"What is the biggest scam in the history of mankind?"
Un-Holy Matrimony Is More Like it...
"The wedding industry is one big scam."- Resafalo
Tax Fraud Has Several Forms...
"Telling me to figure out my own taxes."
"Then, they tell me I did it wrong. If you know how much I owe, just tell me and I’ll pay it!!'- dinahsaur523
Just Don't Tell Tom Cruise...
"Scientology."
"L Ron Hubbard is quite a fascinating man to learn about, terrible, terrible man, he began lying at a young age and then never stopped afterwards."
"Becoming a billionaire out of that creepy cult like 'religion' is the biggest scam of all time."- Joe_PM2804
happy tom cruise GIF by South Park GiphyYou Do Just Keep Needing More...
"Printer ink."- Mr_BananaPants
Spending More Money With The Slip Of A Finger
"The ads that claims to be inter actable but when your finger barely touches the screen it takes you to AppStore."- AnimePeter_
Access DENIED!
"Textbook access codes that you get after buying a new textbook and can use only once."- SuvenPan
Bg3 GIF by Larian StudiosGiphyThe Money Goes Somewhere...
"Payday loan companies."- Im_Negan
It Runs In The Family!
"My mom telling me she won't be mad if I tell her the truth."- Low_Quarter_583
diamonds GIFScams Fine If It's the Nazis Your Scamming...
"Eye doctor here."
"I'd like to dispel the myth regarding carrots and good vision or night vision because of a scam set forth by Britain at the time to screw with the enemy."
"They had just started performing night air raids and the Germans couldn’t figure out how they were accurately flying and bombing in the dead of night so the Brits printed in their newspapers that they were feeding their pilots carrots to improve their night vision and how good carrots were for your vision due to the beta carotene."
"Turns out that the Brits had just effectively mounted radar units to their planes for the first time and beat Germans to the punch with it."
"The truth is that beta carotene, while important for vision, is rarely in short supply in most diets and you can probably get enough out of a few packets of ketchup for weeks of good vision."
"Meanwhile, here we are now approaching 100 years after the development of radar still eating the lies of carrots."- OscarDivine
It's amazing the lengths people will go to deceive people for money.
And that sometimes they actually get away with it.
But as a general rule of thumb, if something seems like it's too good to be true, then it probably is.
Redditor Doctor_Engineer wanted everyone to be warned about lies we need to be ready for.
"What is 100% a scam?"
I think the biggest scam I fell for was Publisher's Clearing House. But who didn't?
Quack
ducks GIFGiphy"The people that call my house trying to sell me duck cleaning. I don't have a duck."
Kangar
Borders
"The individual who called me yesterday claiming to be 'US Customs and Border Patrol' who said I had an illegal package from Mexico in my name."
Sioswing
"I love these. I have an array of responses, including: 'Listen very carefully. You need to make absolutely sure that s**t moves. They know where you live' and, of course, 'What a coincidence! I work for ICE. Let me talk to your superior real quick.'"
amsterdam_BTS
"You too? I was told they had someone detained at the border that had my personal info and that I was the one who gave it to them. I asked them, being they claimed they were in possession of said information, what my full name, DOB, and address were?"
wyoflyboy68
'good faith'
"The 'sugar mommies' on Instagram that keep trying to talk to me."
kenzarellazilla
"I talked to one for awhile trying to figure out what his scam was. I'm pretty hot but I'm under no illusions that a 40 year old MILF is in very high demand for sugar daddies. He stopped talking to me when I insisted on a $300 'good faith' deposit to proceed."
2occupantsandababy
Work Hard
We can’t give you a raise yet because (X), but if you work hard and prove your competency, there will be a raise next year."
deja_vuvuzela
"We don't have the money to give you a raise but if you quit we'll hire someone (probably less good at the job and with less experience) to replace you at a higher rate than you're currently making."
ThadisJones
"Or better yet, work hard and take on responsibilities of the next level with your current pay and you might get promoted to that next level."
potatodutchess
Boom
im sorry andy samberg GIFGiphy"Nutriboom. But I will say this, Debbie Stovelman is happy, healthy, and alive."
TraditionalAd8468
Damn you Debbie.
Lessons...
Angry Lets Go GIF by BrownSugarAppGiphy"Those Alpha Male courses."
Ethan-Samurai
"I took a beta male course once. In the first lesson, the instructor slept with my girlfriend. I learned a lot."
Subrisum
Benefits
"Hydrogen-rich water. Had someone I know (this person is also into MLMs) try to sell me a thousands of dollars water filter. I looked up if there were any legit studies done on the health claims, and as I suspected, I didn't find any really compelling science. Turns out most of the claims pretty much line up with the health benefits of just drinking more water in general."
nerdypursuits
Tricked
"Pretty much all Youtube ads these days. If it starts with 'this one trick can' or anything like 'doctors hate this' doctors hate it because they have to explain green tea doesn't cure type one diabetes. To be honest it's flat-out dangerous false advertising but youtube doesn't care."
neoben00
“free”
"Kids iPhone/iPad games. My kid is downloading these 'free' games that constantly ask her to buy an extra skin or a treasure box of thousands of coins to upgrade and keep playing. It’s really scummy because they know exactly who their audience is, children who have no concept of money."
0wlBear916
Secrets
rich gold GIF by OffsetGiphy"Anyone - A-N-Y-O-N-E - promising to teach you the secrets of becoming wealthy at a free seminar. I have a family member that got sucked into the Kiyosaki bulls**t vortex. It's a damn cult."
throwaway3544219
Beware the scam. People will do anything to part you with you money.
Do you have anything to add to this list? Let us know in the comments below.
Scams are on the rise more than ever, especially during the pandemic when random phone calls preyed on the gullible and the elderly and persuaded them to give an exorbitant amount of money in order to avoid various consequences.
But suspicious dealings are also prevalent in already familiar situations that appear legit but are not.
In an effort to raise awareness, Redditor Diligent-Log6805 asked:
"What's a modern day scam that's become normalized that we don't realize it's a scam anymore?"
Beware. Some institutions are trying to take advantage of you and have a sneaky way of doing it.
Privileged Information
"Employers insisting that employees not talk about their salaries AND job listings not posting salaries."
– aDogNamedPotato
Credit Score Scam
"Credit scores."
"They started in 1989 and are designed to encourage debt."
– kung_fu_jive
You Don't Know You're Even A Member
"Everything is a sneaky small monthly subscription."
– wowsers808
"This is getting ridiculous. A one time payment for an app or game used to be fine. Now you keep paying. Terrible for the consumer."
– 1shaggy123
Keep Track Of What You're Joining
"Free trial auto renewal subscriptions."
– ResidentOfTheWorld
More To Pay
"subscriptions for already-paid apps."
– Head_Membership_4252
Never rely on the face value of things purchased online.
You'll find that after the transaction is done, you're hit with some surprises that managed to slip past your radar.
The Fine Print
"Hidden fees. Especially in the medical and hospitality industries."
– spade13F
Enjoy Your Stay
"Resort fees at hotels."
– ChickenXing
An Annoying Practice
"Similarly, those U-Hauls that say '$20.00 a day!' I have never been able to rent a U-Haul for less than $100. Which is fine. I know that's what it costs. But the bait and switch is annoying."
– EatYourCheckers
If You Complain Enough, It Works In Your Favor
"I stayed at a hotel in Boston and they had a $30 per day charge that wasn't included in the price when we booked online. 'destination charge' or something. They told us that we got a credit at the restaurant because of it so we shrugged it off."
"The next morning we tried to use the credit and they told us it was only good for dinner. I went to the front desk after we ate and told them to reverse the charge. They said they couldn't. I politely said they could. They did. Saved us $120 that trip."
– PhishGreenLantern
Banking Fees
"Transaction fees when using online banking. I do all the work filling out the form so a bank employee doesn’t have too, yet I get charged the same."
– patrik3031
Blatant Thievery
"'Admin fees' for completely automated services."
– Hungry4Memes
Using Toll Roads In Australia
"In Australia if you use a toll road and don’t have a toll account, you get sent a toll notice with an added $10 admin fee. And if you don’t pay it within the requested time frame the admin fee goes up to $20. A $2.50 toll could end up costing you $22.50. Scam…"
– Ikewiththebeard
Try backing out of something you decided to sign up for. It's like a roach motel. You can get in but you can never get out.
It's Always Easy To Join
"Not being able to cancel a subscription online. I can subscribe in 5 minutes but I need to call your service agents and am forced to be rude to them to cancel it because as long as my voice sounds friendly they try to resell the damn subscription."
– Hardi_SMH
Gym Membership
"Try canceling a gym membership. Some want you to prove you've moved more than 25 miles away before they'll cancel you even when your contract is up. And unless you actively cancel the contract when it expires, they'll automatically renew your contract."
– LadyBug_0570
From A Different Perspective
"My wife and I took over ownership of a small, local yoga studio a couple years ago (ended up being terrible timing, as we took over about the time Covid started up). But one of our first tasks (started before we even took over) was replacing the old, terrible member management system."
"We wanted, among other things, for members to have the ability to sign up for a membership (which was easy enough) and edit or cancel their membership at will, on their own, with no interaction from us. We looked at probably dozens of systems, and not a single one had the ability for members to easily change membership levels or cancel their membership."
"I get that a lot of people want to make it harder to cancel as an effort to discourage cancelations, but it's ridiculous that so many softwares don't even give the option. Our philosophy was to keep members by keeping them happy, not by making it a pain in the a** to cancel."
– justahominid
I remember buying concert tickets from Ticketmaster and was offended after seeing all the service involved. It's highway robbery.
I've since found better, more reasonable deals, through second-hand markets like eBay. Yeah, even scalpers know they're not as bad as certain online ticketing agents.
As frustrating as it is though, obtaining a product or service is difficult unless you resort to paying those well-hidden fees.
Just remember to keep track of any memberships to services you've joined that are still charging you monthly, even though you think you've canceled them.