⚠️ Status, checked 2 October 2026: netnut.io shows a page titled “Seized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation”, as it has since 2 July 2026. Google says it acted against the NetNut network “in coordination with the FBI, Lumen, and others”. NetNut’s parent, Alarum Technologies, said it would “fully cooperate with law enforcement”. On 4 July 2026 it announced a “Temporary Operational Pause of Certain Network Services”, and on 13 July it said it was “actively evaluating alternatives to restore service availability”. As of 2 October 2026 we found no public announcement of criminal charges against NetNut or Alarum. ProxyPicker does not rank or recommend NetNut while it is unavailable.
Sources: Alarum SEC Form 6-K exhibits of 2 July, 3 July, 4 July and 13 July 2026; Google Threat Intelligence Group; Krebs on Security; netnut.io as captured on 2 October 2026. Dated chronology: Residential Proxy Botnet & Takedown Timeline.
What happened, in order
On 18 June 2026 security firm Synthient published research saying it is “highly confident” that the Popa SDK and related labels “share operational infrastructure and telemetry with NetNut” (Synthient). On 2 July 2026 Google said that “in coordination with the FBI, Lumen, and others” it took action against the NetNut residential proxy network, which it says is also known as Popa. It estimated the network at “at least 2 million devices” and said it saw 316 distinct threat clusters using suspected NetNut exit nodes in a single week of June 2026 (Google Threat Intelligence Group). The same day netnut.io began showing an FBI seizure notice, and Alarum said it and NetNut “were made aware of the seizure of certain domains associated with NetNut by the FBI” (6-K, 2 July).
On 3 July Alarum said that “neither the Company nor NetNut has been formally contacted by the FBI or any other governmental or regulatory authority” (6-K). On 4 July it announced a “Temporary Operational Pause of Certain Network Services” (6-K). On 13 July it said it still did not know “the exact root cause” of the disruption and expected any restart to go through a “legal, technical and compliance review process” (6-K). The descriptions of NetNut’s network above are the assessments of Google and Synthient. A domain seizure is not a conviction, and as of 2 October 2026 we found no public announcement of criminal charges against NetNut or Alarum. The full dated chronology is in our Residential Proxy Botnet & Takedown Timeline.
If you had an account or a balance
We have not been able to verify any working customer portal, refund path, or official migration guidance since the seizure — and we publish nothing we cannot verify, so this page carries no “how to get your money back” steps copied from elsewhere. Practically: treat prepaid balance as at risk, preserve invoices and correspondence, and route production traffic to a replacement now. We also publish no NetNut pricing: any rates on other comparison sites predate the seizure and cannot be checked against a live source.
What this means for buyers
We do not offer legal conclusions about NetNut or its customers. Residential proxies as a product category are widely used for ad verification, price monitoring and research; legal exposure generally depends on what is done through a proxy and how its IPs were obtained. The practical lesson is about sourcing transparency and continuity: a provider that cannot explain how households consent to carrying your traffic can become unavailable to every customer at once, as happened here.
Where to go instead
Ranked replacements with verified pricing are on NetNut alternatives; the enterprise like-for-like comparison is NetNut vs Oxylabs; the full market is on the pricing matrix and best residential proxies, where the trade-offs between the verified providers are laid out.
FAQ
What are the best residential proxy providers now?
Depends on the constraint: on verified flat price, DataImpulse at $1.00/GB; on published self-serve ladders, Decodo and Webshare; for enterprise procurement, Oxylabs and Bright Data. The full ranking with every verified rate is at best residential proxies.
Is NetNut coming back?
Unknown. On 13 July 2026 Alarum said it was evaluating alternatives to restore service and that any restart would go through legal, technical and compliance review. As of 2 October 2026 netnut.io still shows the seizure notice and there is no restored service for us to test. This page updates if that changes — dated, as always.