It’s a sad but true fact of life that there are people everywhere trying to separate you from your money and your belongings in any way that they can.
They’re called SCAMMERS.
And some of them are hiding in plain sight…
What do most folks not realize are total scams?
AskReddit users shared their thoughts.
1. Well, it’s heavy.
“People instinctively perceive weight to indicate quality, so a lot of manufacturers across multiple industries will artificially increase the weight of their products with cheap material.”
2. Be careful.
“Mobile game ads.
Chances are they want your data/info on your device and it’s social engineering, really.”
3. A head-scratcher.
“Most popular branded sunglasses out there are crazy expensive for what is basically mass produced plastic.”
4. Avoid it.
“Black Friday is it’s own scam.
They manufacture products specifically of lower quality to sell for Black Friday.
It’s how you can buy a nice Samsung TV that only has 1 HDMI input.”
5. Don’t fall for it.
“People who knock on your door asking about your windows. Happened to my friends wife.
She invited them in, let them evaluate, said all the windows needed to be fixed (they were all 3 years old…my friend did a full renovation when they moved in) and said the windows were bad. My friends wife thinks everyone is truthful and agrees to start the process.
My friend said he came home to find them still there and his wife was seconds away from signing and writing a $6,000 check. He politely asked them to leave and calmly told his wife she was so naive.
If someone comes knocking at your door to look at anything and you didn’t call them…it’s a scam.”
6. Believe it!
“Publishers Clearing House.
Ever wonder why you get so much junk mail? It’s because you gave all your information to PCH for free (or possibly even paid them for some piece of garbage they sell) and they turned around and sold it to EVERYONE.
Avoid PCH at all costs.
Sincerely,
Your mailman.”
7. Ugh.
“Unpaid internships.
There are very specific rules for what can be an unpaid internship and what has to be a paid internship. If you are getting any sort of internship, look up the difference so you don’t get taken advantage of.
Telling interns this has contributed to me losing a job before because one of the interns turned me in, and later got my job.”
8. For-profit colleges.
“Some colleges will offer a full ride scholarship to any student who stays above a certain GPA, give these out to everyone who applies, and then institute a strict grading curve so that the required GPA is nearly impossible to achieve. The “scholarship” usually only lasts through freshman year as a result.
Its usually s**tty for-profit colleges that do this, so the credits won’t transfer. The student is now forced to either pay full price tuition for three years, or lose a years worth of work.”
9. A big one.
“College textbooks.
It doesn’t cost hundreds of dollars to print a book, and we don’t need new additions of algebra and other basic subjects every semester.
We’re not uncovering or developing any new basic math, they just want you to have to spend as much money as possible.”
10. Happens all the time.
“Small towns giving speeding tickets to people with out-of-town license plates.
Almost everyone will pay instead of showing up to court, and it is the number one source of revenue for many small towns in America.”
11. Flush it out!
“Herbal Detox products, or detox anything in a health store.
It’s just dumb. If your body is actually full of toxins a herbal laxative enema is not going to help.”
12. Preying on people.
“Payday loans, they are preying on people with bad credit. Instead, get yourself a secured credit card.
That’s a one time payment (I initially went through Discover, whatever you deposit is now your credit limit) and the interest rate on even the worst card is better than that they offer.
Pay it off every month, just like you are forced to with your payday loan. You’re doing the same thing you were previously only now your building credit instead of paying some scummy company.
Yep, I’m one of those suckers who did this for far too long, then I did this and now I have good credit. I was actually quite surprised how quickly my score went up. That’s my one neat trick – pay your bills on time.”
13. This old game.
“Stores that always have big “sales” are actually just charging you the accurate price of what the item is worth.
But when it looks like you’re getting it half off you’re more likely to buy it.”
14. All kinds of stuff.
“Work in banking for one week, you’ll realize there is no scam too stupid for people to fall for.
At least once a week we have people who try to file fraud claims because “the IRS called me and told me I need to pay them in apple gift cards”
My favorite was a woman who came in to get a $20,000 official check. My manager thought it was strange so he stopped to ask her what it was for. The client said it was bail for her nephew, which *the client thought was strange too, because she didn’t actually have a nephew.”
What are some more scams that people don’t quite realize?
Talk to us in the comments and let us know.
Thanks a lot, friends!
