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30 Things Which Are In Fact Big Scams, Yet Most People Don’t Realize It, As Shared By Members Of This Online Group
Life, as you perhaps know, is an unfair thing, but not everyone really agrees with this. Many people believe that accepting individual problems and inconveniences, taking them for granted, is a kind of social contract, enshrined in years of human silence.
Indeed, there are a huge number of strange things in our life that we just get used to and take them for granted. However, if you look at the situation from a different angle, certain facts, traditions, things or services will turn out to be simply ridiculous or even absurd. Or, let's call a spade a spade - a total scam.
There is a thread on Reddit whose authors collect opinions about the biggest scam in life that no one wants to admit. To date, the thread has already gained more than 52.1K upvotes and gathered around 36.8K comments. Some of the comments look pretty ridiculous too, but many of them just have a kernel of truth.
Bored Panda created a special curated list of the most popular comments for you, so feel free to scroll to the very end. You will definitely agree with something, object clearly to something, and by the way, we will be glad to read comments of both kinds - after all, truth, as you know, is born in disputes.
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How the f**k does *HEALTH* insurance not cover dental and vision?what kind of shenanigans is that?
Tipping culture. It’s how businesses scammed the general public into paying additional costs so they could avoid paying their staff a living wage.
Religion
Not up to speed on other religions' history, but the way the Catholic church sold tickets to heaven in medieval days, just wow
That's basically how it goes now with donations, just a little less obvious.
Load More Replies...Just think if the time, money and energy spent over thousands of years on religion was spent for the good of humanity.
Like the Spanish Inquisition? Like burning Protestant Theologians? Like the Crusades? Like slave labor in the Nun-run workhouses?, Like any number of Catholic vs. Protestant wars, insurrections, slaughters, and so on?
Load More Replies...This happens in evangelical charismatic Protestantism. There are "Word of Faith" preachers who promise a 100-fold return if you will just send them donations or buy their latest DVD/CD/Study book set. So sometimes poor widows and retired people will send in this month's rent money because they are sure that somehow one hundred times that amount will suddenly and magically appear, not exactly prudent or realistic. But the evangelists do report some amazing tithe miracle testimonies every now and then. If it works at all, it works for commissioned salespeople or independent businessmen who take on significant risks. It does not work very well for anyone on salary or a fixed income like a pensioner. They never mention this.
Nothing has poisoned our society more than religion, and religious ideology. It is not a positive value to have faith in something for which there is not only no proof, but profound evidence to the contrary. Religion is a lie that trains us to believe and have faith in other liars so they can keep using us.
Organized religion being a scam and the question of the existence of God are two entirely different things.
Load More Replies...As written before. When the British and the Dutch sailed around the world to found new colonies. They encountered different religions everywhere. From this we can draw two conclusions: 1) Religion is so universal that it gives an evolutionary advantage to the group of believers. 2) God did not create man, the believers created their god.
It works in some circumstances to increase group survival. Remember that Yahweh told the Hebrews, as they invaded Canaan to "kill every living thing" - first recorded genocide! "However, in the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. Completely destroy them – the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivitets and Jebusites – as the Lord your God has commanded you." - Bible Deuteronomy 20:16-18 Religion no longer provides any survival advantage, save to the clergy.
Load More Replies...I respectfully disagree with this statement. I think that religion makes me feel better about this world and it doesn’t mean I don’t believe in science.
This statement is logically flawed and objectively false. A scam is when you are denied a service after paying for said service, you don't buy religion, you believe in it.
of course you buy religion. It does not pay taxes and yet it sits on public lands using public resources, so every tax paying citizen is paying for it. Also, you tithe right? And the priest/s ask for money all the time? Yes, you buy it. There are whole bookstore industries selling copies upon copies of rehashes of the same lies.
Load More Replies...If you are ever in need of money just start a church and get those donations flowing. Tax free baby. 😉
Think of all the slave labour used to make cathedrals when instead we could have made sewers, schools and colleges for citizens. The medieval period was truly a dark age.
Cathedrals, in the Uk at least, were built by well-paid craftsmen and labourers. The church founded and maintained hospitals, schools and alms for the poor. When Henry VIII destroyed the monasteries there was a huge wave of poverty because a nationwide welfare network had been abolished!
Load More Replies...I think this one kind of depends. Lots of churchs out there do demand a lot of money and don't give lots to the community. On the other hand, there are lots of struggling churchs that do give back. I however don't agree that faith is a scam. People have a right to believe whatever they feel is true, and religion can be very important to an individual. I think that if you are a good person you will not use it as an excuse to hurt others. And if you do, you are the problem. Not religion.
God perfect. Man not perfect. Man want to be perfect. Therefore religion. Imperfect man make religion imperfect. God still perfect. Imperfect man see imperfect religion, say it's all scam, content with imperfection. God still perfect. Until someone can convince me that there isn't a better way to overcome every single one of my flaws, instead of simply accepting them or redefining what a flaw is, I will continue to pursue my relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ through my religion. I accept men make mistakes, turning some off from religion, but God doesn't. Is there any other way?
Typical rantings. Religious people are accused of just perpetuating what they hear. Opponents of religion do nothing but that. No independent thought or consideration.
All religions are made up by people--well, men. They are the cause of most of what is wrong in the world, especially misogyny. The Catholics are the worst. They invented hell, purgatory, and contempt for women, unless of course you're as pure as the virgin Mary.
Sad to see so many cynics here. I grew up catholic and saw so much hypocrisy that it completely turned me away from religion. I always had a spiritual heart and 20 or so years later went to a non denominational church....come as you are..everyone is welcome! That changed my view on what faith actually is. Accept Jesus as your savior and you will be saved. Religion is ruined by corrupt institutions many of which do not even read the Bible. The Bible is not a book of judgements but a guide to living a fruitful life. To the skeptics, many stories of the bibke have been proven scientifically as has the existence of Jesus. Believe the facts,, God is real, Jesus died for our sins. Anyone can be forgiven, no materr what you have done as long as you ask for forgiveness! That's the basis...the confessing to priests and praying to saints is instutional bs imo
Religions were created by men, but faith was given to us by God. And we all know how fallible humans are...
Which god? There are hundreds and thousands of them, so which of those gods gave us faith more exactly? Considering human psychology and cognition we’re perfectly capable of creating faith all on our own, I’d say.
Load More Replies... The entire wedding industry.
To be clear, not marriage but weddings specifically.
I’m happily married to my wife and we were content to do something special just the two of us, maybe spend a couple of grand and treat ourselves a little bit to something amazing.
Cue the families getting involved and before you know it we’re spending closer to twenty grand on one day and feeding a bunch of people I’ve not heard of before or since the wedding.
We work the majority of our lives, during our fittest years of health, for the promise of a golden retirement, when we will probably too old and ill to enjoy it properly.
Exactly and our government wants to increase the retirement age to 70. I don't know anyone at the age of 70+ that is fit and healthy enough to work. Especially in the building industry. We get a few years fun until we start school and then we spend most of our lives as government drones.
Mega Churches on TV and elsewhere.
Always ends with the masses supporting the leaders extravagant lifestyles while they dodge taxes and commit crimes.
The easy-to-join, difficult-to-cancel subscription model.
A lot of us have been convinced that we are selling our labour to companies at the correct price, in reality we're selling it too cheaply.
That climate change is up to each individual to go green. It was a campaign by BP that pushed the solution as each individual going green instead of the dozen massive corporations that account for the lions share of greenhouse gases.
Going green is good, but it's a drop in the bucket compared to oil companies, industrial farming, and cargo ships.
Edit: lots of "yet you participate in society, curious" type comments from the usual contrarians. Your hot air is adding to the problem.
That getting older gives wisdom. I'm older and I'm just a cranky old f**k.
Insurance!!!! My great grandfather was a doctor, and there were stories of him treating people, often for free. He and his wife helped an entire family with scarlet fever in exchange for a jar of blackberry jam
Life.
Like, why is it so damn expensive? I didn’t even ask to be here!
It's only getting worse. I was gonna buy a lettuce, cucumber and tomatoes yesterday but was gonna cost me approx $12. Which is insane.
That the Fashion Industry is anything other than planned obsolescence, designed simply to get people to spend money for no reason.
Online convenience fees
Ticketmaster
I watched John Oliver (gem) talk about this. It's really crazy. Like I've said before everywhere you look it's f*ck people, give me more and more money.
Needing a college degree for most high-level jobs when there is rarely any relevant knowledge gained from the degree relevant to the job.
The lobby around requiring **[MOST]** Americans to file their taxes with the IRS; while the IRS already has all the relevant information.
Edit: Yes we know there's benefits for you tiny percentage of self-employed individuals and business owners.
The prices of anything baby related. Toys, food, clothes, etc. Was in a store on Saturday to get a cot mattress and cover. I cried.
We bought a lot second hand, and resold after they've grown out of stuff. At the moment were part of a "hand me down chain" 🤣 It saves money and a lot of waste
Normal television, paying to watch ads!
Advertising in general always seems to sneak its way into ad-free formats. Cable TV was like network TV except no ads....until they added ads. Youtube was finally like TV except no ads...until they added ads. Then you can always block the ads and just watch the video...until their paid promotional segments.
Recycling
In remote communities recyclables collected go to the dump with the rest of the garbage, because it’s not feasible to transport it thousands of km where it could potentially get used.
Also for instance here where I live in Florida the recycling center used to accept glass and then quit. I spoke with an attendant and they said the state quit taking it because there wasn't enough profit. That's not the point!
The fact that airlines have X amount of seats per flight, but almost always sell X+10 seats and then refund you about 80% of your ticket cost. Do that to the 10 people and suddenly you have about 2 tickets worth of profits seemingly out of nowhere, and everyone still has a flight. Just an unbelievably immoral way to gain a few bucks, but everyone just goes with it since the airplanes aren't exactly a train that comes every 10 minutes.
About a month after I bought plane tickets I got a message that they had to change my flights. My new return flight was a day later. I asked if they could change it back to the day prior as planned - these tickets were a good 9 months in advance so I know they had seats. They told me yea, they could change back - and the difference in ticket price is $750 please. I argued for a day and finally heard back sorry that was a mistake, it’s only $375 more. I said no - and they finally agreed to change my flight back to the original day free of (additional) charge.
The rat race. The idea that you are making progress towards a better world. Carrying on with the destruction and degradation of our own environment in the name of progress.
Buying a star and naming it.
A waste of your cash and time. The only organisation that can name a star is International Astronomical Union.
Mattresseses, diamonds, and home furniture. Massive markups on these items.
Markets are crazy right now. Cars, electronics, even certain apparel. Makes it hard to gauge this one .
$18 Salad lol
Let's just gloss over the fact that restaurants need to pay things like rent, taxes, utilities, equipment maintenance, insurance, and (in a perfect world) PAY THEIR EMPLOYEES A LIVABLE WAGE with insurance, PTO etc etc etc. (Don't get me started on chains where corporate and upper management get involved and grossly inflated salaries get added to the mix.) It's no wonder restaurant workers are so underpaid and forced to live on tips. If you only want to pay for ingredients, I kindly suggest buying some groceries and cooking at home. (Disclaimer: I have never worked in the food industry and am only sharing what I've heard. Any corrections by actual food industry workers is greatly appreciated)
*gestures broadly*
This pretty much covers it.
More of these need details. I click on this expecting to be informed on how these dubious plots work and then it's just "Unsubscribe button." No elaboration on wether or not they work, or if there's another hidden functionality in there to screw people over.
They're so vague it's driving me crazy, what's the point of this list? Disappointing.
Load More Replies...As one of my old friends once said, "Everything is a scam to some extent"
scam noun: A fraudulent or deceptive act or operation. scam verb: 1 : to deceive and defraud (someone). 2 : to obtain (something, such as money) by a scam. Whoever wrote this list didn't spend much time on it, there are so many false statements here it's not even funny.
Another Big Scam Would Be Internet, Paying To Get A Select Speed But Getting Ripped Of. Also Harassing Mail Wanting You To Pay For Things You Have Already Paid For.
I have a scammer debt collector trying to make me pay for an ATT bill from 2021. Our service ended in 2019! They say we owe them a certain amount of money... except we do not. Unbeknownst to them, i have. ALL the documentation and proof that our account was closed and we owed no money to ATT. Even the email account info that stated there is no monies owed!! Lol. Then after I ignored them for a month they wanted me to pay a percentage of the bill.. then a fi al notice of a little more off the bill and it will be done. Hahahahahahaha! When they say ok we will take you to court, and i say sure, but you will need to pay all court costs even mine. Because I have all, and I do mean all the documentation I need to discredit your suit and what not. They are well k own for their scam emails and stuff. I really wonder if they have even contacted ATT for any client information. And if ATT is part of it, well then I already know the FBI would love to be in on this!!! I know! Brat I am!
I had to pay to get it off my credit. It sucks but I think it's worth it for that
Load More Replies...Yes, i love scam talking the scammers! scammers do not like questions. And when you get personal they really hate it! But it is so fun! Always mention their mammas.
US democracy/government, US college tuition, US civil rights, [fill in the blanks]
More of these need details. I click on this expecting to be informed on how these dubious plots work and then it's just "Unsubscribe button." No elaboration on wether or not they work, or if there's another hidden functionality in there to screw people over.
They're so vague it's driving me crazy, what's the point of this list? Disappointing.
Load More Replies...As one of my old friends once said, "Everything is a scam to some extent"
scam noun: A fraudulent or deceptive act or operation. scam verb: 1 : to deceive and defraud (someone). 2 : to obtain (something, such as money) by a scam. Whoever wrote this list didn't spend much time on it, there are so many false statements here it's not even funny.
Another Big Scam Would Be Internet, Paying To Get A Select Speed But Getting Ripped Of. Also Harassing Mail Wanting You To Pay For Things You Have Already Paid For.
I have a scammer debt collector trying to make me pay for an ATT bill from 2021. Our service ended in 2019! They say we owe them a certain amount of money... except we do not. Unbeknownst to them, i have. ALL the documentation and proof that our account was closed and we owed no money to ATT. Even the email account info that stated there is no monies owed!! Lol. Then after I ignored them for a month they wanted me to pay a percentage of the bill.. then a fi al notice of a little more off the bill and it will be done. Hahahahahahaha! When they say ok we will take you to court, and i say sure, but you will need to pay all court costs even mine. Because I have all, and I do mean all the documentation I need to discredit your suit and what not. They are well k own for their scam emails and stuff. I really wonder if they have even contacted ATT for any client information. And if ATT is part of it, well then I already know the FBI would love to be in on this!!! I know! Brat I am!
I had to pay to get it off my credit. It sucks but I think it's worth it for that
Load More Replies...Yes, i love scam talking the scammers! scammers do not like questions. And when you get personal they really hate it! But it is so fun! Always mention their mammas.
US democracy/government, US college tuition, US civil rights, [fill in the blanks]