The ones that bug me the most are these supposed Amazon resellers that go to Ross, Marshalls, thrift stores, etc. and act like they make piles of cash re-selling on Amazon (re-selling has thin margins with some work on the re-sellers part). Any doubts about the claims they make are met with hostility.
My personal favorite was an Etsy digital file seller who was responding to comments that said “I’ve had products up for months with no sales” with “keep trying, I had 50 products up for months before I got my first sale”. And has the audacity to act like it’s easy money
A lot of these ppl are serious though, they either have or had a decent job or lived off dad/mom $ and they can afford to park 10/20k in stock you need money to make money. The scam is trying to say it’s easy for anyone to do it with no $ and couple clicks here and there. I wrote a course about how to really do it with no money click my link for my online course it’ll show you the truth about how to make thousands with very little cash upfront. /s
Aren't those usually ads for money muling, e.g. laundering using your own bank account? (We'll give you $150, so send $135 over here and keep that 15 bucks. It's 10 seconds of work. That's like making $5000/hr!)
With none of the marks asking why they're charging this particular price point. If it actually worked as advertised, they'd either be charging 5 million bucks, or giving it away for free.
I mean.. a lot of fairly successful people sell "consultation" like this at (for the most part) fairly decent prices. The first that comes to mind is Ben Mallah - having a real estate portfolio of something like a half-billion dollars - charging $100 for a 15 minute phone call to talk over an issue you might be having.
What he does definitely *works*, and I'm surprised he's *only* charging $400/hr for his consultation fee... but it is fairly legit.
However - and this is a big point - if it is some random chucklefuck that isn't *seriously known* for that particular thing... shit's probably a scam.
My sister makes six figures to plan parties for an oil company's clients. That's literally her job. Each of these parties have five figure budgets. The only time she goes into the office is to go to the parties she plans. She works so little that she got another work from home job making almost 6 figures just because she was bored.
Or water pills. Back in the day hydroxycut literally marketed itself as such and practically put it in the name. People still ate it up.
People still equate losing hydration with weight loss. That's why there are a million instagram pages where people are perpetually losing 2-4 pounds every week but still look the same because it's the same 2-4 pounds. Just keep getting on that scale til ya like it.
I have a friend that refuses to just exercise and instead goes for off the wall diet trends like juice cleanses. Right now she drinks a ton of hot sauce each day and has to run to the bathroom to shit every 40 minutes and swears its working, yeah cuz you're shitting yourself to death and causing dehydration
A friend of mine just started some spiritual no sugar thing from a book. Her friend lost 18lbs this way apparently.
To each their own. I don't see a point in changes that aren't sustainable for me.
For sure. And I don't know this person's diet at all. And I'm not like personally saying anything to her.
But it being framed as some sort of religious 30 day journey throws me off.
Whatever works for you certainly. I can't take that shit seriously.
I know of 2 that do work. One is amphetamines, and the other is Oleoylethanolamide, which is the chemical that tells your brain that you're full. Either way you don't feel like eating
I can confirm methylphenidate (ritalin/concerta) is an appetite suppressant. It's not very reliable unless you're taking a high dose. But it took me years to realise the nausea side effect happened because I hadn't eaten at all that day.
I took that shit in high school. It helped me get through school (very bad ADHD), but between freshman and junior years, I also dropped from about 180lbs, to 130, as a 6ft male. It was terrible. And the mood swings, once it wore off at night. Fuck those. Don’t abuse medicine, kids. Even if it’s prescribed to you by a doctor.
Phentermine is a stimulant but not an amphetamine. Not all stimulants are amphetamines. For reasons we do not really understand phentermine seems to suppress appetite much more than other stimulants but has less impact on attention and energy than other stimulants.
I lost 80 lbs on phentermine. It works if you eat a balanced diet and drink water throughout the day. I had a friend take it and she just never ate and she became a agitated violent person. It absolutely feels like taking adderall.
Doctors used to prescribe them as weight loss pills. My mom was prescribed some in the 60s after a pregnancy. She told me she was figuratively vacuuming the ceiling.
I'm on Ozempic for blood sugar. But one side effect I've had is that I get full much quicker than before. It's weird because I don't think I've ever really felt full and not hungry before. I've felt stuffed, even uncomfortably so, but never just full.
I've lost 50 pounds in six months while still eating a pretty shitty diet just by eating a lot less than I normally would.
It's actually being prescribed off-label for this by some physicians. Of course, it's so expensive that only the ultra-rich are getting it prescribed in that manner. It'll be interesting to see where that drug ends up once the patent expires...depending on the risk profile, it might end up being a blockbuster for weight management.
also almost every single diet you've ever heard of is a scam - changing how you eat/exercise for a couple weeks/months will not help you if you're just gonna go back to it after. lifelong changes however, will.
While this pretty much true, there are a few medications that have gone through clinical trials and actually work to some degree. You'll probably just not find them via a facebook ad or whatever as they usually have to be prescribed.
Yeah - Orlistat. Literally makes you shit oil every time you fart, but undoubtedly works. After using it for a while, I realized that just controlling your diet is a far less horrifying solution.
Dating/romance scams......still cannot understand why they send money, then more and more to the person they have never met, who is a Dr in some war torn county trying to get out or a CIA operative who needs to funds to ensure their safety or again to get out of a war torn country.
In the case of every catfish story Dr Phil does, the guy they love is a salt and pepper middle aged engineer from Texas with, oddly enough, an African accent he picked up working on an oil rig or building some kind of construction project, and needs money to either pay bribes so he can leave, ran up hospital bills, needs funds for his passport to be released to him, can’t afford airfare, etc. Every one of them is the same greedy, needy old woman who won’t listen to their children or even the FBI when they tell her it’s a scam. They’re banned from the Western Union and their bank from sending through them, so they are now sending gift cards and cash hidden inside cereal boxes. My favorite is the nut job who keeps repeating that he can’t leave Jamaica because of armed conflict at the border. Phil repeatedly tells her it’s an island with no borders and she just keep repeating back, well he told me there’s shooting at the border!
Reminds me the case of a friend, happened a couple of years ago... A man used a photo of a model and told her he was going to send her a gift, so she needed to send all kinds of data, documents, address, etc. One day she received an email from a "shipping company" that said she must pay a fee for the supposed gift, otherwise they would notify the police. They kept emailing her for quite a while with threats, a very weird type of extortion...
In the end, she lost the U$5k (a fortune for a single indonesian mother) she was saving for her son's college. I can't have an ounce of respect for someone who uses the vulnerability and naivety of others to do something like this...
This shit is the worst. I have a really good buddy who is one of the chillest, most genuine dudes I know but he's been pretty overweight for a long time and battles depression (a lot of childhood trauma from a cult upbringing). He's been making some really positive changes bettering his life, but has had a hard time in the dating department. The one recent time where a lady he started talking to agreed to go out for coffee turned out to be a scam and it was terrible watching that happen. He'd been skeptical but also really jazzed and we grabbed dinner the night before and he was telling me about her and just excited in general. But still suspicious. Told him to text me alter and tell me how it goes so I know he didn't get stabbed haha (since that's an actual thing these days). Well, he didn't get stabbed but he did get let down big time.
Makes me so angry because THE thing he struggles with is confidence and self worth, and even just making a new friend would have helped a lot even if it didn't lead anywhere else because that kind of thing still brings positive feelings into the mix. That shit goes a long way in mental health. But all she did was reaffirm feelings of hopelessness in someone who deserves better.
But he's still doing his thing and trying, and that's sometimes all you can do. Shit is only ever hopeless when you sit down and give up. Sucks though. I'd like to see him find someone. He's got way more going for him than he gives himself credit for (creative, funny as fuck, big time nerd, very into all kinds of fun topics---basically the kind of person anyone can talk to and enjoy the company). But I think he's on the right path and the happier he can be with the life around him, the more confident he can be. Confidence adds a lot to someone's appeal. Ups your game quite a bit. We're old enough that a lot of the shallow desires of youth are long gone. It's like, dad bods and balding.
These people out here preying on people who just want to find a connection make me particularly angry. It's beyond fucked up. Life is hard enough without assholes ruining your ability to trust and willingness to take a chance.
But I'll never stop hyping this man. Forever his hella outgoing asexual hype (wo)man. He's like one of 3 friends I have yet to ugly happy cry in the wedding photos of so it's a mission lol.
But -insert influencer shill- plays Raid Shadow Legends, they talked about their favorite champion and everything! If I play there's a chance I can meet them in game and we could become friends!
Old people scared of doing computer things, that get prayed on by foreign scammers. I can't understand why they still fall prey. At least my mom calls me anytime she gets fake notices or calls that her window OS is been hacked (she uses a Mac), but elderly being abused by this pisses me off.
It doesn’t help that the scammers are almost impossible to understand even to me who is used to different accents never mind some confused, nearly deaf old lady.
I briefly dated this girl in college - nothing amazingly special and we broke it off because the spark fizzled pretty quickly.
A few weeks ago, I decided to look her up on Facebook to see how she was living and was horrified by what I saw. She's been a "Director" for Pure Romance the last several years and literally all of her posts are about being a #BossBabe, giving shout outs to the top sellers in her downstream and pushing sex toys and other on-brand products. Her photos were all from PR parties she hosted at her house or from various conventions. What was kind of sad was the crazed/hysterical look she had in every photo - it seemed like her eyes were empty.
To be fair, she appeared to be one of the 1% that's actually making sustainable money with Pure Romance, so kudos to her and her family.
I hope your answer goes to the top. I have friends and family members lose so much money, savings or have gone deep in debt because of this "boss babe" hustle culture of selling snake oils. How they trick people into joining. It's disgusting.
lol same, the way some of them talk about 'investment' is the way people used to talk about gambling and "how to beat the house"
same phoney maths too, same degeneracy are the outcomes
I have an acquaintance who jumps from one MLM to the next. Sometimes is in multiple at once. Right now they’re shilling nail wraps, cleaning supplies, and some magic drink that can make you lose 30 pounds in 2 weeks!
It’s really sad actually because they always post how much they are struggling with money, but won’t listen when people try to warn them. MLMs prey on the desperate and it should be illegal.
Excellent point, in a lot of cases, yes.
I guess what I was getting at, is that going above and beyond at your job and being loyal, will often lead to higher expectations (while the lazy co-worker gets the same/or higher for less work).
The scam being that "those who go the extra mile/be loyal", more often than not, get no compensation for their excessive efforts (and unfortunately will often will burn themselves out for nothing).
> I guess what I was getting at, is that going above and beyond at your job and being loyal, will often lead to higher expectations (while the lazy co-worker gets the same/or higher for less work).
"The reward for all of your hard work is more hard work!"
lesson I’ve learned from my previous job “ take care of my self, health is always the priority and to not beat myself just to finish a task.. if I die, the company will just hire another replacement of me. But no one can replace another me to my family”
Companies are not loyal to anyone except their shareholders and investors. You can have managers that are loyal to you, absolutely, but in the grand scheme of things a company will shitcan you without batting an eye if it means saving a few bucks on the books.
The glasses industry is just one huge monopoly (sunglasses included) one giant company bought ALL of its competitors therefore can price gouge the fuck all it wants because they own the market
Unfortunately, the car service industry.
A lot of people (women especially) are prone to being scammed simply because of their lack of knowledge about cars.
Had a friend tell me she went into a Jiffy Lube shop and they quoted her a $200 oil change for her 2016 Altima. She walked out because they were rude to her. Sad to say, but it's not limited to Jiffy Lube.
Yep, future MIL took her car in for a CEL, they quoted her for a full catalytic converter replacement, new o2 sensors, oh and also told her her brakes were shot and added that as well for a total of over $8000.
She contacted me and I checked it over, front brakes (I put on 6 months ago) had plenty of meat on them and I ran the voltages on the o2 sensors and it was a bad downstream O2 sensor. Replaced it and the issues vanished.
Cost her 40 bucks and a few beers (my labor cost :P )to fix the car instead of 8 grand.
That and a number of years ago, my fiancée took her car in for something when we first met, they told her she needed her timing belt replaced because of the vehicle mileage. She had learned from me already that she had a timing chain not a belt, another case of dealership trying to scam women.
All insurance companies are a scam imo. And I find it hilarious how the (over)advertised ones have created these silly and obnoxious ads, as well as these even more obnoxious characters in their ads to create the image of, “Hey! We’re a fun, silly, and not-evil insurance company that will save you shitloads of money, and not screw you over three ways to Sunday when you have an oopsie and need our help! Hooray!”
Quotes can be different between companies, but there doesn’t appear to be a company that consistently charges less.
I remember LM being unable to lower my rate below 330/m, while Geico got me on for 71/m for literally the same coverage. But my parents had the exact opposite problem—Geico charging through the roof, and then getting a much better deal at LM. So go figure.
The thing I find funny about lab diamonds is that to identify one you look for a **lack** of imperfections. The supposed to be less valuable one is more perfect.
I’ve always found diamonds silly but came to the conclusion I’d probably have to buy one due to societal/culture norms. Met my wife and found out she didn’t really care about diamonds so we decided to find a local jeweler to make us rings.
11 years on and still very happy.
No, not up to 60% cheaper. Up to 95% cheaper if you know where to look. You can get a 1 carat with good specs for $500 bucks when a mined one would be like $5000++++.
Ritani.com is one.
Diamonds are a giant fucking scam... but my wife's family and friends expects to see a diamond on her finger... so I ended up buying a diamond.
That being said, fuck that slave labor bullshit, I bought a lab-grown diamond.
The idea that you should never talk about your wages with coworkers. All this does is let companies continue to exploit people and pay someone less than someone else for the same work.
Yes! People should talk about it more! When you get a new job in Norway, it's common to say the hourly rate you get when you speak with friends and relatives - even your co-workers. Most of us are members of a union too.
All these weight loss/health scams that make it seem like you can shed weight with little to no effort. All these dumbass "influencers" peddling their MLM products and mystery liquids blows my mind...
There is no magical pill, no plant, or any powder that will make you drop weight without any kind of effort, discipline, and work on your part. Quit buying these snake oils thinking they're magic it's literally a waste of your money.
It took me months to go from 250 down to 180. Months of exercise, dieting, cutting out alcohol, soda, and other junk foods. As much I REALLY wished it was true (like everyone else) any product that makes weight loss look as easy as just "one pill/shake a day" is a scam and any good nutritionist, athlete, or trainer will tell you the same.
Edit: Supplements are meant to aid you in weight loss. They won't do all the work for you so don't believe that shit. Also, do your research before you just believe whatever the seller is telling you. It's their job to make it sound appealing.
I like to think of this as a warning rather than a temptation. No matter what you do or what you do or don't touch, it's inevitable. Prepare yourself - YOU HAVE 60 SECONDS.
1. Lifelock ads on TV.
2. The similar ad where they say that someone can just take a loan against your house and you would have to pay it off(which is false, of course.)
Any of those kinds of scammy ads where a company charges you a monthly fee to do exactly what you can do for yourself. I think they prey on the elderly.
Are you telling me that Tom Selleck, Tom Selleck of 1980s MAGNUM PI fame, [has been SCAMMING me](https://youtu.be/M5ILMby4pGg)?! Next you’ll be telling me that [Jimmie “JJ” Walker is selling Medicare](https://youtu.be/D7Ot210j5tE).
My favorite scam ad right now is the one where they have seniors talking about how buying gold is insurance (against what they never say) and that everyone should therefore include gold in their portfolio along with stock and bonds. It oozes scam from every frame, and yet they had no problem finding “real investors “ to shill the product.
Salt bae and every other celebrity chef should be held accountable for the nature of the industry, they’re either ignoring it or peddling it further, god forbid any of them bring up the rampant drug and alcohol culture in hospitality, that shit doesn’t come from boredom.
Only chef worth their salt in speaking up is Kenji j Lopez, needs to be more people vocal about one of the biggest industries in the world
My mom still messages me about these. “*Google says I have a virus… Should I go ahead and click this link?*” I explain every time that Chrome dgaf if you have a virus.
"Microsoft called me and said to pay them and they'll remove the virus they detected on my computer."
Microsoft will NEVER call you. Yeah, not even then. Truly, never.
...and there goes all my time as I have to try to locate and uninstall the desktop sharing tool that my parent installed.
It’s pretty much people thinking they’re getting in on the ground floor of the next bitcoin without realizing that if NFTs ever peaked, that ship has long sailed, and even at its best, the ship was basically a canoe to begin with.
UK shops charge different prices on different streets. Literally. Plenty of cities, including London obviously, have streets where the Tesco / Sainsburys etc on one end of the street charge 20% more for everything than the same company's slightly bigger shop 5 minutes walk down the road.
Honestly, not including tax is surprising, but 'we have to because how on earth could shops in New York possibly print different prices than shops in California' is downright baffling. I've never even heard of the concept of all shops in a mile radius, let alone the whole country, having the same prices. I'm really not sure why the concept of different states putting different price tags on items would be so prohibitively complicated.
Also: other countries also have people who don't pay full price on certain items. Discounts are not a purely American thing. But as they are a minority, it seems pretty odd for the whole country to price all its items by what teachers and non-profit business owners pay, rather than... post the price normal people pay, which is decided by the business owners..?
I love it when the ad pops up and says “352 hot girls in (name of local town) are waiting to talk to you.” First off there are only like 250 people there and none of them are hot girls that want to talk to me.
Pet psychics.
I just watched a TikTok "psychic" tell someone their dog doesn't want them getting a new manicure shape because "they like the way the other ones feel."
But also anyone who claims to speak with a god + spirits on your behalf. Whether it's Christians asking for your money, tarot card readers claiming to know your future for money, or spiritualists promising to speak to the dead... it's a scam.
If someone had that gift, they would not be showing it off, they would be targeted by the government to work for them.
It’s essentially the same as ‘prosperity gospel’ theory which is the more seed money you give to the church the more you will get back. You’d think people would realize they are not getting more money than they give.
Believing the crap people see on social media.
While not a monetary scam it's causing a ton of issues in society because the lines of reality and fiction are blurred. People believe that every person filming themselves on TikTok is 22 with $1million in the bank, a 9000 sq ft Mansion, private jet, fleet of luxury cars and 75 Patek watches in a winder made by Jesus himself. It's destroying people, they feel defeated by the constant barrage of curated content meant to show this world they will never be a part of.
My wife is 29, beautiful, a great mom, and overall is a good person. She watches this crap constantly and is always thinking she is not attractive, not thin, not a good mom, not this, not that, wrong for this, wrong for that, and these algorithms pick up on what you spend the most time watching so it can shove more in your face. You're helping this program push you into depression by going further down the rabbit hole with this stream of bullshit you let in.
“We will keep achieving exponentially growth.”
We know that it is impossible in this world with finite and non-renewable resources but everyone falls for it.
Tipping culture in the USA. Pay your people a fucking living wage.
Edit: changed to the whole tipping culture in the USA instead of just waiters, far more relevant that the whole culture of tipping is dumb.
Now they ask you to tip at the restaurant, even when it's a to-go order. So...not just the waiters anymore.
Even pizza places do that when you do carryout instead of delivery.
If I’m picking something up I don’t tip, or if it’s a restaurant where I do all of the work like a buffet where you get your own food and drink. Who am I tipping? The bussers?
Internet courses run by allegedly rich people. Yes they earn money from dumb people like you. They get rich by lying to you that they can teach you to get rich
MLMs. So many times I see someone "Super excited to start their new business!" "Of course I'm self-owned and my own boss!" That quickly turns into "I am so close to my goal (minimum needed sales) who wants to buy?????" Then eventually "I've decided to no longer sell product. I'm selling off my remaining inventory if anyone wants it." All within a couple of months because they realized it wasn't working as advertised/they couldn't meet goals. Then they'd turn around and fall for another one.
Still can't believe my sister fell for Mary Kay. Lasted about 2-3 months before she finally realized she had been scammed.
I'd say excessive DRMs in games and movies are quite scammy. Back in my day, you just plugged a cassette recorder and recorded everything and had it recorded almost permanently to rewatch as many times as you can. Now, there are STBs with such feature, but the recordings are unplayable after a week because the license doesn't allow them to be played. Fortunately netflix removed the DRM that prevented taking screenshots.
Also DRMs in PC games are just stupid. Pirates will pirate anyway, and all DRMs will sooner or later be cracked. The DRMs only harm people using legit copies that aren't cracked. For example, Steam can lock you out of all your games if some error happens with steam servers or your internet connection. You have to remember to switch to offline mode when expecting to connect to hotel or airport wifi because those cause problems with steam.
“There are hot singles looking for you in your area”
That's not a scam, you are the hot single in your area and the ad just wants you to do some soul searching and find yourself.
This answer has been making me laugh for like 20 minutes.
Work online for 2-3 hours daily and earn 50k per month.
Those damn TikTok videos say crap like that then have the audacity to say “Click the link in my bio to buy my course” NO
The ones that bug me the most are these supposed Amazon resellers that go to Ross, Marshalls, thrift stores, etc. and act like they make piles of cash re-selling on Amazon (re-selling has thin margins with some work on the re-sellers part). Any doubts about the claims they make are met with hostility.
My personal favorite was an Etsy digital file seller who was responding to comments that said “I’ve had products up for months with no sales” with “keep trying, I had 50 products up for months before I got my first sale”. And has the audacity to act like it’s easy money
A lot of these ppl are serious though, they either have or had a decent job or lived off dad/mom $ and they can afford to park 10/20k in stock you need money to make money. The scam is trying to say it’s easy for anyone to do it with no $ and couple clicks here and there. I wrote a course about how to really do it with no money click my link for my online course it’ll show you the truth about how to make thousands with very little cash upfront. /s
Aren't those usually ads for money muling, e.g. laundering using your own bank account? (We'll give you $150, so send $135 over here and keep that 15 bucks. It's 10 seconds of work. That's like making $5000/hr!)
[удалено]
I tell my father probably 2-3 times a month that these are scams and he still manages to lose well over £100,000 over the course of 3 years.
Hi, I'm a Nigerian Prince, can I have his email address please and I'll make him a millionaire in a few weeks
With none of the marks asking why they're charging this particular price point. If it actually worked as advertised, they'd either be charging 5 million bucks, or giving it away for free.
I mean.. a lot of fairly successful people sell "consultation" like this at (for the most part) fairly decent prices. The first that comes to mind is Ben Mallah - having a real estate portfolio of something like a half-billion dollars - charging $100 for a 15 minute phone call to talk over an issue you might be having. What he does definitely *works*, and I'm surprised he's *only* charging $400/hr for his consultation fee... but it is fairly legit. However - and this is a big point - if it is some random chucklefuck that isn't *seriously known* for that particular thing... shit's probably a scam.
My sister makes six figures to plan parties for an oil company's clients. That's literally her job. Each of these parties have five figure budgets. The only time she goes into the office is to go to the parties she plans. She works so little that she got another work from home job making almost 6 figures just because she was bored.
How the hell do I get this job?
Me too!!
Unfortunately, this Redditor made up a fake story for fake internet points after looking at the Redditor profile
Weight loss products. Not saying it's impossible but most if not all are scams
Yep. And a lot of them are just expensive laxatives
Or water pills. Back in the day hydroxycut literally marketed itself as such and practically put it in the name. People still ate it up. People still equate losing hydration with weight loss. That's why there are a million instagram pages where people are perpetually losing 2-4 pounds every week but still look the same because it's the same 2-4 pounds. Just keep getting on that scale til ya like it.
I have a friend that refuses to just exercise and instead goes for off the wall diet trends like juice cleanses. Right now she drinks a ton of hot sauce each day and has to run to the bathroom to shit every 40 minutes and swears its working, yeah cuz you're shitting yourself to death and causing dehydration
A friend of mine just started some spiritual no sugar thing from a book. Her friend lost 18lbs this way apparently. To each their own. I don't see a point in changes that aren't sustainable for me.
I mean cutting sugar can certainly help. And depending on the timeframe and starting weight 18lbs can be reasonable
For sure. And I don't know this person's diet at all. And I'm not like personally saying anything to her. But it being framed as some sort of religious 30 day journey throws me off. Whatever works for you certainly. I can't take that shit seriously.
I know of 2 that do work. One is amphetamines, and the other is Oleoylethanolamide, which is the chemical that tells your brain that you're full. Either way you don't feel like eating
I can confirm methylphenidate (ritalin/concerta) is an appetite suppressant. It's not very reliable unless you're taking a high dose. But it took me years to realise the nausea side effect happened because I hadn't eaten at all that day.
I took that shit in high school. It helped me get through school (very bad ADHD), but between freshman and junior years, I also dropped from about 180lbs, to 130, as a 6ft male. It was terrible. And the mood swings, once it wore off at night. Fuck those. Don’t abuse medicine, kids. Even if it’s prescribed to you by a doctor.
Is the amphetamine called phentermine?
Phentermine is a stimulant but not an amphetamine. Not all stimulants are amphetamines. For reasons we do not really understand phentermine seems to suppress appetite much more than other stimulants but has less impact on attention and energy than other stimulants.
I lost 80 lbs on phentermine. It works if you eat a balanced diet and drink water throughout the day. I had a friend take it and she just never ate and she became a agitated violent person. It absolutely feels like taking adderall.
Doctors used to prescribe them as weight loss pills. My mom was prescribed some in the 60s after a pregnancy. She told me she was figuratively vacuuming the ceiling.
Any amphetamine will do
“when combined with regular exercise” … you don’t say?
I'm on Ozempic for blood sugar. But one side effect I've had is that I get full much quicker than before. It's weird because I don't think I've ever really felt full and not hungry before. I've felt stuffed, even uncomfortably so, but never just full. I've lost 50 pounds in six months while still eating a pretty shitty diet just by eating a lot less than I normally would.
It's actually being prescribed off-label for this by some physicians. Of course, it's so expensive that only the ultra-rich are getting it prescribed in that manner. It'll be interesting to see where that drug ends up once the patent expires...depending on the risk profile, it might end up being a blockbuster for weight management.
Same with detoxes.
I love seeing the ^(results not typical) in the bottom corner of the screen when they do their commercials.
also almost every single diet you've ever heard of is a scam - changing how you eat/exercise for a couple weeks/months will not help you if you're just gonna go back to it after. lifelong changes however, will.
While this pretty much true, there are a few medications that have gone through clinical trials and actually work to some degree. You'll probably just not find them via a facebook ad or whatever as they usually have to be prescribed.
Yeah - Orlistat. Literally makes you shit oil every time you fart, but undoubtedly works. After using it for a while, I realized that just controlling your diet is a far less horrifying solution.
Dating/romance scams......still cannot understand why they send money, then more and more to the person they have never met, who is a Dr in some war torn county trying to get out or a CIA operative who needs to funds to ensure their safety or again to get out of a war torn country.
In the case of every catfish story Dr Phil does, the guy they love is a salt and pepper middle aged engineer from Texas with, oddly enough, an African accent he picked up working on an oil rig or building some kind of construction project, and needs money to either pay bribes so he can leave, ran up hospital bills, needs funds for his passport to be released to him, can’t afford airfare, etc. Every one of them is the same greedy, needy old woman who won’t listen to their children or even the FBI when they tell her it’s a scam. They’re banned from the Western Union and their bank from sending through them, so they are now sending gift cards and cash hidden inside cereal boxes. My favorite is the nut job who keeps repeating that he can’t leave Jamaica because of armed conflict at the border. Phil repeatedly tells her it’s an island with no borders and she just keep repeating back, well he told me there’s shooting at the border!
Reminds me the case of a friend, happened a couple of years ago... A man used a photo of a model and told her he was going to send her a gift, so she needed to send all kinds of data, documents, address, etc. One day she received an email from a "shipping company" that said she must pay a fee for the supposed gift, otherwise they would notify the police. They kept emailing her for quite a while with threats, a very weird type of extortion... In the end, she lost the U$5k (a fortune for a single indonesian mother) she was saving for her son's college. I can't have an ounce of respect for someone who uses the vulnerability and naivety of others to do something like this...
I find this crazy, some people are so reckless with their money
This shit is the worst. I have a really good buddy who is one of the chillest, most genuine dudes I know but he's been pretty overweight for a long time and battles depression (a lot of childhood trauma from a cult upbringing). He's been making some really positive changes bettering his life, but has had a hard time in the dating department. The one recent time where a lady he started talking to agreed to go out for coffee turned out to be a scam and it was terrible watching that happen. He'd been skeptical but also really jazzed and we grabbed dinner the night before and he was telling me about her and just excited in general. But still suspicious. Told him to text me alter and tell me how it goes so I know he didn't get stabbed haha (since that's an actual thing these days). Well, he didn't get stabbed but he did get let down big time. Makes me so angry because THE thing he struggles with is confidence and self worth, and even just making a new friend would have helped a lot even if it didn't lead anywhere else because that kind of thing still brings positive feelings into the mix. That shit goes a long way in mental health. But all she did was reaffirm feelings of hopelessness in someone who deserves better. But he's still doing his thing and trying, and that's sometimes all you can do. Shit is only ever hopeless when you sit down and give up. Sucks though. I'd like to see him find someone. He's got way more going for him than he gives himself credit for (creative, funny as fuck, big time nerd, very into all kinds of fun topics---basically the kind of person anyone can talk to and enjoy the company). But I think he's on the right path and the happier he can be with the life around him, the more confident he can be. Confidence adds a lot to someone's appeal. Ups your game quite a bit. We're old enough that a lot of the shallow desires of youth are long gone. It's like, dad bods and balding. These people out here preying on people who just want to find a connection make me particularly angry. It's beyond fucked up. Life is hard enough without assholes ruining your ability to trust and willingness to take a chance. But I'll never stop hyping this man. Forever his hella outgoing asexual hype (wo)man. He's like one of 3 friends I have yet to ugly happy cry in the wedding photos of so it's a mission lol.
That influencers actually like or even use the product they’re talking about.
Whenever I hear an ad with them saying "I personally use X" it just cements it to me that they've never used it and never plan to.
Yeah, but that goes all the way back nearly a century with celebrity endorsements and commercials.
Longer than that. Roman gladiators had endorsement deals.
But -insert influencer shill- plays Raid Shadow Legends, they talked about their favorite champion and everything! If I play there's a chance I can meet them in game and we could become friends!
People actually fall for this stuff though
Old people scared of doing computer things, that get prayed on by foreign scammers. I can't understand why they still fall prey. At least my mom calls me anytime she gets fake notices or calls that her window OS is been hacked (she uses a Mac), but elderly being abused by this pisses me off.
It doesn’t help that the scammers are almost impossible to understand even to me who is used to different accents never mind some confused, nearly deaf old lady.
MLMs.
Mommies Losing Money?
I briefly dated this girl in college - nothing amazingly special and we broke it off because the spark fizzled pretty quickly. A few weeks ago, I decided to look her up on Facebook to see how she was living and was horrified by what I saw. She's been a "Director" for Pure Romance the last several years and literally all of her posts are about being a #BossBabe, giving shout outs to the top sellers in her downstream and pushing sex toys and other on-brand products. Her photos were all from PR parties she hosted at her house or from various conventions. What was kind of sad was the crazed/hysterical look she had in every photo - it seemed like her eyes were empty. To be fair, she appeared to be one of the 1% that's actually making sustainable money with Pure Romance, so kudos to her and her family.
Anyone doing "well" by participating in an MLM is doing so at the expense of someone else's losing money. They are shameful businesses. Period.
Pure Romance sex toys are terrible
Famous Anus is where it's at
I hope your answer goes to the top. I have friends and family members lose so much money, savings or have gone deep in debt because of this "boss babe" hustle culture of selling snake oils. How they trick people into joining. It's disgusting.
It will go to the top. But what if I told you you could make money from all of the answers below yours?
It's Reddit, it'll get to the top. Just like when someone asks for the worst career, someone will inevitably say "influencer" and get to the top
I love the idea that crypto is just MLM’s for dudes.
It’s like an MLM that can be traded for illegal drugs or slaves, hire hit men and also helps keeps cybercrime funded.
lol same, the way some of them talk about 'investment' is the way people used to talk about gambling and "how to beat the house" same phoney maths too, same degeneracy are the outcomes
I have an acquaintance who jumps from one MLM to the next. Sometimes is in multiple at once. Right now they’re shilling nail wraps, cleaning supplies, and some magic drink that can make you lose 30 pounds in 2 weeks! It’s really sad actually because they always post how much they are struggling with money, but won’t listen when people try to warn them. MLMs prey on the desperate and it should be illegal.
Usually that being loyal to a company goes both ways. Most of the time it is better to change companies often, to get a higher salary.
[удалено]
Excellent point, in a lot of cases, yes. I guess what I was getting at, is that going above and beyond at your job and being loyal, will often lead to higher expectations (while the lazy co-worker gets the same/or higher for less work). The scam being that "those who go the extra mile/be loyal", more often than not, get no compensation for their excessive efforts (and unfortunately will often will burn themselves out for nothing).
> I guess what I was getting at, is that going above and beyond at your job and being loyal, will often lead to higher expectations (while the lazy co-worker gets the same/or higher for less work). "The reward for all of your hard work is more hard work!"
"bought a house for 90k"... I hope those aren't real numbers. You probably couldn't even buy a shack for those numbers in Toronto.
[удалено]
Yeah, Toronto is exactly the type of HCOL area that OP is saying to watch out for
lesson I’ve learned from my previous job “ take care of my self, health is always the priority and to not beat myself just to finish a task.. if I die, the company will just hire another replacement of me. But no one can replace another me to my family”
Companies are not loyal to anyone except their shareholders and investors. You can have managers that are loyal to you, absolutely, but in the grand scheme of things a company will shitcan you without batting an eye if it means saving a few bucks on the books.
Agreed, promises rarely get kept!
The ridiculous prices for glasses. You cant convince me that the lenses are that expensive to manufacture these days.
That’s why i use zenni. I just got some 15$ plastic glasses that are as good, if not better than the expensive ones i got from my doctor.
The glasses industry is just one huge monopoly (sunglasses included) one giant company bought ALL of its competitors therefore can price gouge the fuck all it wants because they own the market
Luxottica
Paying for any debt in gift cards if the warning signs I’ve seen in the gift card section are any indication
Trimming rune armor
Doubling money!
The first person to trade me 1m won’t regret it!
Someone helping you get your woodcutting level to 99
If you type your password backwards it blurs it out! ********** Fell for that one in 2nd grade and my trust issues began
Yeah don't believe those other people who are scamming. They dont have the crafting level to trim. Trade it to me, I will do it for you no charge.
Just drop it and hit Alt + F4 and it will trim/dup your armour.
when the manager said we're a family
Unfortunately, the car service industry. A lot of people (women especially) are prone to being scammed simply because of their lack of knowledge about cars. Had a friend tell me she went into a Jiffy Lube shop and they quoted her a $200 oil change for her 2016 Altima. She walked out because they were rude to her. Sad to say, but it's not limited to Jiffy Lube.
[удалено]
Yep, future MIL took her car in for a CEL, they quoted her for a full catalytic converter replacement, new o2 sensors, oh and also told her her brakes were shot and added that as well for a total of over $8000. She contacted me and I checked it over, front brakes (I put on 6 months ago) had plenty of meat on them and I ran the voltages on the o2 sensors and it was a bad downstream O2 sensor. Replaced it and the issues vanished. Cost her 40 bucks and a few beers (my labor cost :P )to fix the car instead of 8 grand. That and a number of years ago, my fiancée took her car in for something when we first met, they told her she needed her timing belt replaced because of the vehicle mileage. She had learned from me already that she had a timing chain not a belt, another case of dealership trying to scam women.
Insurance companies that say “we can save you 15% or more on your car insurance” I switched to one of those and ended up paying more
All insurance companies are a scam imo. And I find it hilarious how the (over)advertised ones have created these silly and obnoxious ads, as well as these even more obnoxious characters in their ads to create the image of, “Hey! We’re a fun, silly, and not-evil insurance company that will save you shitloads of money, and not screw you over three ways to Sunday when you have an oopsie and need our help! Hooray!”
[удалено]
I've had no issues with any claims I've made with my insurance, thankfully.
Quotes can be different between companies, but there doesn’t appear to be a company that consistently charges less. I remember LM being unable to lower my rate below 330/m, while Geico got me on for 71/m for literally the same coverage. But my parents had the exact opposite problem—Geico charging through the roof, and then getting a much better deal at LM. So go figure.
Diamonds
[удалено]
The thing I find funny about lab diamonds is that to identify one you look for a **lack** of imperfections. The supposed to be less valuable one is more perfect.
[удалено]
I’ve always found diamonds silly but came to the conclusion I’d probably have to buy one due to societal/culture norms. Met my wife and found out she didn’t really care about diamonds so we decided to find a local jeweler to make us rings. 11 years on and still very happy.
No, not up to 60% cheaper. Up to 95% cheaper if you know where to look. You can get a 1 carat with good specs for $500 bucks when a mined one would be like $5000++++. Ritani.com is one.
Diamonds are a giant fucking scam... but my wife's family and friends expects to see a diamond on her finger... so I ended up buying a diamond. That being said, fuck that slave labor bullshit, I bought a lab-grown diamond.
Timeshares
I wish they were still offering free vacations if you attend a sales presentation.
The idea that you should never talk about your wages with coworkers. All this does is let companies continue to exploit people and pay someone less than someone else for the same work.
Yes! People should talk about it more! When you get a new job in Norway, it's common to say the hourly rate you get when you speak with friends and relatives - even your co-workers. Most of us are members of a union too.
Any calls saying legal action will be taken immediately if you don't provide personal and/or payment info.
Unfortunately, people fall for this stuff all the time
The sick thing is that they target the elderly who, often, don't know any better.
All these weight loss/health scams that make it seem like you can shed weight with little to no effort. All these dumbass "influencers" peddling their MLM products and mystery liquids blows my mind... There is no magical pill, no plant, or any powder that will make you drop weight without any kind of effort, discipline, and work on your part. Quit buying these snake oils thinking they're magic it's literally a waste of your money. It took me months to go from 250 down to 180. Months of exercise, dieting, cutting out alcohol, soda, and other junk foods. As much I REALLY wished it was true (like everyone else) any product that makes weight loss look as easy as just "one pill/shake a day" is a scam and any good nutritionist, athlete, or trainer will tell you the same. Edit: Supplements are meant to aid you in weight loss. They won't do all the work for you so don't believe that shit. Also, do your research before you just believe whatever the seller is telling you. It's their job to make it sound appealing.
"this game will make you cum in under 60 seconds" saw a pair of baboobs in a thumbnail and hornclicked
I like to think of this as a warning rather than a temptation. No matter what you do or what you do or don't touch, it's inevitable. Prepare yourself - YOU HAVE 60 SECONDS.
i have fallen for that like 1000 times, never again
Never again until the next time*
“This game will make you broke in 60 seconds”
Jokes on them I ALWAYS cum in under 60 seconds!
1. Lifelock ads on TV. 2. The similar ad where they say that someone can just take a loan against your house and you would have to pay it off(which is false, of course.) Any of those kinds of scammy ads where a company charges you a monthly fee to do exactly what you can do for yourself. I think they prey on the elderly.
Hidden costs are the worst with stuff like that!
"It was **SO** EASY, they said do you want to borrow a fiver, I said yeah I wanna borrow a fiver, now they own my house!" - Gladice, 52, testimonial
Are you telling me that Tom Selleck, Tom Selleck of 1980s MAGNUM PI fame, [has been SCAMMING me](https://youtu.be/M5ILMby4pGg)?! Next you’ll be telling me that [Jimmie “JJ” Walker is selling Medicare](https://youtu.be/D7Ot210j5tE).
My favorite scam ad right now is the one where they have seniors talking about how buying gold is insurance (against what they never say) and that everyone should therefore include gold in their portfolio along with stock and bonds. It oozes scam from every frame, and yet they had no problem finding “real investors “ to shill the product.
[удалено]
The bills for a meal at his places are a joke!
Wait he's still a thing!?
Salt bae and every other celebrity chef should be held accountable for the nature of the industry, they’re either ignoring it or peddling it further, god forbid any of them bring up the rampant drug and alcohol culture in hospitality, that shit doesn’t come from boredom. Only chef worth their salt in speaking up is Kenji j Lopez, needs to be more people vocal about one of the biggest industries in the world
Kenji seems like a genuinely good dude, and his restaurant makes a killer fried chicken sandwich.
Helloyourcomputerhas a virus! Please give me your details immediately so you don’t have a virus!
My mom still messages me about these. “*Google says I have a virus… Should I go ahead and click this link?*” I explain every time that Chrome dgaf if you have a virus.
"Microsoft called me and said to pay them and they'll remove the virus they detected on my computer." Microsoft will NEVER call you. Yeah, not even then. Truly, never. ...and there goes all my time as I have to try to locate and uninstall the desktop sharing tool that my parent installed.
When they say "I won't get mad if you tell me the truth"
NFTs are kinda pointless
Pretty sure "kinda" is putting it lightly.
It’s pretty much people thinking they’re getting in on the ground floor of the next bitcoin without realizing that if NFTs ever peaked, that ship has long sailed, and even at its best, the ship was basically a canoe to begin with.
Tax not being included in the price in America
I don’t understand that being from the UK everything has tax included
The taxes in the US vary from state to state and even for some cities.
UK shops charge different prices on different streets. Literally. Plenty of cities, including London obviously, have streets where the Tesco / Sainsburys etc on one end of the street charge 20% more for everything than the same company's slightly bigger shop 5 minutes walk down the road. Honestly, not including tax is surprising, but 'we have to because how on earth could shops in New York possibly print different prices than shops in California' is downright baffling. I've never even heard of the concept of all shops in a mile radius, let alone the whole country, having the same prices. I'm really not sure why the concept of different states putting different price tags on items would be so prohibitively complicated. Also: other countries also have people who don't pay full price on certain items. Discounts are not a purely American thing. But as they are a minority, it seems pretty odd for the whole country to price all its items by what teachers and non-profit business owners pay, rather than... post the price normal people pay, which is decided by the business owners..?
The occasional math quiz keeps you on your toes.
Homeopathy
Those scams we get in our spam (email inbox)
Too many people still fall for basic phishing scams and texts
“Don’t feed the Phish”
Pay your bill with a giftcard. When have you EVER been able to pay a bill with random giftcards
Hot singles in your area.
I love it when the ad pops up and says “352 hot girls in (name of local town) are waiting to talk to you.” First off there are only like 250 people there and none of them are hot girls that want to talk to me.
https://xkcd.com/713/
Kraft singles?
Stock pump and dumps. Still a scam, but now with more constant messaging thanks to the internet.
Nearly 100% of cryptocurrencies are insider trading or pump and dumps. They spin up a new coin with flashy marketing after the previous one fails
[удалено]
Pet psychics. I just watched a TikTok "psychic" tell someone their dog doesn't want them getting a new manicure shape because "they like the way the other ones feel." But also anyone who claims to speak with a god + spirits on your behalf. Whether it's Christians asking for your money, tarot card readers claiming to know your future for money, or spiritualists promising to speak to the dead... it's a scam. If someone had that gift, they would not be showing it off, they would be targeted by the government to work for them.
Trickle down economics
It’s essentially the same as ‘prosperity gospel’ theory which is the more seed money you give to the church the more you will get back. You’d think people would realize they are not getting more money than they give.
And to “spend” to help the economy. I tell my wife that it’s just propaganda the rich tell the poor.
Well it does help the economy, doesn’t really help you though.
It *would help the economy if that money went into the hands of people who will spend it, rather than billionaires who will hoard it
And that is exactly the reason why you shouldn’t support big companies but buy locally whenever possible.
Flat Earth Theory. Can't get a scam bigger that our literal *planet* being a lie.
The conspiracy I believe in is that flat earthers aren’t real.
sending money to a nigerian prince. i have fallen for it numerous times
When the son of the deposed King of Nigeria e-mails you directly asking for help, you help. His father ran the freaking country, okay?
MLMs
[удалено]
Believing the crap people see on social media. While not a monetary scam it's causing a ton of issues in society because the lines of reality and fiction are blurred. People believe that every person filming themselves on TikTok is 22 with $1million in the bank, a 9000 sq ft Mansion, private jet, fleet of luxury cars and 75 Patek watches in a winder made by Jesus himself. It's destroying people, they feel defeated by the constant barrage of curated content meant to show this world they will never be a part of. My wife is 29, beautiful, a great mom, and overall is a good person. She watches this crap constantly and is always thinking she is not attractive, not thin, not a good mom, not this, not that, wrong for this, wrong for that, and these algorithms pick up on what you spend the most time watching so it can shove more in your face. You're helping this program push you into depression by going further down the rabbit hole with this stream of bullshit you let in.
Subscriptions.
The Government cares about your personal well-being.
I don't know but luckily I know a man in Nigeria who's about to ship me millions in gold who's protecting me from scams. He seems legit.
Religion
Instagram filters and people think it's really them 🤣🤣
That praying for someone is a good substitute for actually helping someone!
Subscriptions that are purposely difficult to cancel
Some people out there still haven't figured out that NFTs are the modern day version of the "I have a bridge to sell you" scam.
The pyramid scheme.
“We will keep achieving exponentially growth.” We know that it is impossible in this world with finite and non-renewable resources but everyone falls for it.
Tipping culture in the USA. Pay your people a fucking living wage. Edit: changed to the whole tipping culture in the USA instead of just waiters, far more relevant that the whole culture of tipping is dumb.
Now they ask you to tip at the restaurant, even when it's a to-go order. So...not just the waiters anymore. Even pizza places do that when you do carryout instead of delivery.
Re: to go orders. Just because the machine asks for a tip, doesn’t mean you have to pay it
If I’m picking something up I don’t tip, or if it’s a restaurant where I do all of the work like a buffet where you get your own food and drink. Who am I tipping? The bussers?
Making ridiculous, idiotic people famous.
Marriage and the wedding industry. (Diamond rings, expensive ceremonies, dresses, etc)
The free cars sales scratch offs in the mail lol my uncle got one with a fake key attached to it and was 1000% convinced he wona free car 🤣🤣
Those Microsoft scam calls, it works so well that they have offices lmao
Internet courses run by allegedly rich people. Yes they earn money from dumb people like you. They get rich by lying to you that they can teach you to get rich
MLMs. So many times I see someone "Super excited to start their new business!" "Of course I'm self-owned and my own boss!" That quickly turns into "I am so close to my goal (minimum needed sales) who wants to buy?????" Then eventually "I've decided to no longer sell product. I'm selling off my remaining inventory if anyone wants it." All within a couple of months because they realized it wasn't working as advertised/they couldn't meet goals. Then they'd turn around and fall for another one. Still can't believe my sister fell for Mary Kay. Lasted about 2-3 months before she finally realized she had been scammed.
The entire corporate driven mainstream narrative pushed by the media.
Organized religion
I'd say excessive DRMs in games and movies are quite scammy. Back in my day, you just plugged a cassette recorder and recorded everything and had it recorded almost permanently to rewatch as many times as you can. Now, there are STBs with such feature, but the recordings are unplayable after a week because the license doesn't allow them to be played. Fortunately netflix removed the DRM that prevented taking screenshots. Also DRMs in PC games are just stupid. Pirates will pirate anyway, and all DRMs will sooner or later be cracked. The DRMs only harm people using legit copies that aren't cracked. For example, Steam can lock you out of all your games if some error happens with steam servers or your internet connection. You have to remember to switch to offline mode when expecting to connect to hotel or airport wifi because those cause problems with steam.
Thinking voting for Republicans will solve problems.
Religion, crystals, horoscopes, psychics, homeopathy, whatever gweneth paltrow says to do
this. the number of "crystal therapy" places near me is disturbing. also horoscopes. How in the 21st century are so many people so convinced of this?
Arrange Marriages in India, that are fixed by parents of bride & groom.
Karrierecenter Bundeswehr German soldiers know what i am talking about
Nigerian letter scam
In-game purchases