58 Scams That Are So Normalized That We Don’t Realize We’re Being Tricked
We’ve all been warned not to click suspicious links that we find in our inboxes and not to provide any personal information over the phone to unknown callers. But these obvious scammers aren’t the only ones trying to take more money from us than they should.
Reddit users have recently been discussing products and businesses that are beloved by many but might actually be scams. Whether it’s an item being marked up at ridiculous rates or a service that doesn’t actually do anything, we’ve gathered some of these potential scams down below. So enjoy reading through, and be sure to upvote the things you’d be hesitant to spend your money on!
Paying for 3 different insurances, health, vision, and dental, when last time I checked the last two are part of your body therefore should fall under one, health insurance.
I feel like streaming platforms are starting to swing into scam territory by baiting everyone into joining with no ads and a low price. Then, raising the prices and bringing back ads.
Anything purporting to “cleanse” your body. As long as you’ve got a functioning liver and kidneys, you’re already cleansing toxins from your body
Influencers on social media. Many promote a product for the money, and then don’t mention the item ever again. Some even backtrack months/years later stating they don’t like the product, yet still promoted it to young people on limited budgets.
Phone/Internet bills, i live in Canada the amount of money i pay for my phone, and the Internet is eye watering compared to our neighbors in the south or the rest of the world. Scammed by our own government and their telecom overlords.
Home warranty insurance on appliances. You spend upwards of $1-2k a year so that you don’t have to buy a new $800 washer or $1200 fridge outright if they go out? Just put the payment away for an appliance fund and you come out ahead 9 times out of 10
Friggin printer ink/cartridges. What a racket. Especially new printers that don’t work if you use 3rd party inks, and that none will even print in black if any of the colour ink is low/out.
“Healing” crystals
Also, a lot of the time, the “crystals” are just glass
Chiropractors.
Go to a physical therapist, they can help you with your physical pain with the added benefit of a medical degree.
I’m sure I read once that pre made cinema popcorn has one of the biggest price markups of any product in the world. They buy massive sacks that cost pennies and then charge a fortune for it.
Social Media Influencers or Celebrities promoting products…
NFTs
Whats the point of the token being non fungible if the actual associated digital asset still is?
For women, almost any product with a different “Women’s” version, that is only different because it is pink. This is actually called “the pink tax,” because these products are nearly always more expensive than the men’s version.
On a much smaller scale, men have a “jock” tax, where products for their genitals are more expensive than the same thing for other parts of the body. One example I saw recently was cream for jock itch, three times the price of the same antifungal cream sold for foot fungus.
Gift Cards
They are a free loan to the company that will result in either:
1. You spending more than you intended so that you “use up” the card
2. You leaving a small balance on the card that never gets used
3. The card gets lost or otherwise unused
4. In the case of restaurant, it often results in your server being under-tipped due to people tipping on the after gift card total.
They are a bad gift. If you don’t know what to get someone, give cold hard cash.
How about the fact that paying the employees at restaurants is somehow considered the customers responsibility.
Coffins. there’s literally no point to keeping anything out. It doesn’t stop the process of decomposition because most of it has to do with the bacteria that’s already in your body eating you from the inside. the real decay was inside us all along!
Fat burner products. If you ingest something that actually burns fat off you, it’s either poison or fire
Dryer balls. Popular Mechanics for example experimented on the efficacy of them and found no beneficial effects.
The vitamin and supplement industry.
“X is 100% proven to make you fart rainbows! (these statements have not been evaluated by the FDA)”
The overpriced big brand basketball/fashion/status symbol shoes aimed at poor people. They’re plastic and made in sweat shops!!!
Free to Play / Freemium video games. Many of these have fantastic gameplay but they are almost universally slot machines with a coat of paint.
Uber Eats and Doordash (other food delivery apps) They mark up the prices of food, have huge delivery fees, and pocket all the money while their drivers get shafted with minimal pay and little to none of the delivery fee actually going to the driver. It is a major scam.
I went into a timeshare sales pitch to get a $100 at a resort. 1 hour for $100.
I was greeted and I said “Hello, I’m doing well thanks. Just a heads up I am not going to be buying a timeshare but I will gladly listen to what you have to say. I won’t be answering any questions or responding at all till the hour is over, is that ok?”.
They said yes, talked for an hour to a stone dead face and at the end my phone dinged and I said – “thank you for taking the time to explain it to me, bye.”
They were so rude after that it was amazing, but I got my $100 and out I went.
A category — luxury goods. I’m Korean American and am blown away by the label hungry consumption in both countries.
Tipping anyone other than actual wait staff at a sit-down restaurant.
expensive toothpaste claiming it makes your teeth whiter in 3 days
AMWAY.
It’s a ponzi scheme and if it wasn’t soaked in JESUS! it would have been shut down long ago.
Crypto – in a sense there is no product but it is something people spend money to acquire
Keurigs.
They are not that fast, they are expensive, the coffee is trash, and they create an insane amount of waste.
A regular coffee maker or french press is better in pretty much every scenario.
They are HUGELY popular in offices and hotel rooms everywhere for some f*****g reason and it drives me crazy.
ITT people don’t know what an actual “scam” is. I’m sorry but apple and Starbucks are legitimate companies lol.
US College puts people in a ton of debt and is becoming less and less worth it from a pure ROI standpoint. But many still go because of the networking, partying, community, and it feels like a rite of passage vs. learning a trade/starting a biz.
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We’ve all been warned not to click suspicious links that we find in our inboxes and not to provide any personal information over the phone to unknown callers. But these obvious scammers aren’t the only ones trying to take more money from us than they should.
Reddit users have recently been discussing products and businesses that are beloved by many but might actually be scams. Whether it’s an item being marked up at ridiculous rates or a service that doesn’t actually do anything, we’ve gathered some of these potential scams down below. So enjoy reading through, and be sure to upvote the things you’d be hesitant to spend your money on!
Paying for 3 different insurances, health, vision, and dental, when last time I checked the last two are part of your body therefore should fall under one, health insurance.
I feel like streaming platforms are starting to swing into scam territory by baiting everyone into joining with no ads and a low price. Then, raising the prices and bringing back ads.
Anything purporting to "cleanse" your body. As long as you've got a functioning liver and kidneys, you're already cleansing toxins from your body
Influencers on social media. Many promote a product for the money, and then don’t mention the item ever again. Some even backtrack months/years later stating they don’t like the product, yet still promoted it to young people on limited budgets.
Phone/Internet bills, i live in Canada the amount of money i pay for my phone, and the Internet is eye watering compared to our neighbors in the south or the rest of the world. Scammed by our own government and their telecom overlords.
Home warranty insurance on appliances. You spend upwards of $1-2k a year so that you don’t have to buy a new $800 washer or $1200 fridge outright if they go out? Just put the payment away for an appliance fund and you come out ahead 9 times out of 10
Friggin printer ink/cartridges. What a racket. Especially new printers that don't work if you use 3rd party inks, and that none will even print in black if any of the colour ink is low/out.
"Healing" crystals
Also, a lot of the time, the "crystals" are just glass
Chiropractors.
Go to a physical therapist, they can help you with your physical pain with the added benefit of a medical degree.
I'm sure I read once that pre made cinema popcorn has one of the biggest price markups of any product in the world. They buy massive sacks that cost pennies and then charge a fortune for it.
Social Media Influencers or Celebrities promoting products...
NFTs
Whats the point of the token being non fungible if the actual associated digital asset still is?
For women, almost any product with a different "Women's" version, that is only different because it is pink. This is actually called "the pink tax," because these products are nearly always more expensive than the men's version.
On a much smaller scale, men have a "jock" tax, where products for their genitals are more expensive than the same thing for other parts of the body. One example I saw recently was cream for jock itch, three times the price of the same antifungal cream sold for foot fungus.
Gift Cards
They are a free loan to the company that will result in either:
1. You spending more than you intended so that you “use up” the card
2. You leaving a small balance on the card that never gets used
3. The card gets lost or otherwise unused
4. In the case of restaurant, it often results in your server being under-tipped due to people tipping on the after gift card total.
They are a bad gift. If you don’t know what to get someone, give cold hard cash.
How about the fact that paying the employees at restaurants is somehow considered the customers responsibility.
Coffins. there's literally no point to keeping anything out. It doesn't stop the process of decomposition because most of it has to do with the bacteria that's already in your body eating you from the inside. the real decay was inside us all along!
Fat burner products. If you ingest something that actually burns fat off you, it’s either poison or fire
Dryer balls. Popular Mechanics for example experimented on the efficacy of them and found no beneficial effects.
The vitamin and supplement industry.
“X is 100% proven to make you fart rainbows! (these statements have not been evaluated by the FDA)”
The overpriced big brand basketball/fashion/status symbol shoes aimed at poor people. They're plastic and made in sweat shops!!!
Free to Play / Freemium video games. Many of these have fantastic gameplay but they are almost universally slot machines with a coat of paint.
Uber Eats and Doordash (other food delivery apps) They mark up the prices of food, have huge delivery fees, and pocket all the money while their drivers get shafted with minimal pay and little to none of the delivery fee actually going to the driver. It is a major scam.
I went into a timeshare sales pitch to get a $100 at a resort. 1 hour for $100.
I was greeted and I said "Hello, I'm doing well thanks. Just a heads up I am not going to be buying a timeshare but I will gladly listen to what you have to say. I won't be answering any questions or responding at all till the hour is over, is that ok?".
They said yes, talked for an hour to a stone dead face and at the end my phone dinged and I said - "thank you for taking the time to explain it to me, bye."
They were so rude after that it was amazing, but I got my $100 and out I went.
A category -- luxury goods. I'm Korean American and am blown away by the label hungry consumption in both countries.
Tipping anyone other than actual wait staff at a sit-down restaurant.
expensive toothpaste claiming it makes your teeth whiter in 3 days
AMWAY.
It's a ponzi scheme and if it wasn't soaked in JESUS! it would have been shut down long ago.
Crypto - in a sense there is no product but it is something people spend money to acquire
Keurigs.
They are not that fast, they are expensive, the coffee is trash, and they create an insane amount of waste.
A regular coffee maker or french press is better in pretty much every scenario.
They are HUGELY popular in offices and hotel rooms everywhere for some f*****g reason and it drives me crazy.
ITT people don’t know what an actual “scam” is. I’m sorry but apple and Starbucks are legitimate companies lol.
US College puts people in a ton of debt and is becoming less and less worth it from a pure ROI standpoint. But many still go because of the networking, partying, community, and it feels like a rite of passage vs. learning a trade/starting a biz.
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