Have you ever been scammed before?
I know some people who are smart, hard-working, good folks who have been totally ripped off because someone saw an opening and took advantage of them. And it makes my blood boil.
The point is that scammers are out there in huge numbers so it’s best to be careful and always keep your eyes open.
Here’s what AskReddit users had to say about scams that typically go unnoticed.
1. Save yourself some money.
“That “renting” a modem from your ISP is a huge waste of money. They’ll tell you “oh you should rent one because tech is always changing and it might go out of date” when I moved out on my own 4 years ago I bought a modem at Best Buy for 70$.
If I had been renting from the greedy ISPs this whole time I would have close to 500$ on rental fees. And while Tech is always changing a modem is not something that changes very much.
So please if you are renting one go out and buy yourself a modem!”
2. That’s a lot of money.
“The Verizon $1 scam. Verizon tacked on a $1 fee onto 8% of their customer’s bills each month so over the course of the year, they did it to every customer, about 150,000,000.
Their rationale was: 50% wouldn’t notice and just pay the charge or would notice and wouldn’t spend anytime fighting a $1 charge. 50% would notice the charge and call to have it removed. Of those, 35% would get frustrated while on the call and give up.
This added approximately $120,000,000 to the bottom line each year (3 total) until caught. Once caught, they paid a $25,000,000 fine.”
3. Don’t fall for them.
“The ads on Facebook that say, “We’re sorry to announce that we’re closing our store…”
It’s made to look like a page you might follow (but you’ve never heard of before) and that they might be suddenly offering huge deals.
But it’s like my dad always taught me: a lot of “going out of business” sales are really “going out FOR business” sales.”
4. They cost a fortune.
“The textbook industry, biggest scam there is.
McGraw Hill is Satan reincarnate. Want to do your home work? Gotta buy this $230 ACCESS CODE. Want to keep the textbook for later?
NOPE. Expires after a year. Want to sell it? NOPE. Everyone has to buy a code.”
5. Whoa.
“Facebook surveys.
Something like “Which Frozen character are you?” tricks users into giving out answers to common security questions.
I’m sure a lot of those could get direct access to the user’s account by just clicking on the link as well.”
6. Don’t fall for it!
“When a hiring company say “we work hard but play hard”…
It means everyone is over worked and an alcoholic.”
7. Cable is usually a rip-off.
“If you have cable tv or internet or anything like that, the promos they offer on that stuff is almost never legit. Like $25-$50 higher than the advertised price sort of wrong.
There’s local sports fees, equipment fees, broadcast fees, discounts you only get for certain times, etc.
Example, my cable company advertises $69.99 a month tv/internet/phone but if you actually price it out it’s over $100/month.”
8. The death game.
“Funerals.
People often want to buy more expensive coffins to honor their loved ones and in turn the companies selling them profit.”
9. The gambling life.
“Casinos.
Yes I know, it’s supposed to work that way. But it seems people really think after a while, you’re gonna hit it big and it’ll all even out.
I’ve done it enough to know it’s purely entertainment. It’s just a matter of how much you’re willing to pay for that adrenaline rush.”
10. Just use a small amount.
“The amount of toothpaste.
The amount in advertisements is misguiding, it’s too much, therefore more consumption and in turn more sales.
A pea size amount should do the job.”
11. Ripped off.
“The “wellness” industry that promotes things like “detox” and
other scams.There are many.
It’s a multi billion dollar industry.”
12. Crafty.
“On public transport a pickpocket will often throw or place an empty wallet on the floor, then point it out and ask if anybody lost a wallet.
You instinctively check your pocket to make sure it’s there. A good pickpocket will memorize 8-10 people, their hand placement, go to work and leave on the next stop with 4 or 5 more wallets more than they had when they got on.”
13. No. No. No. No.
“Basically anything where they keep asking you questions that you’re saying ‘no’ to until finally you feel guilty for saying no too many times so you say ‘yes’. This was an actual sales technique taught to me and we were told to use it to boost our VIP membership numbers, but I felt too guilty to use it.
E.g. “would you like to sign up to be a member? It’s free and cardless.”
“No thank you, maybe another day.”
“Are you sure? You’re going to get a lot of points from what you’re buying today.”
“Nah, those points never lead to anything.”
“Actually ours lead to a discount voucher!”
“Um, no thanks, I’m in a bit of a rush.”
“It’ll only take 20 seconds max, all I need is email and phone number.”
“I don’t want to be spammed with 100 emails a day.”
“You can always unsubscribe from emails any time.”
“Umm…oh alright.””
Are you familiar with any little-known scams?
If so, tell us about them in the comments.
We can’t wait to hear from you! Thanks in advance!
