Admit it: We've all gotten scammed before. Yes, even you. It happens.
1. "A guy called my grandma, and when she answered, said 'Grandma?' so she replied my name. He then said, 'Yeah, it’s me,' and then went on to say how I was in jail in the Caribbean and needed her to wire money. My dad's in the other room and realizes what’s going on and then gets on the phone and puts an end to it. Funniest part to me was when my dad told me, 'For about five seconds, I was really hurt that if you were in jail, I wouldn’t be the first person you’d call.' Anyways, the elderly can get so easily scammed these days — it’s sad."
2. "When supermarkets write a fake high price on a piece of food then cross it out and write a fake 'discount' price in red, which was actually the full price all along."
—u/Flooksy13
3. "The 'add a tip' line at the end of EVERYTHING. No, I'm not tipping the electric company, thanks."
—u/chyna094e
4. "My local grocery store uses yellow price tags for things that are on sale AND random things that aren't on sale — but they're hoping you don't actually look closely and just assume it's a great price because the tag is yellow. I fell for it all the time, and it took me about a year of shopping there to realize it."
5. "Amway. The most obvious pyramid scheme ever, yet lots of people are a part of it."
—u/Natedog1770
6. "Timeshares. How do people still think these are good?"
7. "Life coaching and business coaching. I was one for years, and can promise you that 99% of them poorly regurgitate info from each other, with absolutely no experience in the areas outside making money selling courses on things they’ve never done. They're all completely full-of-shit scam artists that are never transparent about how they actually make their money, and post wishy-washy babble on social media that never provides a solution but convinces people low on their luck that they’re the experts. There's a few out there who are legit who have huge businesses and done well — but they are the huge names that are transparent."
8. "Multi-level marketing schemes. No, Karen, I don’t want your stick-on nails or random sugar shakes."
9. "I’m pretty saddened that televangelist and evangelical churches exist and scam old desperate people."
—u/Goojus
10. "Please don’t make friends with people who randomly text or call you that you don’t know. They play the long game, become your friends, and try to get you to invest in fake crypto with promises of return if you pay the taxes. It’s the long game of faked intimacy and is insidious like cancer. People who get scammed have committed suicide. It’s terrible. Older people are especially susceptible."
—u/Ok_Ad_7966
11. "Payday loans."
—u/HelFJandinn
12. "Pyramid schemes. People are blinded by the promise of quick money and forget the risk of losing it all."
—u/Ok-Force6161
13. "Diamonds."
14. "Health insurance. Why do I have to pay $300 a month for the privilege to spend 20% of the cost of medical care once I’ve paid $5,750 out of pocket? What a neat feature of freedom!"
15. "Enter to win this prize! Give us all your information."
16. "Tithing. Joel Osteen is Scrooge McDucking it right now because he knows how to exploit people’s faith. And not surprising, there’s an extreme shortage of 'Love thy neighbor' coming from him."
17. "Black Friday sales. Some are great deals, but the majority are just the same price with a fake discount sign."
18. "Having strong opinions on inconsequential hot topics. They don't want you thinking about actual issues that matter."
—u/PluckPubes
19. "Why do I have to do my taxes if the government knows what they owe me?"
—u/marrissa_
20. "Weddings. When we first started looking into it, we had a small amount saved up, and I said we could either have a wedding or buy a house. She said, 'Well, we can’t live in a wedding.' Fast-forward another five years, and the COVID housing market is going crazy, and we have a newborn. We moved into the suburbs, eloped in Yosemite, and honeymooned in Hawaii for easily 1/3 of the cost of what our wedding would have been. Different strokes for different folks, obviously, but I think about that all the time."
Agree? Disagree? Have your own additions? See you in the comments!
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.