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Cheap TV streaming sticks secretly run ad fraud and proxy scams, says new analysis.
Bitsight researcher Pedro Falé found that H96 streaming devices spoof as mobile phones to click ads on AI-generated websites, part of a network run by Fengwo Group. The devices switch between ad fraud and renting out users' internet connections as residential proxies when the TV is off. The scheme may generate $50,000 daily from around 38,000 boxes. Fengwo uses Google Blockly to let low-skilled operators build fake ad-clicking websites.
What commenters are saying
Two camps split: one dismisses ad fraud as harmless or even beneficial against marketers, while the other warns of real harms-like flagged IPs, captcha loops, and criminal liability from proxy traffic. A commenter shares that a Vietnamese ISP's modems were so notoriously hijacked that users knew to replace slow ones. Another recommends replacing the OS with CoreELEC/LibreELEC to escape pre-installed malware.