In a world driven by monetary gain, getting scammed at some point in your life is kinda inevitable.
Unfortunately, whether we notice them or not, scams frequently appear in our everyday lives. Reddit user u/Doctor_Engineer did us all a favor by asking people to share the things they know to be “100% a scam.” Here are 29 that you should definitely be aware of:
1.
“Pretty much all YouTube ads these days. For example, if they start with ‘this one trick can,’ or anything like ‘doctors hate this.’ To be honest, it’s flat out dangerous false advertising, but YouTube doesn’t care.”
3.
“Anyone — A-N-Y-O-N-E — promising to teach you the secrets of becoming wealthy at a free seminar.”
4.
“Hydrogen-rich water. Someone I know (this person is also into MLMs) tried to sell me a water filter that was thousands of dollars. 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.”
5.
“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.”
6.
“Companies that say, ‘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.'”
7.
“The ‘We have been trying to reach you about your car’s extended warranty’ phone call.”
9.
“Most products peddled by influencers — hence the need to influence people into buying shit.”
10.
“Online dating services with monthly subscriptions. Any business that gets more money by failing than succeeding will be designed to fail — succeeding just enough to make users feel as though they can succeed. Basically the same principle as casinos.”
11.
“Filling your tires with nitrogen for an extra fee. The air we breathe is over 3/4 nitrogen and added that extra 22% nitrogen to your tires will add no benefits and cost you anywhere from $70 to as much as $179. Unless they are doing it for free, you are being sold snake oil.”
12.
“The credit score system. How it should work: pay back loans early/on time, you get a higher score. Don’t pay back loans or pay back late, you get a lower score. How it actually works: pay back a loan too quick, score goes down. Open an account, score goes down. CLOSE an account, score goes down. If you even ask for a copy of your credit report, your score goes down. It’s ridiculous. It’s not about your reliability, it’s about how profitable you are to creditors looking to milk interest payments as long as possible.”
13.
“Diamonds. I told a woman at a Day’s Jewelers I didn’t like diamonds, and you woulda thought I said something REALLY offensive. I like opal and onyx. There are sooooo many other stones that are just as beautiful and sparkly, if not prettier than diamonds.”
14.
“Passport photos. 16 dollars for two small photos taken by a kid with a digital camera?”
16.
“85-90% of the coding bootcamps. I’m fairly certain you can learn everything they teach from YouTube.”
18.
“Car insurance. If you are not at fault in an accident, you still pay more in your next round of insurance because you made a claim. This is despite the fact that we have a million CCTV cameras that can determine fault, and lots of people have dash cams which can determine fault. The idea of car insurance is built on the idea that we don’t fully know who is responsible, but in many cases we now KNOW who was responsible. Careful drivers are punished because of the actions of irresponsible drivers. It’s madness.”
19.
“Homeopathy. Watering something down to the point you may not even be able to detect a single molecule of the ‘active’ ingredient is not medicine. It’s a circus attraction and there is a sucker born every minute.”
21.
“FB groups whose main purpose are wanting to assist people in a time of need, but are loaded with scammers. Reddit assistance groups are much better.”
22.
“Used car dealerships. Along with all the other scammy shit they do, the worst is when they purposely inflate the price of a car, and then give you a fake discount to make it seem like you’re getting a good deal.”
24.
“Having to pay for school meals when school is compulsory. At least give it to kids for free if you’re forcing them to go.”
25.
“Wedding dresses. I’m not trying to disparage hard-working seamstresses and designers, because their product is worth every dime. But there has been some sort of stupid idea that even those with very little money need to drop a few thousand on a dress they’ll only wear once.”
26.
“Extended auto warranties, even the official ones administrated and sold by the maker through the dealerships. Not only are the plans hideously overpriced (and can always be negotiated), they will always tell you shit isn’t covered by the warranty even if it claims it should be. The dealership never wants to do warranty work because it means having to wait for corporate or the insurance underwriter to cut them a check. So even in the rarest of circumstances that you do get something done that’s covered under the extended warranty, expect the stealership to gin up something else that’s magically wrong with your car, expensive to diagnose and/or fix, and — of course — isn’t covered under the warranty.”
What’s something you see all the time that’s 100% a scam? Tell us in the comments for a chance to be featured in a BuzzFeed Community post!
