The more technology and communication progress, the more scams are thriving. It has become easier for scammers to reach potential victims and carry out their schemes. From phishing emails to fake online stores, there are countless ways that scammers can take advantage of people who are not cautious.
However, while it is always important to be wary of scams, it is also important to not jump to conclusions and assume that everything that seems too good to be true is a scam. It is important to do research and be cautious in order to avoid scams and find legitimate opportunities that you wouldn't want to miss out on. Lots of people these days assume that everything online is basically a scam, which is why this Redditor wanted to know: "What do people think is a scam but they just don't understand?" and people gave some great answers on this topic that might give you some really important insights.
This post may include affiliate links.
Socialized Healthcare, apparently. "but I'm not sick and I don't wann apay for other people and never use it" blah blah blah. You could fall flat on your face and second and need 500 bucks worth of stitches and painkillers. You can get run over at no fault of your own. You can have a fricking aneurysm. Getting regular checkups is even gonna bring your premiums down, the insurance would rather pay 50-100 for a yearly dental checkup than 15k in prosthetics because all your teeth rotted out because you didn't see anyone in 10 years.
Why is the concept of socialism so scary to some Americans? What's so bad about it? Being able to rely on the community? If I get sick, I don't bankrupt myself. If I lose my job, I won't lose my home and can still live a frugal, but dignified life.
I would rather live a life with a lot of security and all the same options than a life with 0 security but "mah freedomz". Medical debt bankruptcy is not freedom.
yes the rest of the world is sitting and watching you guys like it's a reality show.
Prof. Robert Kerton, Former President of the American Council on Consumer Interests, gave us some important tips for noticing scams: "The most brilliant warning light flashes when the unexpected phone or online contact explains why you must not contact anyone about the issue. You are about to be scammed. That warning light 'Do not contact anyone' means you are at serious risk. Don’t hang around, hang up.
Often the caller has a tried-and-true way to frighten you into submission. A different strategy is a promise to get rich quick. Don’t ask questions: disconnect. Your questions are predictable. Scammers have effective tactics - based on their experience - designed to get you to provide cash, or access to your bank account. If you are habitually polite, say 'No thank you' and hang up."
Vaccines and vaccination.
Not me, but those who are anti vaccination really have no understanding of virology, immunology, epidemiology or how to assess relative risk. They probably fall into many of the other things that they “think is a scam but they don’t understand.”
I have met people who had little to no education and knew how vaccines work(not everything scientifically but how they can prevent sickness). And then there are people with higher education denying the efficacy of vaccines(some of them work in the field of medicine). It's unbelievable!
Everyone keeps telling me the Nigerian prince that’s been messaging me for the last week and a half is a scammer but they just don’t understand our love.
We asked Redditor Balisto2222 (Twitch) what they think is a scam and why people think things that are not scams are: "From my understanding, a scam is an electronic or analog bait to fool people into trusting the baiter with valuables (information, money or whatever). People are either unfamiliar with the meaning of 'scam' or get suspicious too quickly."
Therapy. People just can’t fathom that just talking to someone who is not involved directly in your life can really help with processing and resolving a problem. You only get out of it what you put in.
I didn't realise how damaged I was until I had therapy, I thought I was just a stupid and worthless person. It helped me understand the causes of my hidden but self destructive tendencies. If in doubt please try it!!
They also gave some advice for not falling for scams: "THINK. BEFORE. DOING. It's the most effective way to not fall for scams or even receive scams in the first place. Mainly consider: 1) is there anything suspicious about the 'scam'? (ex. any private information you need to enter, do you have to do something on an external medium like a website or download, etc.) 2) Where does the "scam" come from? (Do you know the issuer, is the issuer's account/contact information legit, how long has it been active, etc.) 3) Is the motive of the bait itself suspicious in any way (too good to be true, simply unnecessary or excessive, etc.).
To prevent potential scams or any harmful threats towards you, simply don't give away any contact information, whether on the internet or literally publicly. Sure, you may be contacted randomly by scammers at any point, but this would prevent any scam directly directed to you."
I know I'm late to the party on this comment. But in America the sad answer is this is how people are stating to look at unions. People saying "I don't wanna pay union dues every month" even though my dues cost me less then 2 hours of work a month and my wage is more then double what I would be making non union and that doesn't count the benefits that aren't even supplied to non union guys in this trade.
I've posted about this before, but I'll repeat it again: People who hate unions don't realize that the 40 hour work week, which used to be 12 hours a day ,6 days a week, workman's comp, paid vacations and holidays, Retirement, and a lot more, are all benefits fought for by unions which then gradually passed on to most businesses, to the benefit of everybody, but try telling that to a republican, they don't want to hear about that Communist bulls**t.
For a depressing amount of the UK: the EU.
It's always refreshing to find out that the US doesn't have a monopoly on uninformed people who don't know how to think, you know, like Trumpers.
The Redditor also shared if they think scams will become more prominent: "Obviously as technology and insights about human behavior evolve there will be more and more scams that work in favor of the issuer utilizing those insights and technologies."
Declining pay rises because they think they'll pay more in tax and their take home will be less than before the pay rise.
EDIT: The amount of comments claiming it has happened to them is really disturbing. Learn how your taxes work people .
This one is undoubtedly an error from the OP who doesn’t understand how personal finance work for a lot of low wage workers. Taxes are not the only parameter. A pay rise might induce the loss of social supports, or the change of category for some benefits. Earning 10% more but losing your housing arrangement (rent control, public subsidies) for example may not be worth it.
My dad and online banking. You can check your balance, make transfers and even set up standing orders. "But my account will get hacked" is his response every single time.
They also shared some of the more popular scams they've noticed: "Probably did, likely forgot, if I'm being honest. At least, as I have been actively moderating on Discord for the past 1.5 years, I'll list off a couple examples of more subtle scams there, put as many as you wish in the article:
- Discord Nitro scam: someone from your friend list DMs you a gifted subscription to Discord Nitro, the link leading to a fake site that steals your login info once input and then uses your account to scam other people on your own friend list.
- Playtesting scam: Someone sends you a file or a link to a file, asking you politely to playtest the supposed game that, when run, hijacks your account, steals your information and uses all to further scam others.
- Steam report scam: by far the most popular scam lately, works by someone DMing you a fake screenshot of your account apparently scamming them, then telling you that they mass reported your account on Steam, if you believe them and continue talking the scammer leads you to another account of a supposed Steam moderator who sends you a link that gives them access to all your data if clicked.
- Cryptocurrency scam: widely popular on the internet and exists on Discord as well. Some account DMs you that you won some cryptocurrency and leads you to some external website or Discord server with an external verification process that hijacks your account and information."
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.
edit—we’re American
Who doesn't take our holiday insurance? Like who leaves their own country to a foreign one without the guarantee that should anything happen (from lost luggage to broken leg to death) the costs are all covered? I went on a cruise in the summer and bad weather meant we couldn't dock in one port so it turned into a sea day (no big deal) and insurance meant we all got £150 compensation in my party for the trouble. You see so many people every year posting go fund me's because they or a loved one are stuck in a foreign country (or their body is) with an injury and a massive hospital bill and no way of getting home. All when they could have paid like £10 (so long as they have no medical issues but if they do then all the more reason to get insurance!!) for insurance and peace of mind. I will never understand the logic of not taking it out!
Modern medicine. Like Cleetus, we just want you to not spread COVID, it isn't gonna make you gay.
Maybe Cleetus is scared from becoming gay just because Cleetus already has gay feelings but tries to hide them, but that's a different topic.
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!
NASA, physics and anything about the earth being round
The flat earth is the scam. Those people profit of the gullible and some of them know the earth isn't flat and still do it.
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
It's pretty obvious that she's learned about the Deep State, probably from Qanon.
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.
Have a friend who does this on the side. Sets up peoples smart tv’s, computers, stereo s for Bluetooth. They freak out when he explains he doesn’t do it for free. If you want someone to spend hours helping you do something that you can’t do yourself, you compensate them. Why do people think they should get stuff for free ?
My dad and step mom once freaked the f**k out because the census was at our door. They said, "she doesnt 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.
Wearing a mask
I got Covid less than a month after the government removed the mask mandate (South Africa).
Pet insurance. Everyone freaks out because you have to pay for the services up front and then the insurance pays you back. Everyone I've talked to won't get it because "they won't pay me back!" Or "If I have to pay up front anyway, what's the point?" Look, when Fido gets cancer and needs chemo...you're going to be thrilled you will be getting that $6k back (or whatever it is).
We have a Boxer, and they are known for cancer. My first one actually did die of cancer. So, every year we have to pay for a physical and cancer screening. It's pricy, about $600 bucks. However, I get that money back every single time. Plus I have the reassurance that, if she gets sick, I'm covered.
I highly recommend pet insurance.
Again, not that people think it is a scam…people just can’t afford it anymore with inflation. I don’t know anyone that has $6k to drop at any given moment so pet insurance really doesn’t help them…
This is all wrong, pet insurance isn't like health insurance for people. You basically prepay a set amount through the premium and when you go to the vet for something you pay and then send the bill to the ins. They will pay up to the amount you pay into them annually. Its not really insurance its a savings plan.
Load More Replies... I'm probably going to get all sorts of hate for this, but if you are the sort of person who wouldn't put your animal through lengthy, painful and invasive treatments then paying pet insurance is paying for all the people that will. There are people who will spend tens of thousands of pounds having joint replacements all round on a horribly inbred dog that will be in pain for the rest of its life rather than admit that it has terribly poor quality of life. If this commenter is getting back more than their premiums *every year* then all the other premium payers are literally paying their bills. Put the equivalent money to the premiums aside in a savings account for when you need it, and don't buy an animal that is overbred to the point where its health will suffer. If boxers are so genetically messed up as to routinely get cancer, then why the heck are you supporting their breeding?
$600/year = $50/month... what's your phone bill cost? What's your internet bill? How much do you spend on pet food/month? What's your house/condo/apartment insurance cost?? It's really not that pricey when you want a pet, take a look at the general health issues they -could- experience and do the math.
You just answered your own question. With all the other necessary bills being so much money, that leaves little to no room for pet insurance.
Load More Replies... Bought By Many/Many Pets... you pay a higher price to start but the premiums NEVER go up. Five years ago £30 a month was a lot, today it is not (comparing prices to other insurers). I have two dogs and my oldest was insured with another company, before I had heard of Many Pets and his premiums are painful, especially now he is classified as a senior dog.
I'm lucky, my work's insurance includes pets for like $1.50 a week. So I got it for my cats. Haven't had to use it yet, but it's there.
The point of pet medical insurance for most people is the same as human medical insurance, so they don't have to pay large costs upfront. It doesn't really matter if it's some sort of refund situation when you don't have the money upfront to pay it to begin with. Rebates are cool but benefit the already wealthy.
I highly recommend not getting inbred pets that are prone to problems.
The actual scam is the price of any medical situation in the US for animals or humans which makes insurance a necessity unless you're wealthy because the costs are often arbitrarily decided upon.
I looked up the cost for my pets, looked at the rules for payout and deductibles and realized I could just put that money aside every month and just pay for it myself. We have always covered what we needed to this way. Not sure that would work for everyone, but it's something to think about.
Right now I din't have any pets but or most of my life I didn't I know you could get pet insurance until a while ago. If I ever did get a pet I surely would check into that.
Making two purchases. Everyone I know thinks they're going to pay more tax if they make two purchases, rather than two items in a single purchase.
It boggles my mind that they dont understand when I try to explain that "14% of $20, twice, is the same as 14% of $40"
Some members of my family think internet providers are scammers because they pay for 400mbps download and think they will get 400mbps download on each device even if someone is watching Netflix or downloading at the same time on another computer.
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
There was a time when my parents thought buying stuff online and paying with a credit card it's a scam, 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.
Credit card points. Literally free money if you have an ounce of discipline.
I live off my credit cards, earn 3% cash back on every purchase and pay the balance off before the bill is due, credit can be a gift or a curse, just gotta know how to manipulate it
In the UK, student loans. Most know they are incredibly favourable, but I still see some talking about how bad they are. There is a minimum wage bracket to pay them back, you are only charged a percentage of the amount over the bracket you earn. For example if it were 10%, and bracket was £200, and you earn £220, you only pay £2. And the entire loan gets written off after 30 years.
Yes some people pay £300+ a month, but that's when they are earning over £100,000 a year. If their earnings stop or go down, so do the payments.
Mmm, I'm on the fence about this one, it depends on which plan you're on. Yes the repayments are low but the interest can be relatively high (the interest rate on my brothers student loan is more than twice the interest rate on my mortgage) but given that most people have no other choice if they want to go to university (and most universities charge the highest rate fees) its a bit of a monopoly. I'm almost 40 and it's only recently that the balance on my loan has started to go down even though I've been paying back for almost 15 years because the interest has been more than the payments. Also there are a number of different plans with different rules depending on when you graduated, mine will be written off when I get to 65, 44 years after I graduated, not 30.
Berea college. It's the only college in America that guarantees 0$ in tuition for every accepted student. When people hear that, they immediately think it's some kind of scam.
If it’s someone’s first time hearing of it I can’t blame them, it does sound too good to be real.
5G
But the 5G chip injected with covid vaccine really works people! My home Internet rocks now.
Airline / Hotel / Credit Card rewards. They take a lot of time and a 100% commitment to never, ever carrying a balance, but you can definitely earn a lot of rewards even without playing the churning games. The Flyertalk.com community is amazing for anyone wanting to get started.
Credit cards in general are not inherently bad. Honestly, I've been on both sides. When I was underemployed, things just kept coming up and I couldn't keep up, even though I tried. Now I primarily use a card through my credit union, always pay off the balance and cash out $25 for every 2500 points multiple times a year.
Buying a beginning band instrument, then buying a step-up instrument within a couple of years
You can sell the beginners instrument when stepping up. Who knows, until trying, if it will work out, if the person will be any good.
Nuclear power, people are generally concerned about the pollution it causes when in reality the radioactive waste from a nuclear power plant has a relatively low impact on the environment, especially when compared to the fallout of more resource heavy nuclear weapons
Yes, I know all the arguments and am not anti but it is naive to act like the waste isn't an issue. It is the longevity of the waste and the amount of water required to deal with it. I know a load of people will deny it is much but with radioactive material you don't need much to be harmful and burying it in the planet is not a good answer. Better than fossil fuel doesn't mean it is problem free.
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.
Higher pay rates for union trade labor.
If a worker has ANY benefits or worthwhile rewards AT ALL in their job, no matter how meagre they might be, it's because a union fought for them, even if they're not part of that union or that union is not allowed in their workplace
Insurance. It's weird to pay for something that you hope not to use.
Oh god yes. We had a leak from our bathroom to our kitchen. Everything had to be ripped out, de moulded, replaced. It took 4 months and we had to move out into temp accommodation for that time. Everything was covered by the building insurance apart from some private work we had done at the same time. Also my wife and I have mortgage life cover so that if one of us dies, the other gets enough money to clear the mortgage and have a couple of hundred thousand in the pocket.
CareCredit. People always think vet offices tell you to apply to “our credit cards” so you can pay your bill because we don’t offer payment plans. It is not just for vet hospitals but any medical service. You get 6 months 0% interest for whatever amount you are approved for and it is an outside company. Vet hospitals don’t usually offer payment plans bc people don’t pay and then they get sent to collections. We can’t afford to not have income. Ask anyone who works at a clinic and I bet you they are getting by paycheck yo paycheck. Even DVMs aren’t making much considering they graduate with just as much student loans as an MD.
CareCredit wasn’t that bad of an idea when I needed to get hearing aids. It helped out a lot.
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.
No this is complete nonsense. Vanity publishing is just that: for vanity. If all you want is to hold a copy of a professionally bound book with your name on to look good on a shelf or give as gifts, knock yourself out. But that's all it is. Vanity publishing has zero to do with being a writer. No one who is legit will ever ask for money - there are tons of sharks who charge money for feedback but no publisher or agent will ever charge. You can also self-publish (you may choose to spend money on things like cover art and marketing, but the actual process of self publishing is free). I earn a
My mom with any online retailer she always goes on a huge rant when i want to buy something online about how "Those websites will steal your bank info and take your money"
i know there are sketchy websites that do that but I only use ones that i KNOW are trustworthy like "Amazon, Target, Walmart, BestBuy, i don't trust eBay not for the site but for the people on it
you could buy a new controller and get a bootleg i don't use eBay and wish it's not about my information it's about the product some things are just advertised as really good but turn out to be really cheap but my mom always rants about my information being stolen when all i want is to buy a PS5 on target 🤣
So, you open a second account, with a debit card of its own, with your bank. You transfer a little money into that account (easy, quick with online banking). Use that for online purchases. Even if your 'details' get stolen and the account is drained you lose, what?, a couple of hundred bucks, tops? They can't get at your main account.
Selling the Eiffel Tower. But on a serious note. Higher tax brackets and thinking they save money by not doing overtime
Brooklyn Bridge is sold out? Thank the lord you can still get non-fungible tokens (NFTs) of it at a discount.
Costco employees when they try to get you to buy the higher higher membership when youre checking out. It actually saves you money and pay for itself if you get enough of the 2% back.
Was doing work outside a Costco. Needed one of their employees to move their car. Went in to get the car moved. Was stopped at the entrance and refused entry because I didn't have a membership card. Explained the situation, told them all we need is that one car moved. They didn't have their phone with me and wouldn't leave or help me. Had the car towed to get the work finished as per contract. Was the manager's car. Freaked on us, then freaked on door person. Costco: Do the right thing.
Wine. I work as a sommelier. Outside of the wine industry, on reddit, and other places.. you constantly hear people talk about the study where the "experts" are fooled by cheap wine, etc. Most of these "studies" are done at universities, with inexpensive wines.. and people who are not really experts. In general, more expensive wines are a lot better.. but are also a lot rarer. There are of course exceptions 'cheap wines' which are fantastic. These are rarer, because as a wine gets a reputation for being good, the demand increases. With the famous/rare wines, there is more competition for them. Chateau Lafite, for example, can only produce so much wine --the buyers at first were only the French (and the British and other Europeans), when the Americans started buying it and there was more demand the price had to climb, when the Chinese started buying it the price could only go up. Lafite cannot just produce more Lafite. So the price for a wine like this has to climb exponentially with the increased demand, and the globalisation of wealth. In particular we have the conspicuous consumption of 'European' goods, Chanel can make more handbags, but Lafite cannot produce more Lafite.
Then we have the problem of wine in restaurants being a different price to what you see at the supermarket. Depending on the location, (or in America) the State, you might have very different taxes/laws between bottleshops and restaurants, and the wine may legally need to come from different suppliers. Restaurants tend to not be able to buy in as large of a bulk, etc. Further with a restaurant the extra cost is that the wine is "guaranteed", if it is corked/off.. the restaurant will provide a new bottle. The waiter/somm will be trained (to at least some degree) and know what wines they have and help you pick one that goes with what you are eating. With this you get glass service, decanting, etc. All of this equals a higher cost at a restaurant than a bottleshop. It is not a "scam", but it is a bit like eating a steak at a restaurant and going 'oh, I can buy meat at the butcher for less'.. of course you can!
« I work as a sommelier » but I repeatedly misspelled one of the most famous wines in the world.. 🤨 Chateau Lafitte with 2 t’s or Chateau Lafite-Rothschild with the 2 words.
Endless bread at the steakhouse. They get you with the free bread.
The stock market
Twice? The stock market is like Vegas... except the odds are in your favor. Play consistently and evenly and you'll eventually come out ahead. Far, far ahead.
Imprinting on checks at the cash register. So much faster than writing it out.
In some cases, DLC for games.
I play a fair amount of fighting games, and its a bit annoying when people see a game with alot of DLC and immediately assume the game is trying to scam them.
When a developer is supporting a game, of course they're gonna want to add more characters to it. Its one of the easiest ways the drum up hype, mix up the gameplay, and bring some more variety to the game. If a game is supported *for awhile*, then of course, its gonna get alot of DLC. This mostly bothers me with BBTAG cause characters are sold in packs of 3 that cost as much as single characters in other games. "Wow, look! this game has half the roster as DLC!" yeah, characters are re-used assets so they were released in bulk after launch.
There definitely are fighters that tried to scam people with DLC (Dead or Alive 6, SFxT, MvC:I, Marvel 3. Capcom's pretty bad for this in general) but it bothers me when people associate 'alot of DLC' with 'they're scamming us.'
Throw around a lot of abbreviations and you loose a part of your audience. So, what have I just read?
USPS
USPS is the single biggest impediment to buying from the US in e.g. e-Bay. The USPS overseas shipping charges are atrocious. I just want it sent to me, not to buy it business class seat.
School
My ex told me bitcoin was a scam in 2013
But mining it uses a sh*tton of power, so it's contributing to destroying the environment.
Buying software/plugins/music. It can seem very expensive for something that you cant hold in your hands.
Invigaron-- a business opportunity as rare as the albani berries themselves.
Didn't know the company or whatever, but Google turns up a couple of links featuring what looks like a pyramid.....
Investing in $GME
All shorts have to cover (they have not) and Gamestop is revolutionizing their business model and team! Extremely bright future ahead!
Edit 1: They have also cleared all their long term debt and have much cash on hand which is a great thing!
Edit 2: Unfortunately, the media has painted Gamestop as a "poor investment choice", *contrary* to all the fundamentally good things about this company. The data also strongly suggests that the institutional players who are betting against Gamestop are not abiding to the regulations.
Protection plans IF purchasing notoriously fragile "[planned obsolescence](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence)" sorts of tech products, like inkjet printers or headphones/earbuds.
I love how all of the posts toward the bottom get progressively vaguer! XD
I had a woman ring me to tell me that I'd won first prize in a major competition. She was surprised that I immediately accepted the call as genuine. Normally, the people she rings think it's a scam. It isn't. Prize was worth about $10,000.
I'm convinced the "pay more in taxes" thing is actually because they don't understand the difference between exempt and non-exempt. They *think* they're getting less money because they're being taxed more, but in reality, they just stopped getting all the extra hours and overtime, and that's the real reason why their promotion and pay increase is actually netting them less money.
I love how all of the posts toward the bottom get progressively vaguer! XD
I had a woman ring me to tell me that I'd won first prize in a major competition. She was surprised that I immediately accepted the call as genuine. Normally, the people she rings think it's a scam. It isn't. Prize was worth about $10,000.
I'm convinced the "pay more in taxes" thing is actually because they don't understand the difference between exempt and non-exempt. They *think* they're getting less money because they're being taxed more, but in reality, they just stopped getting all the extra hours and overtime, and that's the real reason why their promotion and pay increase is actually netting them less money.
