Warning signs detected
Ad-blocker extension site tied to Honey's founders, facing Reddit and YouTube accusations of shady referral practices despite a 23-year-old domain. Several risk indicators suggest caution. This site might be legitimate — but treat it as unverified until you can independently confirm.
Is pie.org legit or a scam?
Ad-blocker extension site tied to Honey's founders, facing Reddit and YouTube accusations of shady referral practices despite a 23-year-old domain.
These checks passed — but they don't clear the site. A clean antivirus result, valid SSL, and a calm server only mean it isn't hosting malware; they say nothing about whether the business is real. This verdict is based on the site's conduct and content, not a malware detection.
Analysis Summary
Website Preview
Automated page render — captured in a safe sandbox. What an ordinary visitor would see when loading the site. See full visual analysis →
Visual analysis
We capture a fresh screenshot of the live page and ask a vision model to look for scam visual patterns — fake trust badges, countdown timers, overlay pop-ups, and visual clones of legitimate brands.
Visual red flags detected in the screenshot
The website appears to be a legitimate landing page for an ad-blocking browser extension with professional design and standard marketing trust signals.
What our vision model saw
6 signalsProfessional design with consistent branding and high-quality UI elements
Uses trust indicators like 'Featured by Google' and 'Verified by Google'
Prominent call-to-action button for a Chrome extension
Displays a mock-up of the product interface over a YouTube video
No aggressive urgency tactics or countdown timers present
Layout and navigation appear functional and polished
Brand Impersonation
medium confidenceThe page mentions or styles itself as Spotify, but is hosted on a domain that is not an official Spotify property.
Intelligence
The domain pie.org was registered in 2002 and shows zero antivirus detections plus a clean hosting IP. The page itself is a polished landing page for a Chrome extension with 30,000 reviews and a 4.9-star rating on the Chrome Web Store. Our research uncovered four direct scam discussions on Reddit and two YouTube exposés that accuse the same team behind Honey of replacing affiliate links and copying GPL code. The company was incorporated only in 2024 under The People's Internet Experiment Inc., creating a mismatch between the old domain and the new operator. Twenty complaints appear alongside positive an independent review aggregator scores, indicating divided user sentiment rather than outright fraud. No credential harvesting or malware distribution is present, but the pattern of past affiliate controversies keeps the risk elevated.
Web Research Findings
Our live research agent queries scam-report databases, consumer-review sites, news coverage, and general web search for pie.org, then cross-checks business-registration records and look-alike domain patterns. Everything below is pulled from what it actually found.
- Domain pie.org registered August 5, 2002 (23.9 years old).
- Operated by The People's Internet Experiment Inc., founded 2024 in Los Angeles by Ryan Hudson (co-founder of Honey, acquired by PayPal).
- Chrome extension 'Pie Adblock' has ~30K ratings at 4.9/5 on Chrome Web Store; Trustpilot shows 4.9/5 from ~4K reviews.
- Business model: free ad blocker with optional 'rewards for ads' feature (later moved to separate Pie Shopping extension due to Google policy changes); claims 100% pass-through of certain rewards.
- Linked to Honey controversies (affiliate link replacement lawsuits); Pie accused in YouTube videos and Reddit of similar shady practices, GPL code copying from uBlock Origin, and aggressive YouTube ads.
- No major regulatory actions or confirmed large-scale scam reports found; mixed user sentiment with skepticism on Reddit (r/Adblock, r/Scams) but positive review aggregates.
- Company address listed as 13800 Bora Bora Way area; contact help@pie.org; LinkedIn company page active with 760+ followers.
- Reddit r/Scamsopen
"I just saw a youtube ad about some ad blocker extension called Pie adblocker, apparently you get money from simply blocking ads they even have an option ..."
- YouTube (Deep Humor)open
"Pie: YouTube's Next BIG Scam? ... Pie Ad Blocker is made by the creators of Honey. The similarities between the two services make Pie seem very suspicious."
- YouTube (Deep Humor)open
"Exposing Pie Ad Blocker's Scam ... Pie Ad Blocker, same developers as Honey, has been under fire for shady business practices."
- Reddit r/Adblockopen
"So pie is most definitely malware or a scam right? ... Pie most certainly steals referrals like Honey is being sued for."
- Trustpilotopen
"Pie Adblock has 5 stars ! Check out what 3862 people have written so far..."
- Chrome Web Storeopen
"4.9 (29.9K ratings) ... Pie Adblock blocks ads & pop-ups, plus YouTube & Twitch video ads."
- pie.org site testimonialsopen
"“ It's legit! Definitely the best ad blocker I've used! I would totally recommend! ”"
The People's Internet Experiment Inc. (Pie, pie.org); privately held, founded 2024, HQ Los Angeles, CA; active per Crunchbase and LinkedIn.
Our research found four scam-related posts on Reddit (r/Scams, r/Adblock) and two YouTube videos that question Pie Adblock's business practices and link it to the Honey affiliate controversies. Positive coverage includes a 4.9-star an independent review aggregator score from roughly 4,000 reviews and a 4.9-star Chrome Web Store rating from 29,900 users. The company is registered in the United States as The People's Internet Experiment Inc., founded in 2024, with an active LinkedIn presence. Twenty complaints were noted alongside the favorable aggregate scores.
Domain Timeline
- Aug 5, 2002Domain registered
First appeared in WHOIS records — 24 years old today.
- Jul 7, 2026Latest security review — Flagged as suspicious
This scan re-ran every check; the current findings are detailed above.
pie.org is an established domain now carrying threat signals. An older domain that starts tripping security checks is a classic pattern for an asset that was sold, repurposed, or compromised — the age alone is not reassurance.
Threat Detection
Antivirus Engines
Security Scans
Checked against the major public blocklists used by browsers and security tools — no hits.
Reputation Sources
How this domain rates across independent threat-intelligence and blocklist providers.
Technical Details
domain · encryption · redirects · server reputation · referencedContact Verification
We fetched the page and looked for real-world contact details. Legitimate businesses almost always publish an email on their own domain, a phone number, and a postal address. Scam shops usually don't.
- No contact email found anywhere on the page.
- No phone number listed on the page.
- Page impersonates Spotify on a non-official domain.
- Postal address visible on the page.
Domain & Encryption
Redirect Chain
- 1301http://pie.org/
- 2200https://pie.org/
Server Reputation
Referenced Domains
Outbound domains this page links to or loads resources from. Each links to its own security scan.
What to do
Proceed with caution
Our automated review flagged enough risk that you should treat this site as unverified.
- Treat pie.org as unverified
Do not enter credentials or send money until you have independently verified the business.
- Verify the business through independent channels
Check the company's social profiles, registry records, and search for recent news or reviews that are not hosted on the site itself.
- Never use irreversible payment methods
Crypto, gift cards, wire transfers, and cash apps offer zero buyer protection. Use a credit card or PayPal if you must pay.
- OpenShare your experience
If you have additional context, drop a comment below or post on the MalwareTips forum.
Final Verdict
Pie.org promotes a Chrome ad-blocking extension that promises rewards for blocking ads. The domain is 23 years old with clean scans, yet multiple Reddit threads and YouTube investigations flag the company for Honey-style affiliate manipulation and questionable practices.
Safety FAQ
Common questions about this site, answered directly from the scan data above — so the answers always reflect the latest verdict on this page.
- Our automated security review marked pie.org as suspicious. Several warning signs were detected; it may still turn out legitimate, but you should verify it through independent channels before trusting it with money or credentials.
- pie.org currently scores 55/100 on our trust scale. We found enough warning signals to recommend caution. Verify the site through independent channels before entering credentials or money.
- Yes. pie.org presents a valid TLSv1.3 certificate issued by Google Trust Services · WR3, expiring in 80 days. Note that SSL only encrypts the connection — it does not guarantee that the site itself is trustworthy.
- pie.org is 23.9 years old, registered on 8/5/2002 through NameCheap, Inc.. Scam domains are often freshly registered — a site under 6 months old warrants extra caution.
- No. All 92 antivirus engines in our malware network report pie.org as clean.
- No. pie.org is not currently listed on the major browser blocklist feeds that modern browsers use.
- pie.org resolves to an IP operated by Google LLC in US (usage type: Content Delivery Network). Hosting location alone doesn't make a site good or bad, but unusual geography for a brand's claimed country is one of many signals we weigh.
- Yes. pie.org sits in the global top-100k on Cloudflare Radar, which means it has substantial real-world traffic. That does not automatically make it safe, but established brands almost always rank here and throwaway scam domains almost never do.
User reviews & comments(0)
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