There are plenty of seemingly innocent products and services out there that are just elaborate ways of getting you to part with your money. They might not try to bamboozle you as obviously as some spammers and con artists, but underneath all the glitz and glamor, they’re still scams.
Redditors have been sharing their opinions about what things they consider to secretly be giant scams after redditor MelteyReddit asked them to share their thoughts on this. In a viral thread, these redditors touched on everything from baby products and printer ink cartridges to a variety of questionable ‘health’ products and multilevel marketing companies. You could argue one way or the other for some of these, but that’s half the fun.
Check out what these people think are total scams, meant to get you to hand over your hard-earned cash, and upvote the opinions that you agree with as well. Disagree with any of these opinions? Know of any other things that you think aren’t much better than actual scams? Share your thoughts in the comment section. Meanwhile, be sure to read Bored Panda’s in-depth interview with the author of the thread, MelteyReddit.
#1
This might be unpopular but here goes…. The Catholic church. Currently worth 30 billion, the Vatican has 8 billion in assets . In 2014, it was discovered they were hiding 1.1 billion off the books. Why aren’t these funds going to the poor? In 2019 it was discovered the Vatican was heavily invested in unreported luxury apartments.
Then there’s the ugly stuff all this money is financing; Until 2014, the age of consent in Vatican city was 12. Yes. Twelve – the lowest age of consent in the world. It was only changed after the pedophilia scandal took hold. Then there’s the wide history of evils brought on by the church; the ivory trade, castration of young boys (castrada), the Spanish Inquisition, Holocaust denial, cutting funding for the poor with LGBQ ties and on and on….
The Catholic church provides a thin veneer of “good” for their followers, but for centuries they’ve been feeding corruption beneath the surface and continue to do so.
Image source: decorama, Reinaldo Kevin
#2
Convincing every high school kid they NEED to go to university. In reality skilled Trades or another specialized school would be the best route for a lot of people, and the pay can be very good.
Image source: alp1ne, Honey Yanibel Minaya Cruz
#3
Scientology
Image source: droflo420
#4
Any product that’s made by Gwyneth Paltrow
Image source: lamesas
#5
Anything that says it will detox your body. That’s what your kidneys are for.
Image source: drromancer, Birgith Roosipuu
#6
US healthcare system. I went to the ER a few weeks ago for an unknown pain in my chest and overall sh***y feeling. Got slapped with a 1500 bill with what turned out to be viral food poisoning. My brother, who is a doctor, said that was normal. Why the f**k is that normal?!
Image source: bluthco, National Cancer Institute
#7
Funeral services, preying on the grief of loved ones.
I understand that its really for the living to celebrate their lost loved ones, but when I’m done I just want my family to bury my dead ass in the backyard and throw a bash at the house in my honor. Doubt I’ll mind considering I’m dead.
Image source: SingleFunction80, Rhodi Lopez
#8
That humans are here to just work and die. No way humans evolved so we can work 5 of 7 days of the week, trying to jam fun in on weekends
Image source: Visible-Activity2200, Alex Kotliarskyi
#9
Emails and messages from corporates and celebrities that “We are in this together” during the pandemic.
Image source: northern_light007, Stephen Phillips
#10
Planned obsolescence.
Image source: recaffeinated
#11
Organized religion.
Image source: thedeadeye, Aaron Burden
#12
The whole baby product industry is based on making parents feel worthless and irresponsible if they don’t shill out for things that will be outgrown or unnecessary in six months.
Image source: mywifemademegetthis
#13
Any claim that a ‘magic’ drink will help you burn fat.
No, no drink or no food can burn that — that is a pure fabrication.
Image source: moosejaw110, Alex Lvrs
#14
Ink cartridges for your printer are super cheap to manufacture but the retail price is really high
Image source: holytaco57
#15
The wedding industry in the U.S.
$20,000 – $30,000 for a single day, stressful-as-hell event. When I learned a photographer alone runs $5000 minimum I almost puked. And a lot of venues didn’t give a s**t about covid and hosted packed weddings, resulting in deaths because “wE gOtTa MaKe MoNeY sOmEhOw” Absolute slime balls.
Now before all the vendors dog pile me, let me be clear, I’m fully aware why you guys charge as much as you do. I also hope you understand why an average person like me looks at the price and says hell no.
And for those that want a conventional wedding: If you can swing it, do whatever you want. My wife and I did a Sandals all-inclusive vaca/wedding/honeymoon, which has its own pros and cons but still a no-brainer due to the cost and convenience.
Image source: CaptainPlummet, Shardayyy Photography
#16
Bottled water, looking at you Nestlé
Image source: some_bs_name_
#17
Instagram fitness model meal plans. I cant believe people still pay them a lot of money for cookie cut meal plans and fitness advice. They are literally just pulling s**t off of google, copy paste your name, and make you think its personalized for you. Taking advantage of dumb people who are desperate to lose weight. Its pitiful on both sides.
Image source: thascarecro
#18
Any online course promising to teach you how to make money
Image source: Sullixio, Samantha Borges
#19
Two-party political systems. They seem to be in opposition to each other but in reality take “donations” from the same entities to further their agendas, so the sense of choice is mostly false in reality.
Image source: Mr_Lumbergh
#20
All multi-level marketing companies.
They tell you that all you have to do Is get 5 people to sign up and they each get 5 people to sign up, etc. Except these are not mathematical geniuses running these companies. By the time you get about 12 levels deep, you’ve surpassed the entire population of the Earth. It’s a good lesson in exponents.
Image source: FatherPyrlig
#21
Companies saying their employees are valuable to them and they care about their employees.
Image source: Uncertn_Laaife
#22
Casinos.
All of the casinos in my state are video poker and video slot machines. There are barely any table games left.
No one is happy, no one is having fun. It’s just a room full of zombies feeding the machines and losing money. Every person I talk to is convinced that they know the secret formula to win. You cannot win.
It might sound trivial but the old slots were just a spinning reel. These new machines are extremely addictive. The way the lights flash and the sounds go off like: Bing Bing BING. WINNER of 40 cents. The entire thing is a psychology hack to give people the impression that they’re winning when they’re not.
#23
College tuition. I graduated with a B.S. Information Technology and Computer Science. Working at a job and earning just as much as my coworkers who didn’t go to college and earned certifications. They have zero debt, while I’m $40k in the hole.
Image source: Accurate_Interview10, Vasily Koloda
#24
Trying to look good for men by reading women’s magazine articles! Throw those magazines away, take good care of yourself, make the best of what you’ve got and don’t be defined by someone else’s expectations of what you should be.
Image source: KatPrincess88, Charisse Kenion
#25
Recycling plastics.
Less than 10% of plastic waste is actually recycled.
Image source: vitto2point0, Julia Joppien
#26
The five day work week
Image source: yomommafool, Debagni Sarkhel
#27
Apple cables
Image source: hellofellowhumanss, Mika Baumeister
#28
In the US, doing my own taxes. The government literally has all my info and can do it for me, but their excuse is that “but Americans like doing their own taxes!”. No. I especially don’t like being forced to pay for a service like TurboTax either.
Image source: turnOn, Kelly Sikkema
#29
Essential Oils being marketed as having these major health benefits/as treatment for illnesses. The only exception being clearing your sinuses. Some essential oils actually do pretty good work in that regard (at least for me personally… mileage will vary I’m sure).
Image source: tim_to_tourach, Chelsea shapouri
#30
The entire working economy is a scam. You bust your ass for half of your waking hours, at least, then get told that your work is worthless and you don’t deserve basic needs… even though your rich owners are making millions in profit off of your “worthless” labor?
Image source: NoKenjataimu
#31
The “All natural” market/label. Means nothing.
Image source: jackHadIt
#32
Adobe’s subscription based monopoly
Image source: pregnantbaby, Szabo Viktor
#33
College… TEXTBOOKS
Image source: WebbedRose103
#34
non-GMO food
GMOs are safe, we have been unknowingly doing this for thousands of years. Now we just have a more reliable,safe and fast way to do it.
Image source: Existing_Lynx_337
#35
Adulthood because kids think it’s great but it’s not
Image source: BirdKibble
#36
Pretty much anything that says it will enlarge your penis
Image source: jobo633
#37
Herbalife
Image source: cb7rulez
#38
Getting a phone call about your cars extended warranty.
Image source: TrustedPluto104
#39
And survey says; Diamonds (but also most jewelry)
Image source: footinmymouth
#40
Eating/drinking raw eggs. The proteins found in eggs only become useful to your body after the structures are changed by applying heat aka cooking them.
There’s not only no point choking back a raw egg. You’re also absorbing less protein from it than if you were to cook it.
“Cooked eggs have a bioavailability of around 91% for protein, while protein from raw eggs only is 50% bioavailable (Evenepoel et al., 1998).”
Image source: https://www.reddit.com/user/BloodintothewildRed/
#41
Insurance, health insurance in particular. The whole concept is pay into a pool on the off chance that something happens you can get some kind of reimbursement which sounds fair on the whole, but is so often bogged down with unfair terms and conditions that many get screwed over. This on top of predatory policies and greedy salespeople means a whole lot of people get [screwed] over.
Image source: nineball22
#42
Tiktok. They now have an event where they pay you $40 if you refer a friend. It’s clearly selling your private information, but people ask their friends to be referred like crazy.
Image source: Karlos-the-Kitten
#43
Realtors, probably the most overpaid, under qualified profession. The commission based comp is crippling for some sellers, and if you try to sell on your own (FSBO), they will steer all their buyers away from you.
Image source: Dad6FMTX
#44
Having a royal family. It’s bonkers in this day and age that a country as grown up as Britain has a monarch that costs us all money, just for privilege of having her. A literal Queen, wearing a crown, who believes that she was sent by God to sit on a gold throne. And we have to sing a song asking for her longevity at football games. The royal family are a scam, cost us too much money and are currently harbouring a nonce to boot.
Image source: laura_susan
#45
Paying for college in the United States.
Image source: driving_andflying
#46
Corporate owned apartment complexes tacking on hundreds of extra dollars in monthly fees on top of rent. Mandatory cable TV packages, parking fees (on a flat surface lot, with no assigned parking), valet trash. All a scam and just a way for them to pocket incremental sales on top of rent.
Image source: letssgooooo
#47
The lottery
Image source: LucyVialli
#48
NFTs.
There will be a market for these in some form, but we are hip-deep in the rowdy, scam-filled early days.
Image source: echo6golf
#49
Chiropractors. “The only way I can help is if you come see me 3 times a week for as long as you live.”
Image source: zopea, Toa Heftiba
#50
Fifa games
Image source: Redmage53
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