Normalized Scams We've All Accepted Without Realizing
So, when Reddit user u/No-Appeal-6311 asked the question, "What's a scam that's so normalized that we don't realize it's a scam anymore?" in r/AskReddit, I knew it would be full of some unbelievable sneaky scams:
"Buying tickets online and getting hit with a 'convenience fee'… like, excuse me, I did everything myself. I clicked the buttons. I picked my seat. I printed the ticket. What part of the experience was convenient for you?"
"Paying for streaming services/subscriptions and still being bombarded with adverts."
"Printer ink. You can basically buy a whole new printer for less than a set of ink cartridges, and the printers often come with ink. Ink is one of the most expensive liquids on Earth by volume, and manufacturers lock you into their brand with chips or 'smart' cartridges that magically stop working even when there's ink left. It's a subscription scam disguised as office equipment."
"College tuition and textbook prices."
"The tipping culture in the US and how people there need them to make up even a basic wage. Workers should be paid a livable wage to begin with, and tips as a bonus, not a necessity."
"Data limits. There is nothing that requires anyone to have data limits. It's just an arbitrary system designed to get more money out of you."
"Baby gear. I had my first baby in the early 2000s and my last baby in the early 2020s. You don't need a wipe warmer. Or a baby food maker. Or a crazy expensive stroller. Or the owlet. Or a Velcro swaddler. Or video baby monitors. Or a Bumbo. It's ridiculous and wasteful."
"ORGANIZED religion. Religion is fine... But when it's organized and starts charging you money to get into heaven. SCAM!"
"Social media is basically malware at this point, yet we still call it social media. Is it even social anymore, or is literally all of it selling you something? Buy this! Do that! Believe this! More people than ever are online, yet real human interactions are hard to find. I don't think I'm alone in recognizing the harm of social media. But I do think the insidious nature of how they're operated has become so normalized that people have stopped being alarmed."
"Literally pyramid schemes, like, why are people I know texting me asking me to join their stupid group or click a link for five dollars?"
"Gym memberships requiring access to your banking info, then making it nearly impossible to cancel. I refuse to give gyms like that my business and stick to municipal pool facilities like YMCAs that will let you pay per visit or use a punch card."
"Capitalism. Seriously, though, as a model, it makes sense for economics, but we attached social and cultural aspects to it as well. Nowadays, it is all about finding ways to extract more and more from the 99% to feed the insatiable greed of the 1%."
"Paying a monthly premium for health insurance, only to have to 'meet a deductible' before they can actually cover anything. And they don't actually cover everything."
"Microtransactions in games. People used to be outraged over it, and now I constantly see, 'well they have to make money somehow.'"
"The fact that you can't own anything anymore. 20 years ago you could buy Adobe, Word, etc., and it was yours to keep; now everything is on subscription. You rent Word for five years, and now it's $500. Everything is designed for rent now and not ownership, from home prices being out of reach to these basic software programs."
And finally, here's one that I'm sure affects us all to some degree:
"One example that sounds absolutely ridiculous when you lay it out like this: You work X number of hours a week, but your hard-earned wages are taxed. Anything you buy with that taxed income is also taxed. You pay a tax on the fuel you put in your taxed car, paid for by taxed money, with tax on the price. You pay taxes on travel to take a taxed holiday. While some taxes do pay for the comfortable and civilized services. There is still an awful lot of your income directly and indirectly taxed."
Do you have your own thoughts on normalized scams and want to share the ones you've found in your everyday life? Let it all out in the comments.
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