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What Do People Think Is a Scam Because They Don’t Understand It? Here’s How Folks Responded.

Sometimes I think about things that seem like total scams and then I say to myself, “well, maybe you just don’t know what you’re talking about…”. And that could be the truth!

Because we all kind of fear what we don’t know…

What do people think is a scam because they don’t really understand it? AskReddit users shared their thoughts on the matter.

1. Don’t trust ’em.

“We had a gal in the telco who was retiring under a surplus – meaning they would pay her so much for each year she worked, in addition to her pension.

She turned the money down because she didn’t want her taxes to be too high. I didn’t know her and heard about it after she left.

The Union guys tried to explain it but she just would not listen. I don’t know if she thought it was a scam but she didn’t trust the IRS.”

2. Just gotta be careful.

“There was a time when my parents thought buying stuff online and paying with a credit card it’s a scam.

It took me a while to convince them that if you know which sites are good to order from and which are bad, you can actually avoid scams.”

3. No credit cards in this house!

“My parents think that credit card points are a scam.

They have claimed that they are a trick to get you into debt (which I’m sure does happen to some people but it’s not a ‘scam’), and that they will tax you on the points you use.

I’ve paid for multiple vacations, including my honeymoon and a week in Hawaii completely with points, yet they still wont use theirs.

They have hundreds of thousands, if not over a million, points.

Won’t touch them.”

4. Census scam.

“My dad and step mom once freaked out because the census was at our door.

They said, “she doesn’t have a marked car. It’s a scam”.

She had a badge and clipboard.

Then my psycho step mom proceeded to get mad at me for opening the door.

For the census.”

5. Time for repairs.

“The repair industry. I worked in home repair, small engine repair and computer repair shops years ago.

A lot of people expected us to just fix things for free.

Others would take it as an insult when we would quote prices or ask to be paid for a job.

Send a bill and some people would ask why or what is this.

Ask us why we were ripping them off even though the bill was itemized and the price was discussed before hand.

It was a horrible industry to work in because of they way people are.”

6. Good thing you had it.

“Travel Insurance.

It was great when they arranged all travel from overseas apartment to our house when child broke their ankle on an internship.

Paid all of the our out of pocket expenses, including our deductibles/copays until child was functioning.”

7. Definitely not a scam.

“Veterinary care.

People don’t understand that I can’t just dispense certain medications without seeing the patient first.

Some of these medications could cause fatalities or worsen the situation if used/prescribed wrong!”

8. So much joy…

“Harbor freight tools.

Sure they are cheap and probably poorly made, but for $100 I got a power washer.

Do you know how much joy a power washer can bring someone?

Neighbor is washing his car with a hose looking like a fool.”

9. The long term.

“The stock market.

Lots of people over worry about the short term, withdraw once it dips and never put back in.

Never realizing the magic is in the long term.”

10. The publishing world.

“Paying to publish.

Roughly 3-5% of thousands of people a year who search for agents when trying to get a book published from a traditional publisher are accepted.

When musicians try to create an album, they have to usually pay to use a studio, have someone market it for them, and edit the song. Why is publishing seen as any different?

Everyone expects to be paid for their book, when in reality, you have to pay someone to even take a glance at it, let alone give you any worth while feedback.”

11. No way!

“My grandparents still think online commerce is a scam.

I explained to them that if it was a scam it would have imploded long time ago.

Online bought stuff has the same kind of warranties as locally bought stuff, plus the extra warranty for goods bought outside shops.”

12. I ain’t doin’ it!

“Older guy I worked with in high school. He was in his 20s.

He wouldn’t file taxes because he didn’t want to pay them. Our boss sat him down and explained to him that he probably had money coming back and sooner or later the IRS would probably catch him not filing and be in real trouble.

I was in the Air Force and after Operation Desert Storm the Gov decided to do a force reduction, by a lot. They came to us middle management NCOs and offered us a lump sum (they had a big formula to determine how much you would get) to leave the Air Force.

It worked for some guys, took the money and got better jobs outside the military. Guys like stayed because we still had a shot at promotion and close to retirement. We would make more in retirement in the long run than what the lump sum would be.

One guy actually took the money and he was close to retiring. A whole bunch of higher ranking people talked to him explaining that he would make much more in the long run in retirement and his health benefits than taking the money.

His only reply was “I don’t want my ex-wife getting any of my retirement.” She was entitled to half of it.

That was his whole reasoning. He got 28K and was in his late 30s. Retirement would of been for life. One of the higher ups told him if his wife found out about the 28K she could get part of that too.

But, all he would say is “I don’t want her to get half of my retirement.””

What do you think is wrongly labelled as a scam?

Talk to us in the comments and let us know.

Thanks a lot!