在，對於那些不知道的人來說，當你點擊一個聯盟鏈接併購買某樣東西時，推廣該產品的影響者就會因為把你推薦到該商店而賺取佣金。

So you add the product to your cart, get to the checkout page, and hello, Honey says they found you 10 coupon codes.

於是，你把產品放入購物車，進入結賬頁面，哈嘍，Honey 說他們為你找到了 10 個優惠券代碼。

Sweet.

甜美

You click apply discounts, and Honey gets to work.

點擊 "申請折扣"，Honey 就會開始工作。

But unfortunately, none of the coupon codes worked.

但遺憾的是，所有優惠券代碼都不起作用。

Doesn't matter though, because as Honey has promised us for years, that means we know we've got the best deal.

但這並不重要，因為正如蜜糖多年來向我們承諾的那樣，這意味著我們知道我們得到了最好的交易。

So you complete your purchase, you're happy your new CPU's on the way,

於是您完成了購買，您很高興新的 CPU 即將到貨、

Linus is happy he's getting his commission, everyone's happy, right?

萊納斯很高興能拿到佣金，大家都很高興，對嗎？

Well, let's quickly rewind and see what was happening behind the scenes.

讓我們快速倒帶，看看幕後發生了什麼。

You see, after clicking Linus' affiliate link, you'll notice in the URL, there's a tracking tag labelled Short Circuit.

你看，點擊萊納斯的聯盟鏈接後，你會發現在 URL 中有一個跟蹤標籤，標註為 "短路"。

That's a reference to one of Linus' YouTube channels, and this tracking tag is how Newegg knows who to pay a commission to.

這是指萊納斯的一個 YouTube 頻道，而這個跟蹤標籤就是新蛋知道向誰支付佣金的方式。

We can also see that this tracking tag has been saved on my browser in the form of a cookie that will expire in 30 days.

我們還可以看到，這個跟蹤標籤已經以 cookie 的形式保存在我的瀏覽器中，並將在 30 天后過期。

That way, if we only decide to complete the purchase a few days later,

這樣，如果我們幾天後才決定完成購買、

Linus will still be credited the sale.

萊納斯仍將記入銷售額。

It's kind of like when you're at a department store buying a TV, and the salesman who helped you gives you a referral card, or a receipt with their name on it, so when you eventually get to the checkout counter, the clerk knows which salesman to award the sale to.

這就有點像你在百貨公司買電視時，幫助過你的售貨員會給你一張推薦卡，或者一張寫有他們名字的收據，這樣，當你最終到收銀臺結賬時，店員就知道該把這筆生意給哪個售貨員了。

You can think of affiliate cookies as a digital version of that.

您可以將聯屬 Cookie 視為數字版的聯屬 Cookie。

So what happened when we got to the checkout page?

那麼，當我們進入結賬頁面時發生了什麼？

Well, once Honey popped up, watch what happened to Linus' affiliate cookie after we clicked Apply Discounts.

一旦 Honey 彈出，請看我們點擊 "應用折扣 "後，萊納斯的聯盟 cookie 會發生什麼變化。

You see that?

看到了嗎？

Honey came in, removed Linus' affiliate cookie, and replaced it with their own, claiming credit for the sale, and pocketing the commission money for themselves.

蜜糖來了，移除了萊納斯的聯盟 Cookie，換上了他們自己的 Cookie，聲稱是銷售的功勞，並將佣金收入囊中。

Yeah.

是啊

Now, if we quickly go back again, we can see what's causing this to happen.

現在，如果我們再次快速返回，就能看到導致這種情況發生的原因。

After clicking Apply Discounts, what you'll notice is that in the top left corner of your browser,

點擊 "應用折扣 "後，您會發現在瀏覽器的左上角出現了一個提示、

Honey discreetly opens a small new tab, which acts like a simulated referral click, as if they were the ones to refer you to the website, even though you're already on the website, and at the checkout page.

蜜糖會謹慎地打開一個新的小標籤，它就像一個模擬的推薦點擊，就好像是他們把你推薦到了網站上，儘管你已經在網站上了，而且還在結賬頁面上。

Once that page has finished loading, and has stuffed PayPal's affiliate cookie, the tab automatically closes, leaving you blissfully unaware that anything ever happened.

一旦頁面加載完畢，並塞入 PayPal 的聯盟 Cookie，標籤頁就會自動關閉，讓你渾然不知發生了什麼。

It's very sneaky.

非常狡猾

Now, when I first discovered this was happening,

現在，當我第一次發現這種情況時、

I thought, there's no way.

我想，這是不可能的。

Why would all these high-profile influencers be promoting a company that is actively poaching their affiliate commissions?

為什麼所有這些高知名度的有影響力人士都在推廣一家公司，而這家公司卻在積極挖走他們的聯盟佣金？

It didn't make any sense.

這沒有任何意義。

So to make sure I wasn't going crazy,

所以，為了確保我沒有發瘋、

I went on a Honey testing spree, clicking one affiliate link after another, and it kept happening.

我開始瘋狂地測試蜂蜜，點擊了一個又一個聯盟鏈接，但這種情況一直在發生。

But even after all those tests,

但即使經過這麼多測試

I scoured the internet to see if anyone was talking about this, and found nothing.

我在網上搜索是否有人在談論此事，但一無所獲。

Okay, there was this one debate about it on the Y Combinator forum, but nothing concrete.

好吧，Y Combinator 論壇上有過這樣一場辯論，但沒有任何具體內容。

Besides that, virtually nobody was talking about this, adding fuel to my doubt.

除此之外，幾乎沒有人談論這件事，這讓我更加懷疑。

So I figured, screw it.

所以我想，算了吧。

I'll reach out to Honey and ask them directly.

我會直接聯繫 Honey，問問他們。

And sure enough, they came back to me with the following.

果然，他們給了我如下答覆。

If Honey is activated, and is the last program used while shopping on a site, it is likely Honey will receive credit for the purchase.

如果 Honey 已被激活，並且是在網站上購物時最後使用的程序，那麼 Honey 很可能會獲得購物積分。

I was right.

我是對的。

And just like that, my investigation into Honey began.

就這樣，我開始了對蜂蜜的調查。

Now, some might consider what PayPal's doing here dirty, or highly unethical, but personally,

現在，有些人可能會認為貝寶的做法骯髒或極不道德，但就我個人而言、

I can't see how it's anything short of fraud.

我看不出這是什麼欺詐行為。

I mean, just imagine something like this happening in a real world scenario.

我的意思是，想象一下在現實世界中發生這樣的事情。

Let's say you're at a department store, looking to buy a new TV.

假設您正在百貨公司選購一臺新電視機。

A salesman spends time running you through your options.

銷售員會花時間向你介紹各種選擇。

You decide to buy, he gives you his referral card, you get to the checkout, and right as you're about to pay, a sleazy salesman pops up going, hey, shall I check if I have any coupon codes for you?

你決定購買，他給了你他的推薦卡，你去結賬，就在你要付錢的時候，一個奸詐的售貨員突然冒了出來，"嘿，要不要我幫你看看有沒有優惠券代碼？

Naturally, you say sure.

你自然會說當然可以。

He snatches your referral card, without you ever noticing, looks for coupons, says sorry, no luck this time, but instead of handing back the original referral card, he hands back his own.

他搶走了你的推薦卡，而你卻渾然不覺，他尋找優惠券，說對不起，這次運氣不好，但他沒有交回原來的推薦卡，而是交回了自己的推薦卡。

PayPal didn't refer the customer to the store, they didn't promote any of the products, the salesman did that.

貝寶並沒有把客戶介紹到商店，也沒有推銷任何產品，而是由銷售員完成的。

PayPal provided absolutely zero value to the customer, yet they were rewarded for the sale.

貝寶為客戶提供的價值完全為零，但他們卻獲得了銷售獎勵。

But because this is all happening online, buried behind clicks and cookies and tracking data, there's little to no transparency that this is ever happening.

但是，由於這一切都發生在網絡上，埋藏在點擊、cookies 和跟蹤數據背後，是以幾乎沒有透明度可言。

Okay, but what if Honey had found a working coupon code?

好吧，但如果 Honey 找到了有效的優惠券代碼呢？

Would that make it okay for them to claim the commission?

這樣他們就可以要求佣金了嗎？

Honestly, no,

說實話，沒有、

I don't think so.

我不這麼認為。

The fact remains that Honey didn't refer the customer to the store, nor did they promote the product.

事實是，Honey 並沒有把顧客介紹給商店，也沒有推銷產品。

Look, don't get me wrong,

聽著，別誤會我的意思、

I'm a consumer myself, saving money matters, especially when money's tight.

我自己也是消費者，省錢很重要，尤其是在手頭緊的時候。

But this scam doesn't just affect wealthy influencers, there are hundreds of thousands of small creators, bloggers, artists, who rely on affiliate commissions to support their craft.

但這種騙局影響的不僅僅是富有的影響者，還有成千上萬的小型創作者、博主和藝術家，他們依靠聯盟佣金來支持自己的手藝。

Sure, you could argue that Honey may have convinced the consumer to complete the purchase by providing a discount, but let's be real, if you're already at the checkout with your items in your cart, you already have a high intent to purchase.

當然，你可以說，Honey 通過提供折扣說服了消費者完成購買，但實事求是地說，如果你已經在結賬時將商品放入購物車，你就已經有了很高的購買意願。

And again, this would never fly in a real-life sales environment.

再說一遍，這在現實銷售環境中是絕對行不通的。

No department store is going to allow a salesman to hang out at the checkout counter, casually handing out coupon codes, while simultaneously stealing commissions from the other sales reps.

任何一家百貨公司都不會允許銷售員在收銀臺前閒逛，隨手發放優惠券代碼，同時從其他銷售代表那裡竊取佣金。

So why are we allowing a corporate giant like PayPal to do it on the internet?

那麼，我們為什麼允許貝寶這樣的企業巨頭在互聯網上這樣做呢？

Now, believe it or not, this first example I just showed you with Linus, is just one of three scenarios in which Honey poaches affiliate commissions, and the next scenarios are even worse.

不管你信不信，我剛才向你展示的萊納斯的第一個例子只是蜜糖盜用聯盟佣金的三種情況之一，接下來的情況會更糟。

But before I show you how bad scenario two is, it's important you understand the fundamental system Honey is exploiting.

但在我向你展示第二種情況有多糟糕之前，你必須先了解哈尼所利用的基本系統。

You see, in affiliate marketing, there's this thing called last-click attribution, which basically means last-click wins.

你看，在聯屬營銷中，有一種叫做 "最後點擊歸因"（last-click attribution）的東西，基本意思是最後點擊獲勝。

For example, you might click on a shoe blogger's affiliate link for a pair of Nikes, but you don't buy right away.

例如，您可能會點擊一個鞋類博主的聯盟鏈接購買一雙耐克鞋，但您不會立即購買。

Later, you click on a YouTuber's link for the same shoes, and complete the purchase.

之後，您點擊優酷上的鏈接，購買了同樣的鞋子。

In this scenario, the YouTuber gets the commission, and the blogger gets nothing.

在這種情況下，YouTuber 獲得佣金，而博主則一無所獲。

There are other models, like first-click, where the blogger would win the commission, or dynamic-click, where the commission is shared.

還有其他一些模式，如第一次點擊，博主將贏得佣金，或動態點擊，佣金共享。

But the industry went with last-click, because while it's not always the fairest, it's the easiest to implement.

但業界採用了最後點擊，因為雖然這不一定是最公平的，但卻是最容易實施的。

Therefore, it became the industry standard.

是以，它成為了行業標準。

Now, when it's blogger versus YouTuber for a sale, honestly,

現在，當博主和 YouTuber 爭奪銷售時，說實話、

I'd say last-click is usually fair.

我認為最後點擊通常是公平的。

But when it's anyone versus Honey, there's no real competition.

但是，當任何人與蜜糖對決時，就沒有真正的競爭了。

Honey pops up right at the end of your purchasing journey, virtually guaranteeing they'll win that last-click.

蜜糖 "會在您的購買旅程結束時彈出，幾乎可以保證他們會贏得最後一次點擊。

They of course know this, and do anything they can to get that last-click, even when there's no coupon codes to offer.

他們當然知道這一點，即使沒有優惠券代碼，他們也會想方設法獲得最後一次點擊。

Which brings us to scenario two.

這就引出了第二種情況。

Honey Gold, which is now called PayPal Rewards.

Honey Gold，現在叫 PayPal Rewards。

Here's how it works.

具體操作如下

When you get to the checkout, and Honey Gold is available,

當您結賬時，Honey Gold 已可用、

Honey pops up, and is essentially saying, hey you, consumer, click this button here, so PayPal can claim the commission for the sale, and we'll share a portion of that commission money with you, in the form of points.

蜂蜜 "會彈出，本質上是在說：嘿，消費者，請點擊這裡的按鈕，這樣貝寶就可以收取銷售佣金，我們將以積分的形式與你分享部分佣金。

It's basically a lame cashback scheme.

這基本上是一個蹩腳的現金返還計劃。

And it's genius, because if there are no coupons to offer, but the store is participating in Honey Gold, it gives Honey another reason to get that last-click.

這種做法很有創意，因為如果沒有優惠券，但商店參加了蜂蜜金牌活動，就會給蜂蜜提供另一個獲得最後一次點擊的理由。

How can YouTubers, bloggers, or any other type of affiliate, fairly compete against this type of mechanism?

優酷用戶、博主或任何其他類型的聯盟如何能與這種機制公平競爭？

Of course the consumer is going to click, and of course they're going to win the sale.

消費者當然會點擊，他們當然會贏得銷售。

Now this got me thinking, how much of their commission are they actually sharing with users?

這讓我想到，他們究竟與用戶分享了多少佣金？

Well to find out,

那就來看看、

I decided to put Honey Gold to the test.

我決定對蜂蜜黃金進行測試。

So I looked for any website where Honey Gold was offered, and found it on NordVPN.

是以，我查找了任何提供 Honey Gold 的網站，並在 NordVPN 上找到了它。

And no, this is not a sneaky sponsorship.

不，這不是偷偷摸摸的贊助。

So I signed up for NordVPN's affiliate program, which offers 40% commission on successful referrals.

於是我註冊了NordVPN的聯盟計劃，該計劃為成功推薦的用戶提供40%的佣金。

After getting approved into the program,

獲准加入該計劃後、

I received a custom affiliate link for my YouTube channel.

我收到了為我的 YouTube 頻道定製的聯盟鏈接。

Using this link,

使用此鏈接、

I made two separate purchases.

我分別購買了兩份。

For the first,

第一次

I activated Honey Gold, and sure enough, you can see my affiliate cookie was replaced with Honey's.

我激活了 Honey Gold，果然，我的聯盟 cookie 被 Honey 的 cookie 取代了。

And for the second,

第二個問題

I didn't activate Honey Gold.

我沒有激活蜜糖金。

As expected,

不出所料、

I was awarded a $35 commission, for the sale where Honey Gold wasn't activated, and received nothing, when Honey Gold was activated.

在蜂蜜黃金未激活的銷售中，我獲得了 35 美元的佣金，而在蜂蜜黃金激活後，我什麼也沒有得到。

For the first time,

第一次

I experienced Honey poaching my own affiliate commission.

我曾被 Honey 挖走自己的聯盟佣金。

So how much of my stolen $35 commission, did PayPal sharers cash back with my Honey account?

那麼，在我被盜的 35 美元佣金中，PayPal 分享者從我的 Honey 賬戶中返還了多少現金？

AKA, the consumer.

也就是消費者。

Brace yourselves, 89 points, which is equivalent to $0.89 USD.

準備好，89 點，相當於 0.89 美元。

That's right,

這就對了、

Honey poached a $35 commission for doing nothing, and rewarded me a grand total of $0.89.

蜜糖什麼也沒做就撈到了 35 美元的佣金，總共獎勵了我 0.89 美元。

Thanks PayPal, you really shouldn't have.

謝謝 PayPal，你真不該這麼做。

No, seriously, you really shouldn't have.

不，說真的，你真的不應該這樣做。

Now, onto scenario three.

現在，進入情景三。

For you ladies out there, let's say you're looking for a new outfit.

對於女士們來說，假設您正在尋找一套新衣服。

Your favorite influencer tries on something that slays, you click on their affiliate link, and get to the checkout.

你最喜歡的有影響力的人試穿的東西讓人眼前一亮，你點擊他們的聯盟鏈接，然後去結賬。

But in this scenario,

但在這種情況下

Honey knows it has nothing to offer.

蜂蜜知道自己一無所有。

No coupon codes, no Honey Gold, yet it still pops up, to announce, absolutely nothing.

沒有優惠券代碼，沒有 Honey Gold，但它仍然會彈出，宣佈絕對沒有任何東西。

Annoying as f**k.

煩死人了

Naturally, you click the got it button, to get rid of the annoying dancing coin, and whoa, what's that?