announcedThieves will always find a way to try and part us from our money. They will never rest.
And thanks to the internet and the rise in dominance of social media, it has never been easier to be a convincing scammer.
One of the most fury inducing aspects of this issue is that half of the scams are LEGAL.
In many instances the most restitution we can get is having our case brought before a civil court.
Good luck with that.
So we only have ourselves—we have to be smarter and share intel and warnings.
RedditorF1yffwanted to hear about the ways people are still trying to fleece us all, so they asked:
"What is a legal scam that is still happening in 2022?"
This all started with Columbia House.
A curse and a plague on that house..
Damn 10 CDs!
Fees...
"'Printing' fee for digital tickets." ~ eastherbunni
"When this first became a thing, it was cheaper to just get them mailed (maybe still is). So f**k you ticketmaster, you can print and mail those to me." ~ butterflavoredsalt
GiphyREAD YOUR MAIL CAREFULLY!!
"If you’re a personal business owner, you may receive what looks to be a bill in your mail from the US Domain Authority. At first glance, you’re under the impression that you need to pay 289 dollars to renew your website domain name. HOWEVER. There is very fine print stating that you are not legally required to pay the listed amount."
"It’s actually an ad requesting you pay that amount in order to have your website listed on the US Domain Authority site. I can’t imagine how many people have been tricked by this. READ YOUR MAIL CAREFULLY!!" ~ RecentLingonberry821
Lies
"That news in America is entertainment. Can get away with saying pretty much anything and still call it 'news.'" ~ flowachild357
"It frustrates me how normal weasel words are in news cast these days and how many people cant distinguish them easily, 'new study show there may be a link between eating m&ms and your hair color!?!' Yea that also means it may not... but that doesn't get views." ~ nemgrea
FINAL NOTICE
"I recently moved and I keep getting a bunch of home warranty advertisements in the mail. Except they don’t look like ads - the envelopes say things like FINAL NOTICE and the letters are printed on pink paper. When you open them they say things like “This is your FINAL NOTICE that your opportunity to purchase a home warranty from may be expiring!” This crap is so f**ked up." ~ DramaLlamadary
Denied!
"Extended warranties, so many promises made, but when time comes for a claim, almost all are denied." ~ ggs_golf
GiphyI despise Ticketmaster.
How do we end them?!
And who are these warranty people?
I want home addresses.
Poor Martha...
"Insider trading within Congress. But if WE do it, we end up in prison." ~ vabeach23451
"Martha Stewart sold stocks and made 45k and it was called insider trading Politicians sell stocks and make millions and that’s called a free market." ~ 7212gopew22
GiphyBuy the Answers...
"Look, OP, if you want to get in on some legal scam, you have to do your own research. That's why I recommend you buy my book, What YOU Can Do To Legally Become Rich In Twelve Easy Lessons. Just 24 easy payments of $199.99 and you will have the secrets to being a millionaire unveiled right before your eyes!" ~ AAlHazred
Capacity...
"Private prisons. You're telling me that they charge the government for the beds and the taxpayers still gotta foot the bill if those beds are empty so the company running it 'doesn't lose money?' Freak you." ~ Silverback_Vanilla
"Here in Arizona in 2020 the governor announced the closing of the State prison in Florence, as a ‘cost saving measure’. It was costing the state $71/per prisoner/per day to operate."
"They’ve announced in the last week they are moving the inmates to a private prison that’s going to cost the State… $85 per prisoner per day to operate. Also, they’re guaranteeing the private prison that they’ll maintain at least 90% capacity, which is just another way of giving judges an incentive to find people guilty." ~ RobertAPetersen
Bad Apps...
"Time shares. I figured AirBnB and VRBO and all the other temp rental disrupters would have put a stop to this predatory own-little-pay-mucho cash grab which destroys local housing markets and creates wet paint ghost towns."
"But alas it persists and we have to stare at lines of cheap shacks, or soviet bloc style complexes left vacant on off seasons or occupied by flightless grey birds who only fly south because some Iowa idiot got conned in a Ramada Inn on a Tuesday looking for a free golf bag."
"Arguably these apps have created more of a problem but I figured it’d be better." ~ EatEmUpJack
WTF?
"Civil forfeiture. You're going to tell me that a cop thinks that my property might be used for illegal activity, and that cop is going to steal it from me and pad their departments bottom line? What the actual F?!" ~ MYule90
"Enough people don’t know about this. Unless you’re one of the victims it happens to, then you’re like WTF the police just robbed me." ~ bw1985
Giphy
@iamcardib/X