30 Scams That Are So Normalized That We Don’t Realize We’re Being Tricked

Some things are so normal in our society that we don’t even think about it, just accept it the way it is. But the minute you start thinking about it, you realize how questionable it is. And that if people wouldn’t have normalized such a thing, we definitely would understand it to be a scam.

Today, let’s take a look at some money-related things that would be considered scams if society hadn’t normalized them.

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30 Scams That Are So Normalized That We Don’t Realize We’re Being Tricked Insurance. You give them money month after month, year after year, and then when it comes time where you need to use it they will try their absolute hardest to give you as little as possible

esquegee , Mikhail Nilov Report

Final score:

234points

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30 Scams That Are So Normalized That We Don’t Realize We’re Being Tricked Healthcare not including dental and vision

JeleeighBa , Anna Shvets Report

Final score:

174points

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30 Scams That Are So Normalized That We Don’t Realize We’re Being Tricked inflation since covid

kingjasko96 , Karolina Grabowska Report

Final score:

149points

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Bored Panda reached out to sociologist Deborah Lupton. Check out her blog!

We asked her what factors contribute to social acceptance of morally questionable things. She answered that it is all due to social norms and their changeability. “Behaviors once considered normal became socially repugnant and people were expected to adhere to these new norms to be considered socially acceptable. It is often the wealthy and powerful who influence others (for good or for worse).”

So, we can guess that it’s only a matter of time before we start to question certain financial and social norms of today. And then they will change into something else.

30 Scams That Are So Normalized That We Don’t Realize We’re Being Tricked Subscription services in vehicles. Pay monthly/yearly for heated seats or to unlock performance mode. I don't get how people support this business practice.

PolishSausa9e , Max Ducourneau Report

Final score:

110points

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30 Scams That Are So Normalized That We Don’t Realize We’re Being Tricked I have to pay a 3% convenience fee to pay my rent online… I literally have to pay to pay my rent, it’s disgraceful.

JiveTurkey2727 , Kenny Eliason Report

Final score:

108points

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30 Scams That Are So Normalized That We Don’t Realize We’re Being Tricked Landlords buy up property they don’t need so they can sell it back at an extreme markup as rent to people who actually do need it. With almost any other commodity it would be called scalping, and be regarded as the scam that it is, but with a commodity so material we literally call it “real estate”, we just act like this is how things are supposed to be.

Aralith1 , Scott Webb Report

Final score:

100points

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We also asked her how socially accepted morally questionable things reflect the cultural values and society itself. The sociologist replied that “What is considered socially acceptable and 'normal' in any society at any historical period is reflective of broader social issues and expectations, as well as those who are in power as leaders of moral standards at the time."

She added that in societies where religious values are no longer as strong, it usually takes over. “It means that the wealthy and those who control the reins of power in government are the moral authorities.” And well, talking about wealth really does match our topic today.

30 Scams That Are So Normalized That We Don’t Realize We’re Being Tricked Ink cartridges

NorEaster_23 , IT services EU Report

Final score:

94points

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30 Scams That Are So Normalized That We Don’t Realize We’re Being Tricked Apple.

matrimc7 , Medhat Dawoud Report

Final score:

87points

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30 Scams That Are So Normalized That We Don’t Realize We’re Being Tricked Tipping

Fluid_Door7148 , Sam Dang Truong Report

Final score:

83points

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Moving on to actual financial scams, do you know how to identify one? Well, these tips can come in handy when you encounter something you guess might be a financial scam. Watch out for:

Fake ads that claim that a celebrity recommends it to make big money.
An online contact you have never met in person talking about investing.
Ads, websites, or even emails with testimonials and over-the-top promises.
High-pressure tactics that are meant to rush you to act so you don't 'miss out'.
Being asked to promote the scheme to friends and family to earn a commission.

So, take these tips and your common sense into consideration and stay safe from financial scams!

#10

30 Scams That Are So Normalized That We Don’t Realize We’re Being Tricked Charging subscription fees to access software on hardware you already own.

"*Our customers pay for our over priced goods, but they appear to still have money. How can we make them buy the product every month without us having to pay to make or ship any new materials*!?"

Griffindance , Erik Mclean Report

Final score:

82points

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#11

30 Scams That Are So Normalized That We Don’t Realize We’re Being Tricked Baby formula. There is NO reason it should cost that much.

TheLandofPears , Lucy Wolski Report

Final score:

80points

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#12

30 Scams That Are So Normalized That We Don’t Realize We’re Being Tricked buying schoolbooks. publishers know you have literally no choice but to buy it and jack up the price in many cases. And some teachers get a cut on those sales which is insanely scummy but somehow tolerated in many schools.

I’ve had classes where you had to pay 150$ for a book we didn’t even use once during the class, but you literally couldn’t do any of the online evaluations unless you bought it. It’s just a way for some company to make an easy 500-600 dollars or more off the back of students.

NxOKAG03 , Clarissa Watson Report

Final score:

76points

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#13

30 Scams That Are So Normalized That We Don’t Realize We’re Being Tricked Organized religion

vawlk , Rodolfo Clix Report

Final score:

70points

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#14

30 Scams That Are So Normalized That We Don’t Realize We’re Being Tricked Overdraft fees. Tax on being broke.

mauore11 , Karolina Grabowska Report

Final score:

68points

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#15

30 Scams That Are So Normalized That We Don’t Realize We’re Being Tricked Campaign finances

Fair-Ad-5852 , Pixabay Report

Final score:

67points

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#16

30 Scams That Are So Normalized That We Don’t Realize We’re Being Tricked Capitalism . Working hard for peanuts so the people upstairs can get wealthy.

Artistic-Monitor4566 , Remy Gieling Report

Final score:

66points

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#17

30 Scams That Are So Normalized That We Don’t Realize We’re Being Tricked Temu, TikTok, Wish

Lyra1994 , cottonbro studio Report

Final score:

66points

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#18

30 Scams That Are So Normalized That We Don’t Realize We’re Being Tricked Paying the same price for digital games as physical.

Digital should be muuuuuch cheaper.

rickytrevorlayhey , Denise Jans Report

Final score:

64points

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#19

30 Scams That Are So Normalized That We Don’t Realize We’re Being Tricked Hospitals taking additional fees on so you have to constantly ask them to itemize it so they remove the bogus add one

Ok-Possession-1120 , Pixabay Report

Final score:

62points

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#20

30 Scams That Are So Normalized That We Don’t Realize We’re Being Tricked The whole system of Credit scores

roasttrumpet , Pixabay Report

Final score:

55points

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#21

30 Scams That Are So Normalized That We Don’t Realize We’re Being Tricked Extended warranties

jzarvey , Tima Miroshnichenko Report

Final score:

48points

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#22

30 Scams That Are So Normalized That We Don’t Realize We’re Being Tricked Every type of monthly bill going up year-on-year above inflation unless you change providers every year.

Cheeslord2 , Alexander Grey Report

Final score:

48points

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#23

30 Scams That Are So Normalized That We Don’t Realize We’re Being Tricked The lottery

Almost all other forms of gambling at least give you a reasonable chance of winning something. The lottery is straight up robbing the stupid

MrMojoFomo , Waldemar Report

Final score:

44points

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#24

30 Scams That Are So Normalized That We Don’t Realize We’re Being Tricked Political Parties.

WhyYouNoLikeMeBro , Vidar Nordli-Mathisen Report

Final score:

43points

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#25

30 Scams That Are So Normalized That We Don’t Realize We’re Being Tricked Voting. We don't pick them they pick us. They draw the lines to better the chances for they're demographic. Gerrymandering it's a thing

THEREAL242 , Arnaud Jaegers Report

Final score:

41points

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#26

30 Scams That Are So Normalized That We Don’t Realize We’re Being Tricked The supplement industry

Kolob619 , Daily Nouri Report

Final score:

37points

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#27

30 Scams That Are So Normalized That We Don’t Realize We’re Being Tricked Very rich people having a "family trust" to evade inheritance tax

roywill2 , Nataliya Vaitkevich Report

Final score:

32points

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#28

30 Scams That Are So Normalized That We Don’t Realize We’re Being Tricked Light bulbs. Apparently when first invented they lasted too long and so manufacturers had to reduce their longevity to make them commercially viable. Scam.

zzzzard8 , Burak The Weekender Report

Final score:

30points

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#29

30 Scams That Are So Normalized That We Don’t Realize We’re Being Tricked Interest rates in banking, or just banking in general. They literally use your money to lend other people money so they can charge then interest, making them money with your money.

What's worse is that in times of crisis they can just declare bankruptcy and that's it, they don't owe you anything and you're s**t outta luck, even if they lost literally all your life savings.

Also they force you to get a credit card if you want to apply for a loan, banking is just scams on top of scams.

TheatreCunt , RDNE Stock project Report

Final score:

30points

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#30

30 Scams That Are So Normalized That We Don’t Realize We’re Being Tricked >I'll start: paying for water

You're not paying for water, per se. You're paying for *treated* water. Tap water is filtered, purified, and tested. Bottled water is ... bottled. Either way, some work has been done to it, and that is the value-added portion of the water which you're paying for.

You are welcome to go down to the lake and drink out of it for free. Good luck with that, by the way.

Bizarre_Protuberance , Noah Report

Final score:

22points

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#31

30 Scams That Are So Normalized That We Don’t Realize We’re Being Tricked Pyramid schemes (you'd think by now people would easily recognize them)

There's some that do actually make you money but you'd have to have a cold heart for it.

I had these 2 high school friends who were a couple. Totally normal people. After high school we kept in touch and would get together often on weekends.

One day though they started sending us these invitations on fb or text to go to some meeting about some new energy drinks or protein idk. We wouldn't answer as we just didn't feel right about it.

On Facebook we would see they posted a lot, but I mean dozens of posts a day about joining thir team and how they would be selling a lot and the awards they were given for being top sellers etc.

Turns out that they never sold any drinks. They would just go around recruiting people to sell them while charging them to join the team because they would help them with advertising and with distribution.

They did make money apparently but over getting people to join knowing it was a bs product and it would probably not sell at all. They made money off those people joining. Not sales of the product. But they spent time and effort on that gig.

It went on for a while but like expected, they aren't doing it anymore. But we don't talk to them as much because their insisting emails and dms sort of became annoying and we started to ignore them.

Affectionate_Fly1413 , Mikhail Nilov Report

Final score:

20points

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#32

30 Scams That Are So Normalized That We Don’t Realize We’re Being Tricked Things being $19.99 instead of $20

Draw_Rude , Eduardo Soares Report

Final score:

16points

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#33

30 Scams That Are So Normalized That We Don’t Realize We’re Being Tricked Wall Street.

Miss_X2m1 , Nout Gons Report

Final score:

14points

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#34

30 Scams That Are So Normalized That We Don’t Realize We’re Being Tricked Democracy in its current form

Awengal , Robin Erino Report

Final score:

13points

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#35

Prescription medications - medicine that is literally lifesaving and required for people to live should be affordable for everyone but big pharma does not care.

Report

Final score:

13points

Mommitude Attitude

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#36

30 Scams That Are So Normalized That We Don’t Realize We’re Being Tricked Property tax when you supposedly "own" your house

I suppose the house is owned, the land definitely isn't.

bacc1010 , Evelyn Paris Report

Final score:

12points

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#37

30 Scams That Are So Normalized That We Don’t Realize We’re Being Tricked Retirement plans. Wall Street unloads all their s****y bets on pensions leaving the average American as the bag holder.

MeWantFood69 , James Hose Jr Report

Final score:

9points

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What do you think ?

Douglas Tucker 1 year ago

I think about HOAs as a good thing when they provide landscaping services for common areas or private security services. BUT, not good when you are informed that your needed handicap ramp into your home is not permitted or all your cars must be parked behind your garage doors and not in your driveway, and NO to solar panels because they don't fit well with the current HOA thoughts, and lastly, water saving hardscape front yards are not acceptable because the HOA wants large green lawns as if this is 1960.

4points

Kevin J. Henning 1 year ago

In my area business owners are charging the customer extra if they use their bank card. I guess the business is charged so they pass the fee on to the customer. We've stopped using several local businesses because of this c**p.

1point

Linnoff 1 year ago

The different card companies charge different fees but they're generally a flat 25 cents to $1 per transaction plus 1-3% of the total bill. If you go to a coffee shop and get a $3 cup, they could lose 1/3 of that in fees. Most places I've been, if they add a fee for using a card, it's only around $1 and usually only if your purchase is below a certain total. Just carry some cash and enjoy the fact that there are still local businesses, not just Walmart and Amazon.

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CT 1 year ago

Customs fees (or customs duties ? I'm not sure of the translation for "Frais de douanes")

0points

30 Scams That Are So Normalized That We Don’t Realize We’re Being Tricked

Games

Ugnė Bulotaitė

Ugnė Bulotaitė

Denis Krotovas

Denis Krotovas