Honeypot VPN?

[Dominic M 0]

I'm trying to set up VPN tunnel on a remote server located in Russia. My partners there have ran some tests and found a reliable VPN provider. What makes me doubt, though, is:

1. The company was established in 2017 in Romania.
2. They accept payments from Russian banks.
3. Emails from the support team have subject lines in Russian. Instructions they send are sometimes in Russian, too.
4. "100% free VPN service with no traffic, bandwidth or time limit". They offer payed services, too, though.
5. The android app contains Yandex trackers (could be used as an ad source)

Does it consitute a good reason to take them as a decoy service or am I being paranoid?

Edited ... by Dominic M

[xmartymcflyx 5]

16 hours ago, Dominic M said:

4. "100% free VPN service with no traffic, bandwidth or time limit".

(For me) it does constitute a good reason to take them as a decoy service.
Food isn't free, education isn't free, healthcare isn't free, even freedom isn't free. 

You'd need to do some research on who's behind the company to gather more data to make a proper choice though. Names, experience, previous works, etc.

[OpenSourcerer 1435]

How do points 1, 2, 3 and 5 lead to such a conclusion? Just because it's Russian doesn't mean it's bad. Not everything from Russia is somehow connected to Russian politics; please take care to keep these matters separate.
Only point 4 is a bit strange, but it'd be strange if it were an EU or US service, too.

Let's not use the word "honeypot" here prematurely before any real analysis. Otherwise it's just FUD.

[Dominic M 0]

18 hours ago, OpenSourcerer said:

How do points 1, 2, 3 and 5 lead to such a conclusion?

Point 1 means that the company was created at about the same time when Russia banned the use of VPN/anonymizers to circumvent internet censorship.
Point 2 is a breach of joint EU/UK/US sanctions against Russian banks
Point 3 - I just don't understand what they're saying . It doesn't mean a lot unless seen in the context.
Point 5 also may violate the sanctions.
 

Quote

Let's not use the word "honeypot" here prematurely before any real analysis

Hence the question mark.

[OpenSourcerer 1435]

8 hours ago, Dominic M said:

Point 1 means that the company was created at about the same time when Russia banned the use of VPN/anonymizers to circumvent internet censorship.

Correlation != Causation. What if the service was set up by a desperate party because Russia banned VPN usage?
 

8 hours ago, Dominic M said:

Point 2 is a breach of joint EU/UK/US sanctions against Russian banks

Don't you think it makes sense? If you are a Russian in Russia and you cannot pay for the VPN services around the world because of sanctions (those services would give you a less restricted internet, after all), wouldn't you try to find a service which accepts whatever payment processors are available to you?
 

8 hours ago, Dominic M said:

Point 3 - I just don't understand what they're saying . It doesn't mean a lot unless seen in the context.

Exactly – learn Russian or ask someone like me to translate for you. Don't go through the world, fingers pointing in crude directions, and voicing mere suspicions.
 

8 hours ago, Dominic M said:

Point 5 also may violate the sanctions.

No, it doesn't. Yandex is what Google is to US, or Tencent to China – a provider of various internet services tailored to a specific ethnic group's market. Yandex has got its own networks, which includes targeted advertising and analytics. Why shouldn't Yandex be allowed to offer their services to Russian diasporas across the world?
 

8 hours ago, Dominic M said:

Hence the question mark.

Betteridge's law of headlines states that "any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no".

[benfitita 39]

Caution is advised. That country is well known for IT terrorism and similar activities. Often likely state-sponsored. Unless you need an encrypted tunnel to that country, I wouldn’t touch this VPN provider with a stick. 

[Dominic M 0]

16 hours ago, OpenSourcerer said:

 
Betteridge's law of headlines states that "any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no".

Well, and if that be your answer, thank you. Every answer is really helpful, and I mean it. Thanks.

To clarify my stance a bit let me say it again that I'm helping my Russian partners with this VPN setup. I would be glad to give the benefit of the doubt to Free VPN Planet, but my primary concern is the privacy and safety of my friends. Russian language is by no means an aggravation, but taken together with all other circumstances it may imply unwanted (and covert) links with the Russian state. Didn't mean to sound offensive  Sorry. Edited ... by Dominic M

[OpenSourcerer 1435]

5 hours ago, Dominic M said:

I would be glad to give the benefit of the doubt to Free VPN Planet, but my primary concern is the privacy and safety of my friends.

The caution is warranted – as stated, point 4 is strange. But it's like that in any part of the world. The service offerings should be scrutinized based on promises of free services, not because it's got a Russian handwriting on it. That was my entire point.