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We have laws for a reason. They're there to deter people from stealing, committing fraud, and other crimes. But even the legal system can't always be perfect. People find ways to trick the system and benefit in some way, whether it's through insurance, unlimited discounts, or just free pizzas for a year.
One netizen was curious to know whether people had stories about similar things. So they asked: "What's the greatest legal loophole you've found in life?" People flocked to share their experiences of finding real-life cheat codes. Some of them were just small everyday wins, while others had pretty significant changes in their lives. Check them all out below, and don't forget to upvote your favorites!
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#1
My little brother got a job at Harvard. He didn’t have a college degree. He was allowed to take one class a semester (or something like that). It took him ten years, but he got a degree from Harvard in archeology.
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#2
That if you’re rich enough, most laws that are punished by fines simply mean those things are legal for a price.
#3
They say most people eat 8 spiders in their lifetime, but really you can eat as many as you want. Treat yourself!
It may seem that the law is the law, and that's that. There's no going around it, right? Well, according to legal professionals, sometimes, things can slip through the cracks. Laws may not be well thought-out, or they might be phrased ambiguously. Then loopholes are bound to appear.
There are some loopholes in U.S. laws that might seem untrue but are definitely legit. For example, in Wisconsin, underage (under 21) people can drink alcoholic beverages. The condition is that they have to be with their parents, legal guardians, or spouses who are of legal age. Some establishments might prohibit this, as the law states that this applies only "at the discretion of the licensee."
#4
While in college, I won a “free pizza for a year” contest from Papa John’s on a radio station. It was really one pizza per month for 12 total. I called in and told the guy I had the little card they gave me and he said no problem and sent the delivery guy over who confirmed I had the card and gave me my pizza. Next month I did the same. Then it dawned on me… they’re not taking my card or marking it in any way so I called a different Papa John’s and told them my story and sure enough it worked and they didn’t do anything with my card either. I started working 4 different PJ’s near me to get one pizza per week every month without arousing suspicion. With leftovers, I could stretch it to two or three days easily. I did this for almost two years before I was sick of PJ’s pizza and gave my card to my roommate as I finished college and moved out. For a broke a*s college kid, this saved me. But to this day, I can’t eat PJ’s.
#5
I missed out, but I loved the gold dollar fiasco. In 2008 the US mint produced more than a billion new gold dollar coins. Nobody wanted them. So they figured maybe if they offered free shipping then people would order some online. Some clever folks ordered bookooos of them using credit cards that gave rewards, frequent flyer miles, etc. When the coins were delivered they just deposited them into their bank accounts, paid off the credit card bill, and went to Hawaii with their free frequent flyer miles.
#6
A co-worker had a car where it would come with a 30 day free trial of Sirius XM. He never signed up, but after getting a new battery installed he found that the trial renewed itself. Eventually he figured out that all he needed to do for free Sirius XM was to disconnect the battery every 30 days and the trial would automatically reset.
Craig Reynolds 9 months ago
Actually, all he had to do was pull the fuse for the entertainment system, wait for a minute for the capacitors to discharge, and then plug it back in.
There is a loophole to avoid repossession if you miss a few car loan payments. The Repo Man can only take your car if you parked it at your address. If you park the car, say, in the neighbor's driveway, they might not be able to repossess it. However, there is a small hiccup with this loophole. License plate numbers might betray which car is yours, so the Repo Man can still repossess it based on them.
You like getting naked and think walking around in your birthday suit in public places is your God-given right? If you live in North Carolina or Kansas, you might be able to do just that.
While public nudity is illegal in North Carolina, people can be nude on their own property. So, standing in your doorway with no clothes on is technically legal. In Kansas, however, you can walk around naked as long as there are no obvious signs of arousal or sexual behavior. So, you can strut your stuff down the street with no problem!
#7
You know, you can just order a happy meal for yourself as an adult. No one actually checks.
#8
GameStop ran an promotion where they bought used games for 50 euros. Specific games tho. Anyway I ran to nearby outlet stores bought the stock for 20-30euros per game and threw them to GameStop and got cash. I got about 900 euros out of that before they fixed it.
Fabian Bernard 9 months ago
A few years ago, there was that kind of loop with old diesel cars in France. If you bought a new car, state will take back your old diesel car for 3000 to 5000€ to help you purchasing a new one, whatever the condition of the old car. So, people bought 500€ derelict diesel cars, while others sold crapped diesel cars at higher prices than their real value,and got a big discount on a new one. Cost arm and legs to taxpayers while helping private manufacturers to raise their sale without any counterpart of any terms....
#9
It used to be cheaper for me to take a class at a nearby university and get student health insurance that way than it was to just buy health insurance. If you get really lucky, you can find a professor who’ll let you do a one-hour independent study, and it’s even cheaper, and if they’re cool with your reasons, you won’t even have to work that hard. Haven’t checked out the prices or done a comparison lately, but it’s always an option, as long as you don’t pick an online class that doesn’t qualify for health insurance.
MR 9 months ago
If you don't really care about the class itself nor are you seeking a degree, does it really matter it you show? Fun fact though. I was a cinema major and they had single credit classes that lasted one day, several hours, in which you basically just watched several films of a genre on a weekend. No course work. No essays. No tests. Just show up. Watch some movies. Go home.
Do you know about the First Church of Cannabis? It's a legit church founded in 2015 by Bill Levin in Indiana. Levin says that the church was a direct response to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).
At first glance, the law allows Hoosiers to exercise their religious freedom. But upon closer inspection, it also might allow businesses and individuals to discriminate against homosexual individuals based on their religious opposition to homosexuality.
#10
My dad got a parking ticket, on the ticket it said the car was black. My dad's car was dark green. He contested and won. This was before they took photos and I guess they just didn't press it, but still, no charge!
Manana Man 9 months ago
I had a cop in Houston give me a ticket that I believed was very unfair. I took pictures of the road, measured the distance to where the cop was, etc. I showed up in court with all my evidence in hand and sat waiting my turn. They took one look at me and apparently thought 'we don't want to deal with all this.' They dismissed it without me saying a word.
#11
Local online retail store (think H&M) ran a competition to win a 150 bucks off coupon. I naturally entered with my account, my sister and my moms. All three of us won and the coupon code sent to all of us was the exact same. So I figured if I created a different email every time, I'd continue using it. Which I did, for the whole year until the expiration date, and by that time I had spent over 5000 bucks without them noticing.
#12
I once got a speeding ticket for driving 52 in a 35 (mph / USA). I was driving on a stretch of road that was only about a mile long (intersections at both ends) and there were no speed limit signs on the road. All adjacent roads had a posted speed limit of 35, so one would assume that the speed limit on the road I was stopped on should be 35. BUT state law dictates that the default speed limit on county roads when not otherwise posted is 50 mph. I took pictures of the road at several places to show that there were no posted speed limit signs, and brought those pictures to court when I challenged the ticket and the judge dropped the ticket.
This isn't truly great in the grand scheme of things, but for a moment I felt like I had just won the greatest legal case in history.
AndThenICommented 9 months ago
On the other hand, in South Perth the police like to hand out speeding tickets on the on ramp of the Kwinana…the on ramp speed is 60kms and short…the Kwinana freeway is 100 kms …. Always seemed like a naughty speed trap ‘loophole’ to me
The congregation of the First Church of Cannabis, who call themselves Cannaterians, wanted to use cannabis during their service, but the courts dismissed their case. While they did try to find a loophole for smoking weed in a church during service, the court ruled that not allowing them to do so did not infringe on their religious freedom.
#13
Pay off a insurance company 5 dollars a week untill it took so l long they settled the debt 2k less than what I owed. They couldn't take me to court as long as I paid something.
#14
I got a refund on a non-refundable flight with Delta. Normally if you cancel a non-refundable flight, they will only give you the value back as a voucher to use on another flight.
I booked a non-refundable flight that I didn't need to take then cancelled it and got the voucher for the amount for that flight. I used that voucher and booked a refundable flight then cancelled it. It gave me the option to refund it back to my credit card and it let me do it so I got my money back instead of it being applied as a voucher again.
Blue Bunny of Happiness 9 months ago
Often works with hotels if you have to cancel at very short notice, move the booking to another night some weeks ahead, instead and then cancel it within the free cancellation window. Thanks receptionist in Manchester when I needed to cancel a booking as the singer of the concert I was going to broke her foot, then cancelled the gig!
#15
Oregon doesnt care about misdemeanors from other states
I had arizona ruin years of my life for small weed charges
Oregon cops run my name, hear i have a warrant, and then we have a laugh and then we split ways.
#16
Air BnB related:
If someone messages you about having more guests over than what you specified on the booking and claim they have you on camera, check to see if they disclose cameras on the property. If not, you do not have to pay for the nights you stayed.
#17
Cruiseship casino: I was gifted 200$ in credit to pay for ship extras/activities when I ordered my cruise package.
When I got to the casino I realized you could load that credit into the slot machines.
After one round of testing with depositing a small amount and immediately cashing it out worked, I went back and came out of the casino with 2 crisp 100$ bills never placing a bet.
#18
Old LL tried charging me a cleaning fee when i moved out for some very minor things, like hair on the window ledge? I had spent the whole weekend before i moved out cleaning the place so i know it wasnt in bad shape at all. I’m guessing they were going to have cleaners come anyway and wanted to find any reason to charge me.
Long story short, I fought it and won because local law said they had to send a claim via certified mail within 30 days, and all our communication was done via text or email.
#19
That you can get a divorce by default.
I legit cried after 2 years of struggling to get the papers signed, a divorce that he asked for too!
#20
I tried and failed to get tickets for the London Olympics via the main ticket application site. A small number of tickets are also sold by national associations and so I went through every single European countries' Olympic websites. Every one was in high demand or required being a resident except one. On the Icelandic website, the English version mentioned nothing but if you went to the Icelandic language version, then you could buy tickets for almost any event.
So I immediately bought the cheapest tickets for the 100m athletics final, the tennis finals, and the swimming finals.
You stole that from Robocop 9 months ago
I think I bought mine from a Swedish website. Plus I used to work in Canary Wharf so used to pick up return tickets from Excel (they released new batches daily during the games).
#21
To help build your kid's credit, make them an authorized user on your cards. Don't actually let them use it but your use and payment on your card seems to transfer to the kid. Step-son had a 730 credit score at 21 without ever taking out any cards/loans himself.
Another credit tip...if you file bankruptcy and need to build credit AND have some cash, take out a secured loan with a bank/credit union. You have to front the money in a savings account and make payments but there is no reason to get turned down and it rapidly builds your credit back.
Tobias Reaper 9 months ago
if you were made bankrupt there is no way you would ever get approved for a loan from any bank
#22
“I know a guy” who worked at Outback Steakhouse as a server/bartender in college. Before his shift, he would go to giant eagle (grocery store that also has a gas station) and he would buy a bunch of Outback Steakhouse gift cards with his own money. When he did this, he would earn a bunch of discounts on fuel. He would keep the gift cards in his pocket during his shift. If a customer came in and paid for a meal with cash, he would put the cash in his pocket, then use one of the gift cards to close out the check. The customer paid cash… their bill was paid. Outback got the check paid for, just by gift card instead of cash. And that handsome young server/bartender got a free tank of gas about once a month.
#23
Dismounting my biscycle near a zebra crossing turns me into a pedestrian who suddenly has the right of way, because I'm at a zebra crossing. This superpower will stop a Dodge friggin RAM! (btw I'm Dutch).
#24
I went to Hawaii all expenses paid for a job interview that I was not qualified for. 3 nights at a decent hotel and free airfare.
#25
In college, I lived with my gf. We had renters insurance that I managed.
I left for 6 months to go to grad school in a different state, but only took a portion of my things.
She moved into a different place with a friend of hers. They decided that her friend would keep her rental insurance because it was cheaper.
They had a pipe burst while they were out of town for a few weeks and lost everything.
Turns out, her friends policy was cheaper because it was capped at 10k.
I'm lazy. I never called my insurance company to cancel my policy.
Mid way through their flight over the money, I called my company and said hey, I moved but didn't tell you, am I still covered? They were like 'sure, we insure your stuff, not the building '.
The claim ended up being close to 50k and was a nice way of replacing all my old c**p from college before starting real life.
Also, for the same claim, the adjuster got so tired of reviewing receipts they just paid the max and let it go.
The Starsong Princess 9 months ago
Huh? The root cause was structural so the landlord’s insurance should cover it.
#26
I had Domino's pizza app and they had a short lived code for a week mid pandemic for 50% off. They pulled the coupon but I saved the code. I manually input it every time I ordered. It worked for a year and a half and I saved a bloody fortune on pizza. It did sting alot afterwards having to look at regular price for a pizza. I did Friday pizza night every week for the family so it added up quickly.
James Misson 9 months ago
In the UK it's impossible to buy a pizza from Dominos at full price. Every day there's some kind of offer
#27
Obscure high end and totally overpriced food onlineshop had a rating feature that gave you reward points for the store.
Don´t remember how many points per review and they only accepted about 1 in 3 reviews that I wrote, but I was in school and had time.
Got about 200-250€ in overpriced food out of it, but hey it was free (since my time wasn´t valuable back then, or at least i thought so)
I was scared about the legality so i did not exploit it, by using multiple accounts.
I stopped after some months when they dropped the rewards feature.
Looking back, I am still amazed that nobody ever noticed that one person wrote about a 1000 reviews on expensive food items, but never bought anything (apart from the 3 or 4 orders I did, when I reached about 70€ in bonus points).
#28
At one point, there was a statute in Virginia that essentially said if there was no one manning the booth to get on the toll road, you were not responsible for a fine if you ran it (because otherwise you had to have exact change). But in my area, they ended up completely unmanned after a certain hour, so I had a letter I provided my friends as a template so that they could completely avoid this hefty fine. Worked for all of us.
Steve Hall 9 months ago
I have never understood why people tollerate this toll road BS. We pay taxes that build the roads. The cost of collecting tolls must outweigh the income.
#30
In college, I found out that placing a dime in the dorm basement vending machine and pressing the coin return immediately returned a quarter. Paid for a lot of laundry with that hack.
What do you think ?
Stew 9 months ago
I used to work for a company that had you clock in and out with a time card and would always round you up or down to the nearest 15 minutes. So if you clocked in at 7:52 you would get logged in at 7:45, whereas if you clocked at 7:53 you would get logged in at 8:00. I soon realized that if I timed it perfectly, I could get credit for 42 minutes of overtime a day that I technically didn't work, which adds up to a pretty penny over time. Never got caught, but did eventually get told to stop working "so much" overtime.
Narcissistic_Alcoholic 8 months ago
Vitamin water once ran a coupon for $1 off/bottle. Nothing saying it couldn't be combined or stacked. With a little PS finesse, some balls, and apathetic cashiers, we were able to stock up on cases of the things - think 50+. (Even had a cashier once give change for buying the store's entire lot.) Yeah, underhanded/illegal/immoral, whatever; multimillion-dollar company or us being able to get buy on what meager income we had at the time.
Stew 9 months ago
I used to work for a company that had you clock in and out with a time card and would always round you up or down to the nearest 15 minutes. So if you clocked in at 7:52 you would get logged in at 7:45, whereas if you clocked at 7:53 you would get logged in at 8:00. I soon realized that if I timed it perfectly, I could get credit for 42 minutes of overtime a day that I technically didn't work, which adds up to a pretty penny over time. Never got caught, but did eventually get told to stop working "so much" overtime.
Narcissistic_Alcoholic 8 months ago
Vitamin water once ran a coupon for $1 off/bottle. Nothing saying it couldn't be combined or stacked. With a little PS finesse, some balls, and apathetic cashiers, we were able to stock up on cases of the things - think 50+. (Even had a cashier once give change for buying the store's entire lot.) Yeah, underhanded/illegal/immoral, whatever; multimillion-dollar company or us being able to get buy on what meager income we had at the time.
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