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There will always be thieves who think they're smarter than everyone else and try to rob us of our money. Thanks to the internet and social media, they can even do it remotely while the whole world is locked down, going through a pandemic.
And while we try to calm ourselves down by saying that sooner or later they will get caught and punished, as one Reddit post shows, some won't. Because we're not even chasing them!
Сreated by user u/F1yff, it asked people the question: "What is a legal scam that is still happening in 2022?" and has received plenty of real-life examples that are still thriving. Here are some of them.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Churches not paying taxes. It's completely unacceptable and really disgusting. I cannot imagine tithing to a church with a pastor who has big houses and a private jet and luxury cars.
RELATED:
#2
Televangelists like Joel Osteen.
#3
Charging for parking in Hospitals and Clinics.
Peej Maybe 2 years ago
Agree if it's a private parking firm scalping people for huge amounts of cash. Don't necessarily agree if that money is being fed back into the health trust or hospital itself (though of course that shouldn't have to happen at all, nor should the vast amount of charitable monies that hospitals rely on)
#4
American restaurants forcing the burden of employee wages onto their customers.
Jaekry 2 years ago
How about the employer pays the employee? Crazy concept, but it works!!! And if that employee makes the customer extra pleased with the provided service, that tip goed to that employee! (And not the employer...) I still can't believe how weird that US system is. It almost feels like it is extortion of the employers. Or should I drop the "feels like" in the previous sentence?
#5
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"? F*ck you.
Andy Acceber 2 years ago
Let's add prison phone charges. If we're really trying to rehabilitate people so they emerge as helpful members of society, why are inmates charged up to $5.70 for a 15 minute phone call? This is the state that pays prisoners $0.13 per hour to work.
#6
Charging people money to withdraw money or because they have small (positive) balances in their bank accounts.
Tilly Jean 2 years ago
This!! Recently I have noticed a lot of bank ATMs are being replaced by non-bank ATMs which charge a fee to withdraw money. Getting to the point where I have trouble finding a local ATM that I can withdraw money from without paying money.
#7
Insider trading within Congress.
But if WE do it, we end up in prison.
#8
Having to file your own taxes then being fined if you don’t do it right.
#9
"News” which isn’t useful or objectively true, and therefore not news, but propaganda.
Jaguarundi 2 years ago
Ronald Reagan's legacy, he abolished the "Fairness Doctrine". Contrasting viewpoints on controversial subjects were no longer required by law, so, networks were given free rein to embellish the stories reported.
#10
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.
#11
Software as a service.
Once I buy a piece of software that works, it doesn't cost the company more money to make it if I use it for longer. It makes no sense to pay a monthly fee for the permission to use Adobe Photoshop, it's ridiculous.
People say "oh, but you get updates" -- if I want to get the new version of Photoshop, I can pay for a new license.
Any update that fixes bugs should come free, because actually I'm not paying for a buggy product am I?
Video games, as sh*tty as the industry is, are doing this right. You pay once, up front. Then you get patches and security updates for free. Of course there are still problems, but at least buying a video game isn't as much of a scam as subscribing to Adobe's Creative Cloud plans. Total ripoffs.
Nasren Jak 2 years ago
There are fantastic free open source alternatives for most popular Adobe softwares. I use Darktable and GIMP instead of Lightroom and Photoshop and I edit my videos on OpenShot instead of Premiere. They work great and costs 0$ but I donate a little to support those developers and designers. And if you need to recover your data from a corrupted hard drive or something check icarefree, another free software which works way better than those expensive recovery services. Long live open source!
#12
Sadly overplayed, but health insurance. Just yesterday there was a post about a guy who had medically necessary surgery and the insurance didn’t want to pay the hospital.
Babsevs 2 years ago
Minor tax in UK ensures all medical care is free at point of use ...and yes there are waiting lists...but no one is turned away. No one is penalised for being out of work or not having private insurance. Minor prescription charges in some parts of UK (free in my area Wales) only extra private charges are for opticians and dentistry for adults. You can still get plans for those too...but any medical care required from say an optician finding something requiring treatment is referred back to NHS for treatment with no charge.
#13
"Printing" fee for digital tickets.
Tenacious Squirrel 2 years ago
Any fees for digital tickets. Booking fee, printing fee, whatever.
#14
MLMs (multi-level marketing companies). 'I'm my own CEO.' No, you aren't. You literally have a company telling you what you can and can't do.
Braineating Spleen 2 years ago
And most people end up in debt because of MLMs. They're just legal pyramid schemes.
#16
Cable company making you "rent" a router for 10$ a month.
Winter Eleven 2 years ago
I hate the fact i pay subscription to all the channels. Out of 200 i watch like 20 tops. Vut there's no profit if i only subscribe to 20 favourite ones
#19
Insane rent prices for houses even squatters wouldn’t stay at.
WilvanderHeijden 2 years ago
That's why The Netherlands has a system where every defect in your rented house means that you pay less rent. At a certain number of defects the house is declared uninhabitable. Landlords hate the system because it means that people can pay less than half of their rent without risking being evicted. The only thing landlords can do to prevent it from happening is keeping the houses up to standard.
#21
Super-high interest, predatory rent-to-own furniture rental/loan things — where you end up paying, like, $3,000 in the end for a $500 laptop.
#22
Ticket master. WTF is a handling fee when I am the one handling my own phone?
Miss Frankfurter 2 years ago
Companies with bots who buy up blocks of tickets, usually really good ones, and if you wanted a seat in that section you have to pay a fortune to some scam company to get it. Legalized scalping.
#23
Charging patients in hospitals for TV service. Their bills are high enough, but you want to add $8/day to not have to sit in silence for 23 hours a day?
Shazz Winchester 2 years ago
WHAAAAT, where does this happen? I didn't even know this was a thing!
#24
Medication Costs
my dog had hookworm and so my doctor recommended i get treated as well just to be safe - pharmacy called me warning that it would cost me $2,995... asked my doctor if there was an alternative; was able to get an equally effective treatment for $45
Karen White 2 years ago
Oh my gosh in Australia that treatment would cost $4.50 from a pharmacy.
#25
The troubled teen industry. It doesn't work. It traumatizes children. It's legal kidnapping.
I hope more attention comes to it and something happens. They're a business and the goal is to make money, not help troubled teenagers. Ffs, half the time the kids aren't even troubled!
E.T.A.: The "Troubled teen industry" refers to for-profit organizations aimed at steering rebellious and at-risk youth onto a better path through reform camps. But their methods are "tough love", negative/positive punishments and physical labor.
Because it's a business meant to make money, a lot of corner-cutting happens. They hire young and untrained staff for less pay rather than therapists and certified nurses & teachers. It's also not regulated at all so they can effectively do whatever they want with little recourse.
They use "scared straight" tactics and beat kids into obedience. They claim the best way to send a kid there is by surprise "so they don't try and run beforehand" - AKA burst into their room at 2AM and drag them into a van with very few belongings.
Look up "Elan School" for a notorious one.
Paris Hilton was kidnapped at 2AM and sent to Provo Canyon when she was 16. Look at how well that worked.
Go through this thread for some horror stories.
#26
Why insurance goes up after an incident.
The fact that you give regular monthly installments is the intent that they will save you the hassle in case of a problem.
Jaguarundi 2 years ago
My homeowners insurance dropped me after I filed my first claim in 16 years. It was a minor claim as well.
#28
Modern art collecting as a easy route to evade taxes. Wealthy person buys painting of black line for $20k, have art appraiser friend appraise for $1.2mm, donate painting to museum or non-profit, write off over a million in losses, zero taxes, celebrate black line like it’s an amazing and deeply moving piece.
Mewton’s Third Paw 2 years ago
Okay well maybe this wouldn’t be done if the tax rate wasn’t insane. Killing your self working half the year for people who hate you and other people who hate your home country, sometimes a mix of both. It’s a fûcking scam, so we scam back. Plus I like my painting of a black line, and it’s worth the value people will pay for it. Sorry you can’t spend my money for me.
#29
That news in America is entertainment. Can get away with saying pretty much anything and still call it “news”.
Tenacious Squirrel 2 years ago (edited)
The news in Australia is pretty bad too. There’s even advertisements presented within informational programs that appear as if a factual piece. Shouldn’t be allowed. I don’t even read/watch it now and rely on more objective sources from overseas. There may be some in Australia but I’ve yet to find them.
#30
College textbooks. "We updated a figure in chapter 8 and changed the page numbers for three Third Edition. It costs $180."
Péter Rózsahegyi 2 years ago
All of them should be continously updated and electronic (ie. pdf files).
#31
if debt collectors can trick a grieving person into uttering words that imply you take responsibility for your dead relatives' debts, that can be treated as a binding oral contract and allow them to collect from you
#32
Usa tax paying system.
Paraphrasing: We know how much you owe, but we want you to calculate it and you have to get it correct under pain of prison or paying too much. Oh and the whole process is more complicated than it needs to be because of private interests.
#33
that cookies still exists on websites. sometimes i don’t have an option but just to give them goddamn cookies! cancel cookies!
Peej Maybe 2 years ago
Also, anyone who sticks your name on a mailing list and doesn't include an 'unsubscribe' link in any mails back. That's actually illegal, right?
#34
Extended warranties, so many promises made, but when time comes for a claim, almost all are denied.
Robert T 2 years ago
Well the prices for them are getting ridiculous. If you get all labour and parts paid, or a replacement product, then that was good. But a quick bit of maths tells you that you will have paid for a new product usually within 4 to 5 years, and a proportion of that will already have a manufacturers warranty on it. The sensible thing to do is to put the money you would spend on an extended warranty into a bank account each month, and use the money to pay for a repair or buy a new one when it eventually packs up.
#35
Paying convenience charges when booking tickets online.
DennyS (denzoren) 2 years ago
I agree. I'd think it'd be cheaper because I'm doing it myself online.
#37
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.
#38
My kid's school charges a $3 "internet fee" if you want to refill their cafeteria cards via the website. If you do it in person there's no fee.
If they feel they have to charge a fee shouldn't it be the other way around since if you use their website you aren't taking up anyone's time?
#40
Funeral homes. Or to specify for the dunces among us, unethical funeral homes chasing profit at the expense of bereaved people...
The amount of Leeching done to grieving people just boils my blood.
Jaguarundi 2 years ago
Weddings and funerals are cash cows since they're emotional purchases, not necessities.
#41
University fees. I have to not only pay for my classes and admin fees, I have to pay for two separate student Union fees, a technology fee, an online processing fee, and a "recreation and athletic" fee, despite the Fieldhouse being entirely closed due to covid.
Luther von Wolfen 2 years ago
I'm working on my MA. I'm 52. I have every intention of paying the absolute minimum on my loans and if I die without paying it off, too bad.
#42
Taxes on taxes
#43
Charging huge fees for parking permits without spending any of that money on the maintenance of those parking spots.
#44
Working for the current minimum wage. I just want it to have kept up with inflation. That is probably around 22.5/hr iirc. The hardest jobs I’ve ever had was my lowest paying job.
Healthcare in the USA. When you work at a hospital and see the f*ckery that happens you get even more mad.
Student debt in its current state. I know physicians who can’t pay those loans off because the interest is just too high. They’ve been paying for 10 years and still have their original principal loan amount.
Those are just three things that make me the most mad right now.
DoyleAlan 2 years ago
I live in Canada and we would have to make around $24 per hour, 40 hours per week, to just live with no extras. That would barely cover rent, transportation, insurance and food/basic necessities. The minimum wage is $15.00. Even if you did make $24 per hour you're just one emergency away from disaster.
#45
Insurance companies stating they'll cover 100% of the cost. But when you get the bill, it's 200% and you gotta cover the difference. Who the hell reads 100% as literally anything other than fully covered?
What do you think ?
NsG 2 years ago
Lots of duplicates in this list. And of the original entries, I spotted a few that were universal, but the vast majority could be shifted to a list of "things the rest of the world can't believe the US still has to put up with in 2022". So many are not part of the wider experience for a lot of people.
NsG 2 years ago
Lots of duplicates in this list. And of the original entries, I spotted a few that were universal, but the vast majority could be shifted to a list of "things the rest of the world can't believe the US still has to put up with in 2022". So many are not part of the wider experience for a lot of people.
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