We want to believe the world is a good place, and it can be. However, there are still those who seek to deceive us.
They prey on the innocent and naïve and run scams that take advantage of us and our assets.
Some of these scams are as old as time itself, and most people have wised up. They can recognize the tricks and protect themselves. However, every now and then, someone still falls for one of those stupid scams.
Redditors identified some of these scams and are ready to share.
It all started when Redditor MrTenBelow-1 asked:
"what's a scam so stupid yet people keep falling for?"
Gift Card For Bills
"People who fall for phone scammers telling them they can pay an overdue utility bill in Apple gift cards. WTF?"
– AdmiralBofa
"My client got taken for 40k in gift cards and a bit coin machine scam over the course of 2.5 days. The bank held her and begged her not to leave because they thought she was in danger but the scammer told her to tell them she has a right to her money and they gave up. They never called her husband which would have helped. The second Kroger refused to sell her the gift cards and told her they would call the cops and called her credit card company to tell them to close the card. Kroger was the hero in this situation. It helped snap her out of it but most of the money was gone."
"Talk to your older relatives. This is so common."
– pamidawashername
Bail Them Out
"As a teller manager, I have had a few elderly people who actually believe their grandkids are in jail, and need to take out 20k out of their accounts in cash, in order to bail them out."
"Literally tell them they are falling for a scam, and to call their grandkids in front of me. Of course the kid then answers."
"Their hearts are in the right place, but they need to think before they take large amounts like that, but also if they gave the scammers their personal addresses."
– Nouls
"Thank you for looking out for them! My grandma’s attempt to bail me out of jail with target gift cards was foiled by a kind bank teller like you. My grandma doesn’t have a cell phone so she called the police and me from the bank to make sure everything got sorted."
– gingersnap9210
Money, Money, Money
"Any get rich quick subscription program. The actual get rich scheme is launching a subscription program for a get rich scheme."
– Kretuhtuh
"Subscribe to my courses to learn how to get rich quick. I'm only offering this because I don't want to use my tricks to get rich quick and want to share it with you instead."
– eggtart_prince
Love = Money
"Sending ppl on dating apps money"
– marvelwonderwoman
"While I've never been scammed, they've made attempts on me while I was on dating apps. It's easy to spot when they're attempting to scam you, like using some Instagram model's photos on their profile, or they try to get you to move to another app like skype or WhatsApp. But some guys don't think with the head on their shoulders and lose hundreds to probably a guy in Nigeria."
– draiman
The Future Is No Mystery
"Psychic hotlines"
– fonduktoe
"Or, any psychic really. Storytime: in NYC a few years ago, I walked by one of those storefront psychics as the proprietor yelled out to her husband, “But I can’t find my keys!” Not great advertising."
– moltenlavashake
How Romantic
"My coworker who was widowed three years ago met a man online and has been speaking with him for over a year. He says he has an apartment in an upscale neighborhood of the nearby city. They haven't met in person yet because he is building a bridge in Dubai. He was going to come home for Christmas but the flights were very expensive."
"I am 95% sure this is a romance scam."
– elusivemoniker
"He’s building a bridge in Dubai 😂😂😂😂😂"
– Jellyb3anz
Don't Have Wheels
"I'm calling about your cars extended warranty..."
– WhoaSpoders
"Man I was getting those calls before I even owned a car"
– justaguyonreddit02
"Okay, I'm not proud of this, but I nearly got screwed by an extended warranty call."
"I had just bought a used electric car out of state. And even though I've never done this before I bought an extended warranty from the used car dealership because it covered the batteries."
"While I was waiting for delivery I got a letter from what I thought was the warranty company. I was getting a lot of paperwork so it didn't look out of place. It said to give them a call so I could finalize the warranty information."
"I called the number and they asked questions like mileage, trim package, etc. And after all that they said because of a change in their policy I could save $50.00 a month if I made the first payment before close of business Friday."
"The only reason they didn't get my credit card number is because I asked them why I needed to make monthly payments for something I paid in full on my loan. That's when the discussion started sounding fishy (phishy) after a few more attempts to convince me to pay I just hung up on them, and called the dealership."
"What's crazy is that the company is a legitimate extended warranty company. They just have shady business practices."
– could_use_a_snack
Sell, Sell, Buy!
"Pyramid schemes. For the life of me I can’t fathom how people think they’ll get rich selling stupid sh*t like oils or wax"
– AkuraPiety
"A family friend sells one of the kitchen things as an MLM and is always boasting about going on cruises and stuff... Of course she leaves out the part where she has to park on her driveway because her garage is literally floor to ceiling, wall to wall with boxes of unopened merch. She isn't getting rewarded for her sales, she's getting rewarded for her purchases."
"She cooked some kind of dip for us in a microwave to show off a product. It tasted like I imagine a dead cow's milky an*s tastes."
– WillemDafoesHugeCock
Heal The Virus
"“Hello, this is John White. I am calling from Windows Technical Support. We have received notification that there are many errors on your computer, and that it may have a virus.”"
– MasterAinley
"My friends mother kept a guy like this on the phone for 20minutes, did everything he told her and was so greatful the nice Windows man was trying to fix her computer. Then eventually asked him "Oh, was my computer meant to be switched on?""
– anderoogigwhore
Please Hang Up!
"My MIL almost fell for this."
"My wife got a call from her father about something completely unrelated and as they're talking, he says that her mom is on the phone with Microsoft. I overhear this. I've listened to my IT friends talk about how getting MS on the phone is a huge pain in the a*s, so I'm immediately wondering what is going on.""My wife prods a little and finds out that they called her. Immediately, I'm saying over and over again "Tell her to hang up. Hang up HANG UP""
"Her MIL is...well, she's an older Jewish lady who is allergic to silence. FIL is a very typical older Jewish man..."
"FIL tells her "The kids are saying you should hang up, they say it's a scam.""
"MIL says on the phone to the "representative": "My kids are telling me this is a scam, are you trying to scam me?""
"The fake rep says "Of course not, you know me, why would I do that""
"MIL: "He says it's not a scam.""
"FIL: "She says it's not a scam.""
"My wife: It scam."
"Me: HANG UP HANG UP HANG UP"
"FIL to MIL: They're tellin me you should hang up."
"MIL to FIL: Do you know where the checkbook is?""
"Wife: OMG TAKE THE PHONE FROM HER AND HANG IT UP"
"Me: Why is she not HANGING UP?"
"FIL to my wife: I think I might have to call you back, your mother can't find the checkbook"
"Wife, now screaming: SHE IS BEING SCAMMED"
"MIL, to the rep: Hold on, I think I need to talk to my daughter, can I call you back?"
"Rep: Sure, but if we could process payment..."
"FIL: I think you better tell him to call back later"
"MIL: That's what I told him [to the rep] I need to call you back hun"
"Wife: I am begging you dad, take the phone from her"
"Me: [screams]"
"MIL to the rep: No, that's not a good time, we'll be eating dinner"
"Me: I'm driving over there."
"And that's what I did."
"She hadn't given him any payment information thankfully, but she had scheduled a call with him later. I blocked the number and told her not to answer any other unknown numbers. I had to show her several articles proving this is a scam and she STILL said "Well ya nevah know, and I don't want any virus on my computer""
– Daddict
The Truth About Social
"Facebook is going to change its algorithm by you copying and pasting a post"
– mamaj747
"Literally yesterday I saw one of those dumba** "I do not give FB permission to blah, blah, blah...""
"Yes, honey, you already did when you signed up and every time you accepted their new terms of service. Buried in the fine print you entirely gave them permission."
– Cinemaphreak
Thin Out
"Those “lose 15 pounds in 5 days” type diets in supermarket tabloids"
– AssociateGeneral4275
"Dude it works, I lost 20 pounds in 10 days. The diet is called a very aggressive stomach flu. You can’t keep anything down and you sh*t your brains out."
– Omegaprimus
Steer clear of all of these!
Do you have any popular scams to add? Let us know in the comments below.
People Break Down Scams That Americans Have Been Conditioned To Believe Are Normal
Scams are abound on the internet.
But no matter how much we protect ourselves with two-step authentication and avoid opening malware-attached email from strangers, there is always a risk our private information might be vulnerable to being compromised.
But scams are also cloaked under the guise of what is perceived as normal, and it seems more Americans are being wise to the fact they have been duped for a long time.
Curious to hear about the sobering realizations of strangers, Redditor tycooperaow asked:
"What is clearly a scam but Americans have been conditioned to believe that it is 'normal'?"
Healthcare
"Politicians talk about the need for healthcare, but create legislation for healthcare insurance."
About Insurance
"I wouldn't mind health insurance so much if it actually functioned as insurance with fewer seemingly random underwriting stipulations that deny coverage."
"I pay into my car and rental insurance and have had little to no issue using their services when I need to."
"So why does health insurance constantly look for reasons to deny me service when I pay into it, and why do they have non-medical personnel deciding what is and isn't covered? Why is it my responsibility to argue with insurance about whether a prescription epipen or inhaler is 'medically necessary' after my doctor has prescribed it for its explicit intended purpose? Why is it that I can take an ambulance to the ER, be evaluated by medical doctors who then administer emergency care, and then have my claim denied by an administrative person at corporate HQ because they decided it wasn't an emergency and the hospital was out of network?"
The Middle Men
"Tax Filing."
"For the majority of wage earners, the IRS can easily determine how much you owe and tell you, or tell you what you're owed in a refund. It's simple."
"That they don't do so is only because tax preparation companies lobby lawmakers to keep the system as it is. Tax preparation companies only exist because they are legally allowed, middle men. They are slow, complicated, costly, and the opposite of free market efficiency."
Work Hours
"The idea that you need to work endless hours and never have time off."
"There are plenty of countries where people work reasonable hours, have five-week summer vacations and the economies don't fall apart."
"You are not lazy if you don't eat at your desk or while driving."
Considered Lazy
"Not only unsustainable, but almost unnatural if you look at most of human history. Usually humans only laboured as much as they needed to in order to put food on the table, and spent the rest of their time doing whatever (socialising, crafts, that sort of thing)."
"It's really only America's puritanical roots, combined with industrialist and capitalist propaganda, that's written that off as 'lazy.'"
Nuptials
"Wedding business. Everyone nowadays thinks their wedding has to be super grand and such. But paying +2500$ for a dress you can only wear once is super overrated in my opinion."
Girl's Best Friend
"Diamonds."
– adsvx215
"Diamonds have their uses in blades, industrial equipment. It's the prices of jewelry with diamonds that make my head spin while you can make perfect diamonds for cents per carat."
– sorean_4
Still Can't See The Logic
"Prescription eye glasses. They should be maybe $100 tops but we pay multiple times that for them."
Student Loans
"nobody is mentioning the push that 'college is for everyone! also you aren't able to default on your student loans so banks will give them to anyone. coincidentally, we started telling people that they should ALL go to college, no matter their situation, right after passing the bill that made student loans impossible to hide from.'"
– jude802
Better Than A Degree
"IT is an option. I managed to get a full scholarship in college, but really, the $600 I spent on a CCNA (I failed the first one) has been an enormously better investment than the time and effort I spent on my degree."
"And technology isn't going away any time soon."
About Buying Cars
"Car dealerships."
"They're literally just middle-man functions that do nothing more than raise the cost of the 'good' and produce taxation for the government on multiple levels of the transactions involved in purchasing a car through the third party."
Leave
Only getting 10 days worth of annual leave per year and then being encouraged not to use it
Pay me
"If you're not 15 minutes early, you're late." That adds up to 65 hours a year you should have paid me for. That is 8 full days of work.
While there are plenty of scams out there that scream "SKETCHY" and drive most people away immediately, there are other shake-downs that operate pretty far below the radar.
In fact, these all-too-common ploys make one wonder exactly where the line between scam and rip off actually is.
They're not scams in the formal sense. Nothing illegal is happening and nobody ever lies per se. But all the while we're shelling out way more cash than we'd like for reasons we don't quite understand.
jungledolphiiin asked, "What's the biggest scam we all just accept?"
Knowledge is Power
"COLLEGE TEXT BOOKS."
"You need edition 10 for this class. They change one chapter in the book make it a new edition over price it and f*** the college kids. Always drove me nuts when I was I college."
-- coptivity
Inch by Inch
"Commercials on subscription tv." -- Fatalis_Drakk
"This was the original point of cable TV, that you'd pay a fee for it and the shows would be commercial free." -- throwawayobviqxy
"That will bring back piracy" -- liquidsh**sinmypants
Multiple Streams of Income
"Academic journals."
"Authors need to pay to get published, but readers need to pay to read them. What a load of bullsh**." -- Nekronous
The Earliest Scam
"Mom: tell me the truth and I wont be mad" -- SkysHorrorPlace
"Or Principal: if you are the person who did this one bad thing, tell us who you are now and we won't punish you" -- go_away-im_not_here
"Same with the cops." -- mumsheila
Very Inconvenient
"Ticket master 'convenience' fees" -- s32ddd
"Convenience fees for paying online" -- __flatline__
"I always ask them, convenience to who?" -- dcotoz
"The DMV is the worst one, IMO. There's a convenience fee to pay it online, and there's a 'counter fee' to pay in person." -- JonesNate
Honoring Properly, For a Price
"How expensive funerals are. Companies are taking advantage of emotions, and it's actually cruel."
"Someone died for goodness sake, and now you want to break people's banks over it because 'it's what grandma would have wanted'!!!"
-- Funnybunnie_
Some Strategic Pricing
"Large popcorn."
"Hear me out. When the only options are a large and a small, if the large is $5 but the small is $2, the theaters don't want you to pick the small. So they'll invent a medium size."
"But instead of pricing the medium as perfectly between $2 and $5 ($3.50), they'll price the medium as slightly less than the large."
"So, in your mind, you think 'well, I could get even more popcorn for just a little bit more. I'd be a fool to miss out on that deal.'"
"The theater never wanted you to pick the medium. They just artificially made the large more attractive."
-- nWo1997
Arbitrary Valuation
"Data caps" -- TheHeroicOnion
"Seriously. It's like a nickel a TB in electricity, maybe less."
"But the ISPs and Cell Phone providers act like the data is being handled by a switchboard where people have to manually move cables around so that you can get your Facebook feed." -- Snoo74401
Growing Numb
"Being forced to always click 'I accept terms and conditions' by every company online for everything, no matter what those conditions are."
"Need to pay some medical bills? Well, you can only do it on xxx.paythedoc.cm and if you DON'T agree to terms and conditions, you can't get it done."
"Need to order a specific part from a company? Same thing. Even agreeing to Zoom meetings, if I remember correctly."
"So we've raised an entire generation of people who don't even bother reading contracts because they are conditioned to believe you have no choice but to agree to the contract."
"This is extremely insidious and there's no real recourse."
-- buggytoujour
Who Decided?
"The value of diamonds" -- C**tyMcGiggles
"My wife was talking about how she wants more/bigger diamonds for her ring for our 10 year. It's a few years away but sh** if she wants that I better start saving now."
"Then I asked how she felt about the lab diamonds. Game changer. She said they look exactly the same and would be fine with it."
"I'll possibly financially recover from this." -- Yakstein
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U.S. Army Issues 'Fact Check' Warning After People Receive Texts Telling Them They've Been Drafted For War With Iran
U.S. Army recruitment texts threatening civilians to enlist for "immediate departure to Iran" or face jail time is the latest scam alarming people in the Florida and New Jersey areas.
To be clear, Uncle Sam is not wanting anyone right now.
Buzzfeed News obtained screenshots of these fraudulent drafting notices indicating recipients were marked "as eligible and must come to the nearest branch...for immediate departure to Iran."
The U.S. Army warned people on Tuesday about the fraudulent draft notices after Army officials first heard from concerned parents and recruiters on Monday.
No, You're Not Being Drafted. US Army Warns About Fake Texts About Draft https://t.co/m0FtNSkIqW— Newsradio WTAM 1100 (@Newsradio WTAM 1100) 1578585517.0
Below are the screenshots provided by the U.S. Army Recruiting Command.
The first text was received by people living in the Jacksonville, Florida, area.
US Army Recruiting Command
The text reads:
"United States Official Army Draft, we tried contacting you through mail several times and have had no response."
"You've been marked eligible and must come to the nearest branch in Jacksonville Florida area for immediate departure to Iran."
"Please contact us at the following number and respond to this message immediately."
"...We're aware that this number is not disconnected, you'll be fined and sent to jail for minimum 6 years if no reply."
The second screenshot is a variation of the same notice but addressing residents living in New Jersey
US Army Recruiting Command
"Hello, we are contracting you in regards to the United States Official army draft, we tried contacting you through your email several times and have had no response."
"You've been marked eligible and must come to the nearest branch in the New Jersey Area for immediate departure to Iran."
"Please contact us at the following number immediate."
US Army Recruiting Command (USARC) media relations chief Lisa Ferguson told Buzzfeed:
"We don't have any way of knowing if some areas are receiving more texts than others unless we were to query all 1,400 recruiting stations and more than 10,000 recruiters."
The USARC assured that the U.S. Army "is NOT contacting anyone regarding the draft."
Twitter had various reactions to the fake draft, including those who saw humor in gullible people.
@ABC This is actually a really good idea, lol. “You have been selected for service. Please report within 10 days or… https://t.co/1ib60OOhwH— Dolewite (@Dolewite) 1578553862.0
@ABC We should have a draft. President Chump’s kids should be first. No more rich man’s war poor man’s fight.— Hotspur (@Hotspur) 1578557253.0
@KTLA Anyone that falls for that should be sent to Iran anyway— Fern Varela (@Fern Varela) 1578513094.0
@CNN Anyone who reports for duty after receiving one of those text messages should be seen by doctors, and for thei… https://t.co/nzCdzhcxfC— Dungfaced (@Dungfaced) 1578552179.0
@CNN I'm laughing so hard. I don't know what's funnier, getting drafted by text or the idea of grandma getting draf… https://t.co/n4O0cytIgg— Jeff Wagar 🇨🇦 (@Jeff Wagar 🇨🇦) 1578552385.0
@CNN The last people the military needs are those who fall for this scam— Scottergate (@Scottergate) 1578569100.0
@FOXLA https://t.co/Foh53CCwhM— Herbert (@Herbert) 1578583894.0
According to these texts, training is the least of their concerns when the Army needs recruits sent to Iran NOW.
@KTLA Too late. I’m already on a plane headed to Tehran..... https://t.co/z13b7GMUFY— Mr & Mrs Brotein (@Mr & Mrs Brotein) 1578521925.0
Others reminded the public that the Army does not reach out to you through a text.
Military draft: US Army warns about fake text messages. Let's be super clear about this, if a draft was instated,… https://t.co/nJbwTEDW69— Red T Raccoon (@Red T Raccoon) 1578512878.0
@RedTRaccoon To be clear, the ARMY itself may not text you but at least some otheir recruiters DO! My 19 year old s… https://t.co/EHsUGTLO9J— Leslie Cidale (@Leslie Cidale) 1578513209.0
@CNN US Army will NEVER text you for your password. If you receive such a text please proceed to your local recruit… https://t.co/zjs4IOERrk— double selfies 4 all (@double selfies 4 all) 1578552508.0
The USARC website also clarified that the Selective Service System is the official U.S. government agency that manages registration and maintains records of people who are eligible for conscription.
Fact check: The U.S. Army is NOT contacting anyone regarding the draft. If you are receiving texts, phone calls or… https://t.co/kZVhhTsN5G— U.S. Army CGSC (@U.S. Army CGSC) 1578491108.0
Memes and jokes about people potentially getting drafted for World War III began circulating after General Qassem Soleimani was killed on January 3, 2020, in a targeted U.S. drone strike approved by U.S. President Donald Trump.
When the US government asks for my birth certificate so they can draft me for #WW3 https://t.co/fgp1lrhbPz— J.V. 🇵🇷 (@J.V. 🇵🇷) 1578023196.0
Me meeting my homies in prison after we all refused the draft for WWIII https://t.co/VmV2gbbgT2— 𝔸𝕕𝕒𝕞‼️ (@𝔸𝕕𝕒𝕞‼️) 1578024783.0
When your laughing at #WW3 memes all day and get a text that you’ve been drafted to #WW3 https://t.co/jItxpCwfm4— Erin Montoya (@Erin Montoya) 1578434013.0
The USARC website states that the draft "has not been in effect since 1973," when it was used for the Vietnam War.
"The military has been an all-volunteer force since that time. Registering for the Selective Service does not enlist a person into the military."
The Selective Service tweeted that they are "conducting business as usual."
The Selective Service System is conducting business as usual. In the event that a national emergency necessitates a… https://t.co/jiJ2yOtlXp— Selective Service (@Selective Service) 1578066494.0
Those who are interested in volunteering to serve for the U.S. Army, however, can contact a local Army recruiting office.
People Who Have Worked For Scam Call Centers Share What It Was Like
Call center jobs defibitely aren't the best even when they're for a legitimate company, so it stands to reason they working for a telephone scammer would suck even more.
Reddit user u/cmdrrockawesome asked :
"People who've worked for scam call centers, did you know? And if you did and stayed, why?"
10.
GiphyWorked at one place when I was 19 or so that did public radio pledge renewals. Turned out the boss wasn't actually giving that money to anyone, just kept it. Bunch of suits and uniforms showed up and arrested him, shut the company down in the middle of the work day. No idea if he was ever convicted or what might have happened to him afterward.
9.
You're desperate for a job. They call you and it seems legit enough. You go through training and its fun, the people in your training class are all pretty cool, the managers make you feel special ,you think you might actually like this. Then it happens you get on the phone, first real day of work and after the 5th person hangs up you realize that you are one of THOSE people. How did I not see this before, but your Managers are behind you cheering you on, telling you not to lose steam, offering free Lunches.
You get conflicted. You know its wrong. I worked there 2 days , the third day I came to work clocked in....looked around and just got up and left.
I went through the 6 week training and left after. I caught on pretty quickly that they were the bad guys and I was going to be asked to do some dubious stuff regularly, so I milked the paid training and quit the day I was supposed to finally get on the phones lmao
8.
I worked for a call center for about a month that bugged people to donate to "charities" with very similar names to actual charities, but less than 1% of the pledge would actually go towards a charity.
When i found this out i felt anxious about it and left, basically ghosting on it. No manager or employee of any kind even so much as called once when I missed my next shift. I just stopped showing up and then never heard from anyone again.
A few weeks later I got a call to my land line (that i don't give out), asking if I wanted to come work for... the exact same company. in my head I was like "do you guys even remember that I literally DID work there and then just stopped showing up? oh ok then."
Definitely how a legitimate and not shady corporation would act.....
7.
A long time ago - like in the early 1980's I got a job at a call center - I was about 21 at the time. There were 5 or 6 of us who started the same day. The deal was we were selling discount photocopy paper and toner (back in the day, toner powder was poured into a reservoir by the user). The call center manager gave us several scripts - but encouraged us to ad lib once we got the hang of it. We were to call businesses from a list they had generated. A typical narrative would say that due to some accident (duplicate order, trucking accident, bankruptcy, etc.) we had tonnes of surplus toner or paper. When ever we first mentioned "toner" we were told to say "you know that black messy stuff you put in your copier" as kind of a folksy hook and were to refer to Xerox, HP and Canon as "the big three".
At this point, we were told and believed that the supplier bought bulk supplies from real "accidents", bankruptcies and over stocked items - so basically the scripted narratives were "mostly" true. In truth, we were just an order placer for bulk wholesalers of supplies. There were no accidents, mistakes or bankruptcies involved, but apparently these lies helped people believe they were getting a deal.
The first day - I didn't do any live calls, just training, role playing and practice with a sales trainer and instruction on how to process orders and record calls. Since the pay was 100% commission - this was unpaid work.
The second day only 2 of the new hires showed up. It started with a sales huddle, a rah rah affair where we "celebrated" the previous days numbers and top performers and were given the key messages for the day/week and told who was pushing paper vs toner. I was put on the toner team. I spent the morning shadowing an experienced salesperson who made several sales each hour - but again, unpaid work for me. Then was given a headset, a list and an order book after lunch. I made my first sale on about the 3rd call (huge cheer - I was a star for 30 seconds) - but then nothing the rest of the day. So basically I made about $10.
After work I saw a fellow salesman waiting for a bus, so I offered him a ride to get the scoop on the company because I was having some doubts. He basically said he had just quit and the whole business was a scam. The lists given to the callers were sorted - the top sales people got pre-qualified leads, the rest got basically random businesses. The 1 sale I got that day was a plant - everyone gets 1 plant on their first day. For every 100 or so calls, you get about 20 that actually listen to your narrative and maybe 1 that places a small order - and about 2/3 of the orders are cancelled almost immediately so there is no commission.
For Many of the cancelled orders, their phone number got put on the pre-qualified lists for the top sales men the next month. He also told me the whole over stock, trucking accident, bankruptcy thing was a big lie, we were just placing orders for a bulk supplier. The prices were cheap because the licensed suppliers had much bigger markups, but that message didn't sell as well. We also had a cheaper, inferior product that would often void the warranty of the manufacturers.
Third day I didn't show up.
6.
Worked for an environmental non-profit as a teen doing calls and going door to door. I didn't really understand the legislation we were getting signatures for but hey it's good for the environment. A very very nice hippie lady invited me in and explained that the non-profit I was working for was financed by the oil companies and was trying to backdoor a way to remove any liability for spills in the Gulf. I did some research and, sure enough, that was indeed the case. Told everyone in my office. About half were horrified and the other were like "Eh, it's a livin'" I left and so did many others. It was a trash place to work anyway as you were paid by how much you brought in in donations.
5.
I was 16 and back in the day (circa 2003), Montreal was a huge haven for telemarketing scam operations - particularly those targeting the US.
So being young and naive, I started phoning up places that had 'help wanted' ads in the local newspaper. One called me back and told me to come in for an interview. It was a tiny little operation (for those of you from Montreal - right behind the famous Orange Julep) with maybe about 10 people working there. The interview was quick and I got hired on the spot.
They explained to me that Visa and Mastercard had an "issuing department" that they contracted out to smaller centres and we had to help process approved applications to get people their actual cards.
I believed it.
So I worked there for about two weeks, calling people and telling them that they got approved for a credit card application that they submitted (a while back, it could have been up to six months ago - I still remember the script!) and that we needed to get their information to update their file and re-run the credit check to issue their credit card.
It turns out that they were selling them a 'credit repair kit' (but that would only happen during the "verification" phone call - when the client agreed to everything, the supervisor would come on the line, dial out to a separate number to make a verification recording with the person on the line, and quickly rush through the information and blurb out the credit repair kit portion at the last second) - funny enough the times the client objected or hesitated, they'd just hang up and tell me to go to the next person.
Two weeks passed by and then I was due for my first paycheck - on Monday! So I walk in all happy knowing that I must have made a super duper commission-
Huh- that's weird. The doors are locked.
Eh.... they're not answering the phone either.
WHAT THE... the office is empty and everything is gone.
Then another one of my colleagues showed up and sighed - then he mentioned to me "you didn't think they they were REALLY issuing credit cards, did you?"
...
So I headed back home all sad. I would spend the rest of that summer working at the grocery store.
4.
Got a job at a telemarketing place once.
First day was told "If you are okay scamming people you can make a lot of money."
After the intro class we were split into pairs and were told to listen in to the experienced "workers".
Essentially how it worked was you call into a real company and the scammers would get phone numbers close to the reputable companies, so as you call in and are on hold, you think you are waiting to speak with them.
A message would come on, with some kind of scam deal, a free trip, $1 dollar subscription for 12 months that costs you hundreds later on, things like that.
The very first call this confused senior. Who thought she was waiting to speak with her bank. So she willingly gave out things like her credit card number ect. By the time she clued in and realized it was a scam and asked us not to process the information, the rep hung up on her and was actually laughing...
Needless to say, I hopped on a bus home after that to go back to the want ads.
3.
I worked for one company (which acted as two) called AidNest and thereafter USDR...while pretending to be two companies. Can I do this? Or do I have to edit the names out? The companies don't exist anymore
Anyway, I found out a couple of months into the job that although it wasn't exactly a scam per se, we were selling a service that people didn't need and could do for themselves.
Later though, everything turned into a scam when the following happened: The owner's old business partner sued his balls off, and managed to get all of his accounts frozen, including of course the ones where all of the clients' money went, and where all of our salaries came from.
A couple of weeks later, we weren't even allowed into the building anymore, almost 200 call center agents left on the street jobless. Oh and during those couple of weeks we didn't get paid but were all forced to come in and try to make new sales to effectively pay our own salaries while things "picked back up".They never did. They still owe me about 2.5k USD, we went to the ministry of labor, we made quite a fuss and it even made the news (without identifying the company itself). The legal representatives fled the country, and well, I guess we'll all just have to be pissed forever.
It broke my heart every time I continued to receive email notifications WHICH I CAN'T TURN OFF from clients who are still looking for responses and for help with their debt, and I can't even log into the system (which was paid for by the company) because it's not being funded but somehow still receives incoming messages, don't know how that works.
So I guess, what I mean is, if you worked with AidNest and haven't been getting answers...that's why. So not only the clients got scammed, but the employees did too.
I'm spending way too much time on this comment that probably only a couple of people will read but I think it's my one chance to help at least one or two people realize that although they didn't start out being scammed, they definitely were eventually because of the piece of garbage owner(s).
2.
After I started at one "selling" credit cards to old people on Social Security/Disability, I realized what I was being told to do and I walked out. That place was absolutely awful, and I legitimately felt bad for anyone I successfully duped into signing up with their "ONE-TIME LIFE-TIME MEMBER CARD ACTIVATION FEE OF ONE NINETY-NINE NINETY-NINE."
1.
GiphyWhen I was about 19 I worked for a call center for 3 days. They were scamming everyone including the employees.
First, shifts were only 3 hours long and you would be scheduled for 2 of those back to back (I.e. 9-12 & 12:30-3:30). This is because if you are scheduled for longer than that you are 1. Legally entitled to break time 2. If you are scheduled for longer than 3 hours and get cut you have to be paid a minimum of 3 hours. The company would regularly cut you if you weren't bringing in enough money, you were then expected to return for your next shift.
I'm sure they screwed people's pay checks somehow but I walked out in day 3 and abandoned my paycheck.
I walked out because that was the day I learned where the money went. See, we weren't selling anything, we were raising money for breast cancer research. The key piece that led me to quit was when I learned that 0.1% of all donations went towards the actual research. The remaining 99.9%? Well, it was lining pockets and funding other centers to scam people.
I now only donate directly to a source and even then only after vetting them.