Corruption is a devastating phenomenon that has wide-ranging negative repercussions for individuals, society, and the economy as a whole. And things aren’t always what they seem. Some companies and organizations might seem trustworthy at first glance, only to reveal their shadiness when you dig deeper.
In a brutally honest AskReddit thread, internet users revealed the lines of business that they have witnessed to be far more corrupt than many people might realize. Keep scrolling to read their revelations.
#1
Nursing homes, doesn’t matter if its the good ones. Their main goal is to get as much money out of the residents and give them horrible quality care and places to live.
Recently a sweet lady I knew passed away and her family was forced to go in and remove her stuff THE DAY SHE PASSED because this horrible place were now charging them BY THE DAY.
Edit: I’m not the only person in my family who’s worked in a nursing home. My grandmother is currently a housekeeper in another facility, while one of my aunts and one of my mom’s cousins worked as a nurse in another, and my boyfriend’s mother worked in another one. All of our experiences had been in bad ones, so congrats to you for somehow managing to find a ‘good’ one and saying that not all of them are like that.
Image source: anon, Getty Images
#2
Towing. Companies who tow cars are shady as hell. I had my car towed from the scene of an accident, and I couldn’t get an insurance estimate for 4 days because the tow company claimed they didn’t have it. Then they charged the insurance company for 4 days of “storage” after I went to their lot myself and took pictures of my car sitting there.
Image source: dickskittlez, kee-chuan
#3
Susan G Koman and the other disease ‘awareness’ charities. Most of the money donated does not reach the scientists and doctors actually researching cures and treatments.
Image source: packpeach, sergio_leenen
According to the UNODC, corruption leads to economic loss and inefficiency. Based on the findings of a 2016 report from the IMF, bribery alone costs the global economy between $1.5 and $2 trillion, or around 2% of global GDP, each year.
However, to repeat ourselves, this is just the effect of bribery and doesn’t take into account other forms of corruption, such as fraud, money laundering, tax evasion, etc.
Broadly speaking, corruption and nepotism lead to worse competition as more qualified companies and candidates get turned down.
“The more widespread such practices are, the more inefficient the economy becomes,” the UNODC stresses. In developing countries, this can lead to underdevelopment.
#4
Mortuary services. You do not need to be embalmed, you do not need an expensive casket, and they are overcharging you for everything. It’s a disgusting extortion racket no one does anything about.
Image source: beatthinker, Pablo Merchán Montes
#5
Education. Specifically the companies that publish textbooks as well as College Board, the company that has a monopoly on standardized tests in the US.
#6
Yelp/Better Business Bureau
Basically it is a shakedown to remove poor reviews.
Image source: HobbitFoot, Sacramento BBB
Furthermore, corruption leads to the redistribution of wealth to the least needy. In other words, corrupt systems benefit the elite more and harm the poor, leading to further inequality. Moreover, social programs also suffer.
“While the victims of corruption suffer personal loss, intimidation and inconvenience, those who perpetrate corrupt acts and schemes tend to experience personal gain, a sense of superiority and greater convenience – pending enforcement of the law, that is,” the UNODC explains.
Individual acts of corruption create a system of dysfunctionality. Honest, transparent, hardworking, and skilled individuals lose out. Companies offer worse services and products. And industries focus on enriching government officials instead of focusing on efficiency and innovation.
The knock-on effect for workers and managers is demoralization, as people “begin to doubt the value of hard work and innovation.”
#7
Academic publishing. It’s not necessarily corruption, but it’s a really messed up system. Basically researchers do all the work, then they send their papers for publication, other researchers review their articles for free, and when the article is accepted the publisher asks for 40$ from each reader to read 1 article, and 100% of the money goes back to the publisher. The researchers who wrote the paper do not get one cent. It’s one of the most profitable industries out there, despite being completely predatory. The thing is, researchers need to publish in specific journals to get tenure or to get funded, and so they are always trying to publish in the top rated journals instead of publishing in open-science venues.
Image source: HippGris, Zetong Li
#8
In my country, police are some of the most corrupt government servants.
They need to pass a very competitive exam to even be considered for the job. They need to pay bribes to the police recruitment board to get into the force after passing the exam. They need to pay bribes to the placement board after training and compulsory rural service to get a posting to an area of their choice. They need to keep ministers, politicians, local gangs protected to keep earning extra money.
After this, they expect you to pay at least a 100 bucks for every time they stop you in traffic. They are arrogant AF. They have to work 12 hrs a day, and will take out their frustration on any common man who tries to get help from them. They will normally list stolen mobiles as lost, so that they do not have to investigate, and the crime stats remain in check. They normally, but reluctantly help anyone who is well connected, or can pay them something extra to do their job. They do not care about the common man, and believe that the laws exist only so that they can extort more money from the tax paying citizens. Their motto is to wring the last buck out of the common man, terrorize the population, help only the rich and powerful, while not paying heed to the citizen’s call for help.
They are the Indian Police. I believe most of the above rant will apply to many other country’s / state’s police.
Image source: atg666, Shiv Narayan Das
#9
Mega Churches in the US: These guys are stealing money hand over first through the use of flashy sermons and trumped up versions of how the Bible actually works. Not to mention the fact that most of the donations they receive help the people that own the church pay for private jets and mansions.
Even if there’s a catastrophe in their neighborhood they can’t be bothered to send some money their way. After that last tornado in Missouri a local mega church didn’t donate a dime, meanwhile a local casino donated a large sum of money to the victims.
Image source: mbattagl, Josh Eckstein
If corruption is widespread and not punished, individuals begin losing trust in their social systems, public institutions, and leaders.
The result is public frustration, cynicism, and less political participation, harming society.
What do you think, dear Pandas? In your personal experience, what are some of the most corrupt lines of business? What forms of corruption have you encountered at work, school, in business, or in politics? How do you push back against corruption and nepotism when you see it? If you feel like sharing your thoughts, feel free to do so at the very bottom of this post.
#10
Textbooks.
Image source: PhilPipedown, Getty Images
#11
Pink Ribbon Breast Cancer Charities – look at how, how well, and where its marketed. Its huge, no cure, and when my wife had breast cancer they helped nil. I’m sure the CEO and higher ups are making good money. Its business in disguise.
Image source: madairman, Curated Lifestyle
#12
Hiring temp employees.
Besides the low pay and zero respect there is also the health insurance scams.
I had an agency charge me $8,000 per year automatically for a health insurance package that only covered $5,000 AFTER my initial up front costs of $5,000.
In short I had to pay $13,000 just to get $5,000 worth of coverage.
Which was of course denied claiming a pre-existing condition.
Being hit by a car is, “pre-existing,” apparently.
Image source: ambermage
#13
Metals.
Every part of it, from mining, to manufacturing/refining, to scrapping has the mob involved at least a little. (but mostly scrapping and mining)
edit: because of questions, I am in Oregon, but have done work with various companies all over the continental USA, and a touch in Russia and China. The worst for this is the northeast USA and Russia. The Russians were the only ones I was outright afraid of though, because they were the only ones to outright threaten us if we didn’t pay on time. (before we even bought anything!).
Image source: JustJeast
#14
Ticketmaster and service fees
I didn’t scroll all the way through to see if someone has mentioned this yet.
Image source: lsdrunr, appshunter.io
#15
Healthcare. Almost everyone you meet in a hospital has your best interest at heart. The administrators who employ them want you to pay up or go die somewhere else.
Image source: elpinguinosensual
#16
Cosmetic industry. Putting stuff like alcohols in “moisturizers” to deliberately dry you out so that you buy more moisturizer… Chapstick is also notorious for this, hence why I switched to Burt’s Bees and immediately noticed a difference. Slapping labels like “anti-aging” on things that LITERALLY AGE YOU. So messed up.
Image source: anon
#17
Autism Speaks.
FRICK AUTISM SPEAKS.
Image source: jcw10489
#18
Pest control. You can buy almost every single thing we use yourself online without a license. For the price you pay for one service you can get enough stuff to do it yourself for years. Also, almost all major companies now will spray the outside only if you aren’t there because we’re required to complete a certain number of jobs a day. So if you never confirmed the appointment we made for you that you never even knew about, guess what, you’re still getting sprayed.
Image source: ThotsAndPIayers, Drazen Zigic
#19
For profit universities (University of Phoenix, DeVry, etc.).
Image source: cave_mandarin, Ahmed
#20
Auto mechanics.
There are plenty of honest shops out there, but there are also lots of places that won’t think twice about charging for unnecessary repairs, and even for work they haven’t actually done. Make sure you’re going to someone you know you can trust.
Image source: skunkwaffle, Getty Images
#21
A lot of non-profit charities are super sketchy the further you look into them.
Image source: toxinogen
#22
Throwaway. I worked in a non-profit blood laboratory, where we drew blood and separated the components to sell to hospitals. Our machines was outdated, our protective equipment was lackluster at best, and we were constantly told to increase production despite the lack of staff, absolutely no concern for our safety, and the exhausting 13 hour shifts we were forced to work (our normal shift should have been 8 hours.) By for our most profitable product was pooled platelets, since there are so many things that can go wrong when trying to separate them from Whole Blood. In total, including bags, testing, processing,labor, and subsidizing products that didn’t make it, the cost to the company was around $5,000 max per unit, and since it was a non-profit, that should have been the cost to the Hospital, and in turn the receiving patient. However, the company would add costs that weren’t incurred, and sell the unit directly to the Hospital for between $10,000-$15000. So yeah, that would be part of the reason why medical costs can be so insanely expensive, it’s not necessarily the Hospital’s fault. There were a lot more corrupt things about this company, but this is the one that tended to get on my nerves the most, especially since the public face of the organization was entirely about “saving lives.”.
Image source: DrinkMoreBlood
#23
Guiness book of world records.
Just watched a video from another thread about a minecraft streamer who beat Ali-a’s record but was forced to pay >$600 to verify his claim.
Image source: intersecting_lines
#24
Garbage/trash hauling. Landfills and recycling locations, especially small shops in rural areas. They’ll mix recycling in with the regular garbage rather than process correctly, they’ll skimp on the lining thickness required for a new hill, they can be a cash business that’s impossible to record, so folks at the front desk will pocket the dump fees for folks who come in.
Crazy stuff.
Image source: anon
#25
College Rankings – I worked a student job in a programs office of a major university. When one of the big magazine publishers that does rankings came in, I sat in on one of the meetings. The rep told the head of the program that if the school bought a subscription to their magazine for all of the students in the program it would improve the ranking. They did and it did.
Image source: bucknut816
#26
Financial Advisors anywhere really, doesn’t matter if it’s from a institution or a private firm. The large majority of them are only out there to get commissions and to protect their own bottom line.
Was in that world for awhile (roughly 5 years), and it is a lot scummier once you realize that it’s common in the industry to be 100% commission. From my personal experience working at one of the largest firms in the world (and they also tell you to tout that as a form of trust), I had seen 13 different advisers commit fraud in a span of about 3 years.
Ranging from something small like missing a disclosure form/skipping over some small but important details (such as surrender charges) to something as bad as forging signatures to start a sale in order to meet quarter end bonuses. There’s also some really bad ones such as straight up lying to clients, using the word guaranteed returns, and other things that they ended up being caught with. All of these were quietly swept under the rug.
You can go on brokercheck to see if they have any reports. But honestly, you only get reported for doing really bad stuff (and if the client decides to completely follow through with the reporting… which most don’t). And I can tell you, from that search, that those 13 advisers that I listed have nothing on their FINRA report. So they look “clean”, but I would think that they are still doing the shady stuff today as they were in the past.
Regardless, not all of the industry is bad. But anything that relies on a person to rely on literally making a sale, or going home with nothing to eat or have a roof over their head, and people will easily bend the rules so that they can live. Especially since most of these firms take roughly 50-60% of the commissions.
So even if you make a big 3k sale, you’re only seeing 1.5k. And from start to finish in a pipeline takes about a month at the very minimum. And that’s if they agree to invest with you on the first meeting, because transferring money from institutions takes around 2-3 weeks.
Image source: bewareoftraps
#27
Dog breeding.
If you ever briefly wondered if pugs could breathe okay when they have flattened noses – they cant.
Image source: mifukichan
#28
Real Estate, the most corrupt line, that’s how you hide your black money.
Image source: ben10000123
#29
We’ve been trying to reach you about your car’s extended warranty.
Image source: ambermage
#30
Hospitals. A lot of people think that health insurance are the cause of crazy medical cost, but hospitals artificially inflate the cost of all services in what is called a Chargemaster, which is a list of the cost of all services that they do not disclose. They raise the cost of services so high so that when they make a “deal” with insurance, a 50% discount of something that has been made 10x more expense still gives them a huge profit.
Image source: Nobuko42
#31
Justice/Prison systems in the United States of America. How district attorneys, state employees, and judges are allowed to have financial interests in occupancy of the prison systems without so much as a second look is disgusting and criminal!
Image source: jschmidt72180
#32
A lot of “small businesses” and charities are just ways for extremely wealthy to hide money from taxes.
Like Leona Helmsley (the female Donald Trump) once said: “We don’t pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes.”.
Image source: rondell_jones
#33
On the opposite foot, Casinos are generally much less corrupt than you would think. There is so much regulation and the threat of losing a license is a big deal.
Image source: smartguy05
#34
Jewellery. There’s a reason as to why the Big 4 audit firms shy away from auditing SME jewellery shops as most are family run shops with unknown sources of money, improper stock records and no formal books.
Image source: Seismic_Jeopardy
#35
Car dealerships.
The buy here pay here are the worst and will try and knock off heads as much as they can. They especially prey on people with bad credit or the I’ll informed.
New car dealers are not much better. Bait and switches, mailers and they will do anything to cover up mistakes on their end.
I’ve seen many practices that are illegal but either they don’t get caught or the customer does not know the severity of the dealers actions.
Image source: Rusty240Z
#36
HR. Human Resources. They need to treat people like resource objects in order to do their job. HR isn’t about resourcing humans, it’s about humans as a resource.
Image source: SirAttackHelicopter
#37
Third party rooftop solar companies. In my line of work i often see blatant lies about utility rate increase expectations from solar installers that are trying to sell a financial product (with a yearly escalator supposedly less than utility rate increases) that comes with the solar panels and the problem is that utility rates often dont rise as much as the solar installers suggest they do.
There are other issues, like shoddy installations and the installers defrauding the government out of tax credit $ as well, but none of this will ever see the light of day because righteous solar companies couldn’t ever be corrupt, right?
Image source: skellenberger
#38
Honestly the whole online influencer is becoming such a problem because it targets youth to join in on it. What’s the end game with that? Age is a factor, kinda hard to be that hot blonde when your wrinkles are hitting you like a crazy person and the artithis kicks in. It’s worst for the twitch and youtubers because most of those cats are either going to need some serious work on their eyes or deal with carpal tunnel.
Image source: anon
#39
Public relations! The intention is to manipulate the media so your company or client looks nice and likable. People feign friendships with journalists, one former peer even pitched a story at someone’s funeral, agencies are breeding grounds for disfunction and misery. It’s a terrible and manipulative industry.
Image source: anon
#40
Health Insurance, they control everything from what procedures can be done to how much money a patient has to pay afterwards. Doctors/Hospitals have no control over how much you pay for each visit.
Image source: JXS993
#41
United Way – use business leaders to shakedown their employees for donations. Most employees would rather just give directly to their favorite charity but are guilted or forced into giving to united way. Of course my local United way puts minorities in high positions so big corporations can feel they are doing social good but the ceo and others at UW are making $300k+.
Image source: anon
#42
I work as a caregiver for people with disabilities through an agency. When they find out that we’re not a non-profit agency and we actually get paid for this (pretty much minimum wage, but we do get paid), some people act like we’re just profiteering off of the less fortunate by not being volunteers/charity workers. Not corrupt in my own opinion, but a lot of people disagree.
Sorry Karens of the world, I gotta pay my bills somehow.
Image source: 13thmurder
#43
All of them. Politics, police, etc…
Everything is a scam nowadays benefiting people at the top.
Image source: audiofx330
#44
A relative of mine studies architecture when she was young. Now, mid 50’s, I never recalled her ever working that, so ecentually I asked her about it.
“If you want to be successful as an architect, you are either reaaaaally good or corrupt.”.
Image source: Stargate_1
#45
Condo Property Managers
We stopped doing business with several condos because the PM wanted a kickback. Those buildings are now happily working with companies known in the business to “thank” clients for big jobs with envelopes of cash. Nobody gets rung up for it though, because how do you prove something like that?
Image source: pythagoras6
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