The United States of America
this post was submitted on 20 Aug 2023
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Asklemmy
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Would be far easier to name things that are not a scam and assume the rest is just a scam in waiting.
Libraries, Pets, Sunrises/sets, Nigerian princes needing loans, Mr. Rogers
Everything else is probably looking to take money from you in some fashion.
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College. The learning is fine, the cost is freaking out of hand. I never went and have no regrets. My daughter is going now and I feel like I'm supporting a scam.
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Car rental - I'm 95% sure I don't need any of those extra insurances but due to pressure and fear tactics (you do want to be covered if x happens, right?), it's hard to know in the moment.
I rent a car very often through work, and I always get those extra insurances, because:
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My company pays for it
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More than once the car rental companies have found some nano-scale damage to the car that I couldn't have caused (must've been there when I picked it up), and they try to pin it on me, something my job wouldn't cover. And unsurprisingly, those claims only happen when I don't have that extra insurances.
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Organized religion.
Nothing comes even remotely close.
Speculative economic instruments. There's a reason why specific items, such as onions in the US, have been banned from being essentially bet on.
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Companies being the sole arbiters of OTA "Upgrades" and DRM "purchases".
most cheap things that fall apart after a short time
Mass Surveillance.
Companies and governments alike have successfully convinced most people that they have "nothing to fear".
Fashion
gacha game, paying premium money, an insane amount event just to see virtual character
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Battle passes and most microtransactions in games. Day one patches, and GaaS games, always online games and expiring media licenses. VAC bans on Steam.
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