Reddit Aggravating_Week5275 wanted to list all of the swindles we all need to be watching for, so they asked:
"What do you think is a giant scam?"
I have fallen for a few scams. I hate to say it. Ever heard of Columbia House?
Vital Needs
Diabetes Insulin GIF by diababelifeGiphy"Price of insulin."
eaa802
"Can't believe I had to scroll that much to find this answer. Or any other vital medication."
Lummita
Knowledge Scams
"Brand new college textbook prices."
NegativeReplies
"Unethical life pro tip: I’ve bought used copies and told my professor that the card didn’t come with my 'new' copy, they typically contact the publisher and get free codes. Especially if you get an old edition, you just have to skip around as the chapter order has changed but it’s the same material for pennies on the dollar. Also, many books can be downloaded for free at various online site."
Kronikinsanity
Worst ever...
"Every MLM ever."
Illustrious-Chip-245
"I used to be with one but I didn't know it was an MLM until years after I quit. I lost more money than I ever "gained" from it. When I joined I didn't know they had like a minimum amount of orders that had to be done within certain time-frames or whatever. That's part of what led me to quitting. I keep pouring money into it and over time I got less and less orders. Not worth it."
idratherchangemyold1
Digital Crap
"99.9% of NFTs."
darkhorsehance
"It’s digital proof of ownership of something, that can’t be forged, so there’s a market for things like digital tickets to events, exclusive clubs and memberships offered by companies for customers, etc."
"But in those types of cases the value is based on the real world services and goods provided by owning it (in addition to scarcity). I’m sure there will even be digital art that will increase in value over the years too, but your odds of getting one are pretty similar to your odds of winning the lottery, aka a pretty terrible investment."
Just4nsfwpics
Interruptions...
Social Media Marketing GIF by GrowthXGiphy"Majority of ads."
SujammaCartel
"It's bullcrap what I see today, especially on YT. Kids are seeing this garbage."
Efficient_Garden5976
This NFT thing sounds insane. Also... how do I make one?
I'll microwave...
Season 5 Cooking GIF by Living SingleGiphy"Cooking for 1 hour and finishing the food in 10 minutes."
BlockNarrow6745
Not so bright...
"Diamonds."
New-Sir-4662
"My wife is in the relatively minor school of thought that lab-grown diamonds are just as good as dug-out-of-the-ground diamonds. Her wedding jewelry is something like 3 or 4 carats of diamond. probably something like £6000 if we'd bought natural diamonds, but only a fraction of that in reality. We're not telling anyone. :D "
Ruadhan2300
'get a better rate'
"Credit scores. Basically, a few companies convinced us it was totally fine to take all of our financial information and sell it to others, under the guise it would help us 'get a better rate' when we wanted to borrow money. In reality, although banks do care about these credit reports, they are only checking for debt-to-income ratios and other obvious red flags. Regardless, an entire industry has sprung up around optimizing credit scores."
triley368
After we breathe...
"Funerals. This include Majority of funeral homes, coffin stuff, and making the body look pretty for said funeral. It's a pretty American thing and actually also a pretty new concept that dead bodies are gross. Until pretty recently people would keep the bodies of dead loved ones in their homes for days and even pose for pictures with them. It helped with the grieving process and it just doesn't feel natural the way we treat our dead."
yammsandasideofguac
Accolades
season 8 episode 23 GIFGiphy"Most college degrees. Unless you're aiming for an industry that requires one (doctor/lawyer/etc), it really feels like a way to saddle 17 year olds with a lifetime of debt."
CHUNKY_BLOODY_QUEEFS
So much money...
"Health care, medical insurance and medicine. I've been fighting for over a month to get life sustaining medicine approved by insurance. It's 8000 dollars self pay per month for a 10ml vial. Talk about liquid platinum... I work in the medical field and I'm paying for insurance that hasn't done a damn thing for me yet this year."
Jam_Sauce
The Moon
"Companies selling stars and acres of the moon."
Graceoc323
"Actually I did once buy my parents the name of a binary star for their anniversary. Yeah, we all know it was bogus but it was pretty fun to think there was a solar system named Mabel (red dwarf) and Frank (yellow star)."
celticxcross
What's up with that???"
"Having to pay for life-saving medicine. Like insulin. What's up with that???"
KittyMori
"Also medicine expiration dates. Most of the time they just want to make more money by having to re-fill. Or needing more medicine you need to see your doctor first which is more expenses."
Latter-Project536
America
"The American healthcare system provides the same service as most developed nations for twice the price, with the balance going primarily to a bunch of entitled hothouse flowers who inherited shares in publicly traded health insurance companies so they can fuck off and do whatever they want for their entire lives without ever being forced to provide value to other human beings. The idleness of the born rich is paid for in the blood of everyone else."
Flaky-Fellatio
a wonderful thing...
"Prayer for pay. Honestly, anyone who is preaching about the champion of the poor, whose gospel states its easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven (Mark 10:25) then drive off in a Lamborghini to his mansion is a scam artist and horrible person. Religion can be a wonderful thing, it can also be weaponized, monetized, and b**tardized by those with bad hearts, bad judgment, or bad intentions."
WarLawck
Uni
"The fact that spending thousands of money and time for college and being broke doesn't get you anywhere but a related diploma of 6months gets you a job and a better pay?? Not for all the fields of study but for the ones relevant isn't the University just scamming us?"
zakiel_faith
Fun
"Sims 4 and its respective DLCs. It's a bare bones game with like 20 hours of playtime total... and to make it fun, you need DLC. Problem is, each of the largest DLC only gives like 10ish hours of playtime. In addition, whilst playing, you'll always have that itch to buy more DLC to make the game more fun."
"Before you know it, you're $200 down the drain and only have like a chunk of the actual DLC packs, and still feel bored. Only game I am willing to pirate and I encourage others who want to play Sims 4 to do so. It's a f**king scam."
SirChopslice
Sexist
sexist GIFGiphy"The pink tax. Don't know what I'm talking about? Go buy something for men like razors or deodorant then go buy the exact same thing but the women's version. It will be more expensive. For no reason."
PartSwimming
Points
"Credit Score definitely a scam. They be like congrats you've paid your credit cards on time, here's a 7 point increase in your score also them you've spent $50 on a credit card your score has dropped 50 points. 💯 scam designed to keep you poor & in debt!"
Few_Lobster7961
Steer clear of all the scamming succubus. Succubi? You know what I mean. They are strong in numbers.
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny or heartbreaking moment again.