A VPN Company Canceled All Lifetime Subscriptions, Claiming It Didn't Know About Them

WIRED

13-05-2025

Photo-Illustration:The new owners of VPN provider VPNSecure have drawn ire after canceling lifetime subscriptions. The owners told customers that they didn't know about the lifetime subscriptions when they bought VPNSecure, and they cannot honor the purchases.
In March, complaints started appearing online about lifetime subscriptions to VPNSecure no longer working.
The first public response Ars Technica found came on April 28, when lifetime subscription holders reported receiving an email from the VPN provider saying: 'To continue providing a secure and high-quality experience for all users, Lifetime Deal accounts have now been deactivated as of April 28th, 2025.'
A copy of the email from 'The VPN Secure Team' and posted on Reddit notes that VPNSecure had previously deactivated accounts with lifetime subscriptions that it said hadn't been used in 'over 6 months.' The message noted that VPNSecure was acquired in 2023, 'including the technology, domain, and customer database—but not the liabilities.' The email continues:
Unfortunately, the previous owner did not disclose that thousands of Lifetime Deals (LTDs) had been sold through platforms like StackSocial.
We discovered this only months later—when a large portion of our resources were strained by these LTD accounts and high support volume from users, who through part of the database, provided no sustaining income to help us improve and maintain the service.
VPNSecure is offering affected users discounted new subscriptions for either $1.87 for a month (instead of $9.95), $19 for a year (instead of $79.92), or $55 for three years (instead of $107.64). The deals are available until May 31, per the email.
This week, users reported receiving a follow-up email from VPNSecure providing more details about why it made its bold and sudden move. Screenshots of the email shared on Reddit say that the acquisition by InfiniteQuant Ltd. (which is a different company than InfiniteQuant Capital Ltd., an InfiniteQuant Capital rep told Ars via email) was 'an asset only deal.'
A VPNSecure representative claimed on the reviews site Trustpilot that the current owners 'did not gain access to the customer database until months' after the acquisition. According to VPNSecure's owners, their acquisition netted them 'the tech, the brand, and the infrastructure/technology—but none of the company, contracts, payments, or obligations from the previous owners.'
The current owners said they didn't sue the seller because 'a corporate lawsuit would've cost more than the entire purchase of the business.'
VPNSecure also apologized to any customers who felt caught off guard by the changes, noted their backlash, and thanked those who purchased new subscriptions.
The email's authors claimed that they could have chosen to shut down VPNSecure after learning about the lifetime subscriptions but 'chose the hard path.' They also emphasized they 'never will' sell lifetime subscriptions. Unaware of Lifetime Subscriptions
Customers have been incredulous about VPNSecure's owners not knowing about the purchased lifetime subscriptions before buying the company. The firm's email to customers this week said the current owners reviewed six to 12 months of VPNSecure's prior 'financials' before making the purchase, but the listing, profit and loss statements, and communications never mentioned lifetime deals.
The email included a link to a VPNSecure sales listing dated April 2023 that shows an 'estimated valuation' of $282,090–$344,770 and doesn't mention lifetime subscriptions.
Ars looked at the VPNSecure website's history using the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine and didn't find mention of lifetime subscriptions. Lifetime subscriptions to the service were apparently offered only through third parties, like these listings on StackSocial and Wccftech, that no longer link to purchasable subscriptions. VPNSecure's email this week claimed that lifetime subscriptions were sold 'between 2015 and 2017'; however, Ars found ads on ZDNET pushing $40 lifetime subscriptions in 2021 and $28 lifetime subscriptions in 2022. Customer Backlash
Since March, there have been 20 pages' worth of one-star reviews on Trustpilot complaining about lifetime subscribers losing access to their VPN. One Trustpilot user wrote on April 30:
When the service stopped working, I logged a ticket. A couple days later, I got that infamous email informing me my subscription had (already) been canceled. The comms should have been sent earlier (before the service was interrupted), and written with more clarity and empathy.
VPNSecure is responding to the complaints on Trustpilot and has acknowledged that it could have communicated better with customers.
"We acknowledge that notifying users after the deactivation was a poor experience, and we take full responsibility for that,' a company rep wrote on April 30.
People have also been complaining on Reddit. One user, for example, wrote that the new owners "said they did their due diligence, but a simple Google Search would have shown lifetime deal offers from the past." VPNSecure Ownership
VPNSecure's website lists its owner as InfiniteQuant Ltd. in the Bahamas; however, its terms of service names the company 'HOLDXB Trading FZCO trading as VPN Secure, IFZA Business Park, Dubai - UAE.' According to the Wayback Machine, the terms of service page moved from naming an Australian firm, 'Boost Network Pty Ltd trading as VPN Secure' to HOLDXB until 2024. VPNSecure's email to customers this month noted that the team is 'in the Bahamas' and 'not [in] one [of the] five eyes countries anymore.'
Ars has reached out to the VPNSecure support team for more information but didn't hear back in time for publication. There isn't much information or contact details for InfiniteQuant Ltd., HOLDXB Trading FZCO, or Boost Network Pty Ltd. online. Limited Lifetime Subscriptions
VPNSecure's ordeal is a reminder that so-called lifetime subscriptions often last shorter than advertised. Per comments online, VPNSecure's lifetime subscriptions lasted up to 20 years.
Lifetime subscriptions, as well as lifetime warranties, can also get abruptly voided if a company goes out of business, and as we've seen with VPNSecure, new owners could also jeopardize 'lifetime' offerings. Users can also see capabilities reduced or altered in the course of a "lifetime."
VPNSecure could have potentially mitigated backlash by giving users more advanced warning of the changes and a longer opportunity to select a new subscription before deactivating their accounts. We can't confirm if InfiniteQuant Ltd. knew about the lifetime subscriptions before making its purchase. However, the firm claims to have known about the subscriptions a few months after taking ownership, so it had ample time to warn customers before abruptly deactivating 'dormant' accounts and killing the subscriptions of thousands of customers.
This story originally appeared on Ars Technica.