We’re living through a “scamdemic.” According to data, international scammers steal over $1 trillion from unsuspecting victims every year. We’re constantly warned about romance scams, phishing scams, investment, crypto, and employment scams. But there are other scams out there, hiding in plain sight, and they’re being carried out by companies that many of us might think are squeaky clean.

Someone asked, “What is the biggest scam in your specific industry that the general public doesn’t know about?” and more than 1,500 responses came pouring in. People working in cybersecurity, law, retail, finance, publishing and other industries didn’t hold back. They revealed how we’re being ripped off like daylight robbery.

Bored Panda has put together some of the most surprising, shocking, and downright audacious ways you and I are being taken for a ride. Some might have you reconsidering how and where you choose to spend your hard-earned money.

#1

20 years in cybersecurity: most antivirus programs are a rip off. Windows defender does an amazing job at protecting your system and the bells and whistles tacked on to options like Norton or mcafee are largely useless. Use windows defender and windows firewall and you are safe as safe really gets in this digital world.

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Scamming is big business. According to the Global State of Scams 2025 report, 7 in 10 adults worldwide encountered a scam last year, with 13% encountering a scam at least once a day. The Global Anti-Scam Alliance (GASA) reveals that international scammers steal more than $1 trillion every year.

“To put that in perspective, that figure eclipses the entire global airline industry which was valued at $996 billion in 2024,” says Damien Dugauquier, co-founder & CEO of iPiD, a fintech company specializing in global payee data verification and fraud prevention.

“If scamming were a country, specifically the ‘United Republic of Scams,’ its GDP of $1.03 trillion would make it the 17th or 18th largest economy in the world,” adds Dugauquier.

#2

I work in nonfiction book writing/editing/publishing. *Everyone* is using AI. It’s the rule rather than the exception at this point, it’s super depressing, I hate it, and it’s the #1 reason I’m switching careers entirely this year after over a decade doing this.

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#3

I was a paralegal for over 2 decades and we did a lot of Personal Injury law. The biggest scam was chiropractors and massage therapists telling our injured clients, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll treat you at no cost to you and we’ll get paid out of your settlement’. Then they’d run up bills of $3k-$4k EACH. The settlement offer comes in and after 33.3% attorneys fees plus costs and unpaid bills like those, the client would end up with a pittance and would be really upset. Got to the point where I’d tell them ‘you aren’t getting any better b/c you need to rest, not constantly go to the chiro 4x a week. Please go see a real doctor.’.

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The expert calls scamming a global crisis, but adds that often, those doing the dirty work aren’t willing criminals. Dugauquier reveals that the “supply-side” of the scamming industry is filled with tales of human trafficking. Desperate people are being lured by job ads promising easy work for big money. But once they arrive, their passports are confiscated, and they are trapped in criminality.

According to a UN report, hundreds of thousands of people have been trafficked into online scam compounds across Southeast Asia alone. “There are around 120,000 in Myanmar and 100,000 in Cambodia alone,” says Dugauquier.

#4

Stealing the American elderly population’s life savings via scams, wire fraud schemes, romance scams, etc has become an organized crime problem on an industrial scale. It is the underreported crime of the century, the primary income source for large organized crime groups out of Asia especially, and the problem grows every year. I really can’t stress enough just how big this problem is. I’m an investigations manager at a fintech, I have 10 investigators on my team doing this stuff all day and we are overwhelmed with work, if I tripled my team it wouldn’t be enough. We write weekly cases with hundreds of bad actor accounts involved.

Talk to your elderly relatives, try to keep in touch as much as possible. The whole world is trying to rob them blind.

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#5

I worked in retail supply chain for 25 years. With higher end luxury brands markups can be 90% or more. The quality may be good but most of what you’re paying for is marketing. overhead, and artificial scarcity.

Also sheet sets. There is a physical limitation on weaving of around 500 thread count. Anything higher is made by fudging the number- either by weaving two small yarns together into one (double pick) or bonding two layers together (double ply).

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#6

Not a “scam” per se but I’m a teacher.

In about 99% of cases (not hyperbole), your child’s school is not rigorous and their 4.00 GPA means absolute jack. Grade inflation is WILD. It has gotten to the point where I have to hold back my judgment when HS students at graduation are like “we did it!”

You would have to be severely disabled to not pass HS today. Schools are now HEAVILY incentivized to pass you along.

The shameful part is that some students ARE actual 4.0 students, but their grades are diluted so bad that I cannot tell an idiot from someone who actually worked and gain something. Thus, two students – both with 4.0s – can be standing next to each other and one is MUCH more talented.

And don’t get me started on discipline. I would say about 20% of kids are not fit for the traditional HS environment. I wish I were kidding.

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Survivors have told how they were held in massive compounds resembling self-contained towns. These compounds can be over 500 acres big and are nothing more than glorified prisons. “[They’re] made up of heavily fortified multi-storey buildings with barbed wire-topped high walls, guarded by armed and uniformed security personnel,” the United Nations reveals.

Dugauquier says that people inside these cybercrime forced labor camps often work 12- to 16-hour days under armed guard. They face grave punishment if they miss their financial targets.

Meanwhile, the UN report notes how a victim from Sri Lanka failed to meet monthly scamming targets and was subjected to immersion in water containers (known as ’water prisons’) for hours as a result.

#7

I work in corporate finance. Wealth managers are the biggest scam because they basically charge you insane fees just to do way worse than a boring index fund. Don’t pay some guy in a suit to guess the market when you can literally just buy index funds yourself for free.

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#8

As a state design engineer its the “there isnt enough money for raises or new hires”. Yet we have more work than we can handle so we consult out projects to private consultants who get paid double and do terrible quality work. Since their work is so poor we pay them again to redo it. They end up making triple on most jobs. And yet there is still that stereotype that “state workers are lazy”.

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#9

Data caps on internet packages.

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Interpol has warned that scamming is becoming increasingly sophisticated and diverse, and often overlaps with other illicit markets, such as firearms and wildlife trafficking. The international policing body’s June 2025 crime trend update revealed that victims from more than 60 countries have been trafficked into scam centers worldwide, including areas far beyond Southeast Asia.

The UN report backs this up, noting that its findings were based on interviews with survivors from Bangladesh, China, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Thailand, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.

#10

I’m a bartender – drinks are not worth $15-$20. Especially high balls.

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#11

I was an adjuster for 36 years and it’s mostly on the job training. The industry admits to 25% of claims being settled incorrectly, I suspect it’s closer to 50%.

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#12

Extended warranties on computers and “data recovery services” at big box stores are pure highway robbery

they’ll charge you like 200 bucks to recover files that you can get back yourself with free software in most cases, and those extended warranties basically never cover anything that actually breaks. meanwhile they’re selling you a 3 year plan for more than half what the laptop costs.

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Dugauquier says the scam industry has two sets of victims: “those pressed to send money to the wrong account, and those being violently pressed to convince them to do so.” Thus, he adds, stopping fraud isn’t just about protecting consumers. “It’s about reducing the incentives that lead people to be trafficked into becoming scammers.”

#13

Payday Loan places. Don’t ever stop at a Cash Express or Payday Loan! Keep driving! I don’t care how broke you are. You don’t want to get involved with those places.

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#14

“Organic” Dry Cleaning.

This type of dry cleaning uses a chemical called Solvon K4. It is ostensibly made from corn so it can be called organic. That does not mean the chemical is better for you or the environment. It’s known in the industry for having an incredibly powerful smell that can literally cause dry cleaning technicians to pass out if they get too much of a whiff.

Normal, modern hydrocarbon dry cleaning chemicals definitely work better and are probably just as good if not better for you.

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#15

I used to work in “big” philanthropy.

So many problems to choose from.

I guess the overarching one is that, the same people who ruin economies through bad business practices that enrich themselves and their partners, are the same ones throwing scraps of money at those same problems via high end charities … and these individuals and charities claim credit for the tiny bits of success they are able to see through the pittance provided – which happens to serve as a tax vehicle and job sector for themselves. They celebrate themselves constantly.

Very, very few exceptions.

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UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk has called the situation heartbreaking. “There must be increased availability and accessibility of safe labour migration pathways and meaningful oversight of recruitment such as verification of online job postings and flagging suspicious recruitment patterns,” Türk said.

#16

I work in a library, and the answer is e-books and electronic audiobooks. The vendors charge huge amounts per book license. Except for certain platforms, each license equals one physical book so you have to buy multiple licenses if you want the book to be checked out simultaneously by multiple users. They also have these licenses expire after a certain number uses because they figure physical books will eventually wear out, but these numbers are way lower than what a physical book would see. Our budgets are all being cut and these costs continue rising, so we are able to buy fewer actual titles overall.

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#17

Project management, the incessant requirement to refresh certification every three years or sign up to memberships and provide proof of personal development form doing courses etc.

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#18

Not a scam per se but most people will go to physical therapy “mills” where your PT is seeing 3-4 people an hour and you get no individual time or attention. They get handed a list of exercises to do in a corner with limited supervision and then wonder why they didn’t get better. Quality clinics exist but are tougher to find and the average person wouldn’t know that you don’t have to just go wherever your doctor sends you.

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#19

I work for a grocery chain, and we keep advertising “simply low prices” when grocery prices have never been higher, and they continue to climb. I don’t give a darn if I get in trouble for telling customers about it, I’ll tell them flat out how full of bull it is.

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#20

That gallon of laundry detergent that you just paid $82 for is the same exact detergent that sells for $8 in a cardboard carton. I make the stuff and know exactly what goes into it.

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#21

Title Insurance. Most insurance pays out over 80 percent of all the money they bring in. Life insurance is 96 percent.

Title insurance is like 3 to 5 percent. And they will fight you like hell. Had a client buy a house and someone came forward and sued them based on saying they had ownership.

“We cant get involved because of ongoing litigation”,,, like,,  um,,, isnt that what the insurance is for!

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#22

Ebook providers have an insane monopoly and charge libraries outrageous prices just to rent books from them for a dozen or so uses. Please don’t be put out when your library doesn’t use Libby and opts for a cheaper ebook platform. Please don’t be put out when there’s a longer hold time or when there isn’t an endless number of titles. The way the contracts work, libraries either pay a set fee for endless checkouts of select titles or genre grouping, or they pay for titles individually either per checkout, per x number of checkouts, or for a certain duration. (say, 10 copies of a new book for 6 months, then drop 8 of those after the hype dies down).

Once the title runs “out”, the library has to pay usually the full price for the title again. And again, the price is often outrageous.

All that said, please do check out ebooks. We need the stats. But also please be kind when requesting books. Ebook budgets often blow past physical book budgets with fewer titles.

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#23

There are a lot of bad therapists out there. You can have a great education and go to great schools and it still doesn’t mean you’re any good.

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#24

10+ years in restaurant. Majority of food came packaged from big vendors like Sysco. Heat up, put on a plate, serve.

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#25

Standardized pricing by Private equity firms in the HVAC/Plumbing industry.

For example, Plumbing company A, Plumbing company B and Plumbing company C are all owned and managed by the same parent company.

Jon doe call’s plumbing company A because he has a leaky faucet that needs to be fixed, they come out, take a look and give him a ridiculous price quote that he can barely afford, he decline’s.

Jon doe call’s Plumbing company B to come out and look at the same leaky faucet unaware that both plumbing company A and Plumbing Company B are owned by the same parent company, they give him a price quote in the same ballpark as Plumbing company A.

At some point, Jon doe caves, pays and gets ripped off or he decides to DIY it.

Im an Electrician, i mostly work on new commercial construction projects, national chain restaurants, gas stations, banks ect. PE is pretty much non existent in this space but on the resi/service side of things i know PE has gained a solid foothold, it just hasn’t progressed as badly as it has in the HVAC/Plumbing industry.

For the love of god, if you’re in the trades, get licensed/certified.

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#26

Your “data” is being sold over and over again for thousands of dollars and you aren’t getting a penny for it.

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#27

I’m in veterinary medicine and can confidently say vaccines and heartworm/flea/tick prevention are NOT scams and are very important for keeping your pet healthy!!

#28

I work in healthcare, specifically counselling you on long term care homes. There are, without a doubt, good homes and bad homes. I’m supposed to be impartial. If you are a jerk to me, I will remain impartial. If you are a semi decent human being I will 100% tell you where to stay clear of. Be nice to healthcare workers!

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#29

Private equity has invaded veterinary medical offices. As a result, prices have skyrocketed. Yeow!

#30

Rent to own stores. you pay rent on furniture and then when you try to buy the furniture they price it so high that none of the rent payments apply to the purchase price.

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#31

Not related directly to my industry, but very close to it: academic journal articles. Most viewers need to pay for access to view the articles and most authors need to pay to submit articles.

They are normally reviewed by experts for free and print journals are slowly dying out. So where is the money going?

Optimistically, things are shifting slowly to be better with more open access and wider availability. And most authors will gladly give you the article for free if you ask them directly. However, the system is still broken.

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#32

I work in a hotel and we can give early check in and late checkout without any charges and no one can question us. The only reason we charge is we get some percentage of that upselling lol.

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#33

Product copywriting is less about writing something that’ll sell a product, and often more about spinning the nasty stuff to hide it from consumers so it doesn’t raise an eyebrow.

For example, when various sustainability-focused food and drink suppliers say “sourced from family-owned farms” on their packaging, that implies Mum and Dad working hard to feed the family, but it’s not, it’s the whole family.

As in, their very young kids are picking your coffee beans and chucking them into unsafe tractors and heavy processing machinery.

#34

Coke, pepsi… 2L $3, 20oz $3… Arizona Tea $0.99.

#35

Dentistry:
Note sure if qualifies as scam but dental bleaching Is very harmful for your teeths.
Lower enamel resistance to acid (opposite what fluoride does), accelerates dental pulp aging, increases dental hipersensitivity.

#36

As a teacher I’m convinced most educational technology companies are scams. Can we please go back to pencil and paper ffs.

#37

A high percentage of orthopedic surgeries are actually more cosmetic than an actual fix. All tissues naturally heal themselves and aggressive PT in most cases will give you a better outcome. There is a significant placebo effect which is why there is an appearance that “it works” as pain is how your brain responds to a perceived threat. Most insurance companies have discovered this and will now no longer pay for a lot of orthopedic surgeries. It’s been widely accepted in other countries for years, which is why when you travel you never see a bunch of people in recovery bracing, it’s super rare for a non-professional or semi-professional athlete to get an ACL surgery or RTC surgery for example. The other problem is “aggressive PT” is rare in the US. PTs follow a set of protocols that are really made for 60-90 year old people. So when people in the US injure themselves and try PT and it does not work, they are likely working with a PT following an outdated protocol for geriatrics.

#38

Hi, chef here. “farm to table” restaurants. Pure marketing. ALL restaurants are farm to table. Where the heck do you think the food comes from? Chef’s butts?

Same goes for “locally sourced”. That “local source” could be the nice mom and pop farm down the road. Could also be the industrial farm 20mi away. Still “local”. Even the restaurants that bother to list the “source” on the menus… Yeah… Half the time they just Google a local farm that produces that product and slap it on the menu.

#39

Charcoal toothpaste. It’s abrasive and strips enamel. Teeth *may* appear whiter short term but it promotes sensitivity and decay long term.

#40

The price increases due to supply chain and tarrifs mostly never materialize for large companies. All of the price increases on the consumer’s end are basically straight profits.

#41

The Plastics and Oil industry where they put the number of what types of plastic inside a triangle very similar to the recycle symbol and people just think it can be recycled when the fact is that only #1 and #2 can be recycled in most places. Anything else put in the recyclables is just contaminating it so it ends up in the landfill anyway. The only other type that can be recycled in very limited places is #5. It is their way of obfuscating just how much plastic waste they’re actually producing.

#42

I work in the court system in the US, talking to police or taking a polygraph test or submitting to physical exams and blood tests without a warrant to prove your innocence is ALWAYS a mistake. Almost all of the cases I’ve seen go to trial and come back with a guilty verdict are because the defendant talked to police without a lawyer or submitted to tests without a warrant. I’m not an attorney and cannot give legal advice, but PLEASE exercise your right to silence.

#43

Uniform rental business. When you are not looking we raise your rates. All the time.

#44

Scammers are extremely prevalent in the locksmith industry. The “Google Guarantee” and “Sponsored” guys at the top of the page run enormously expensive advertising campaigns, then scam the unsuspecting customer. They don’t quote prices over the phone, or say “prices start at $65.” Once they have someone there, the job miraculously grows in complexity and cost until you are paying $500-700 on a job that I quote out at $250 out-the-door.

Skip past the ads at the top of the page and call somebody from the map. Make sure they can quote you complete pricing over the phone.

#45

Dentist here – Delta Dental. They have approx a 60% market share nationwide on dental insurance. They are being sued in multiple states for violating antitrust laws federally.

How this impacts the average consumer with Delta Dental? In most metro areas, Delta has a stranglehold on the market and refuse to negotiate fees with dentists. In my area, they have not raised fees in close to 20 years. I was actually losing money having a patient come into my office for a cleaning and exam. This inherently puts pressure on dentists that are In-network with Delta to over treat/ prescribe dental work to make up for this loss somewhere. It is why I am now out of network with them. What is also hilarious, Delta actually reimburses more for preventative services than when I was in-network with them, proving their refusal to negotiate fees is just a money grab.

#46

This probably won’t get any traction, just like how the Secretary of Defense spent $36 billion on luxury food and cable didn’t get any traction in the news.

It is a common practice for government agencies to spend 100% of their fiscal budget each year. They do this so to they can get a funding increase the following year and to avoid a funding cut.

Agencies will spend their budget like normal for 8-10 months then evaluate how much of their funding is left. Then they find creative ways to deplete it before the fiscal year is over.

This leads to god knows how much waste that tax payers are paying for.

#47

I have since left the field, but speech language pathologists have been “scammed” by our “governing” body for decades.

They are called ASHA – American speech language hearing association. They sell a certification product, and have lobbied HARD to try to make this certificate be required to practice as a SLP. At the state level, and with insurance companies. To the point that most SLP’s (and employers) think it’s required for practice.

They charge SLPs $250/year for this certificate last I checked. The continuing education requirements to keep this certificate are about equal (a little less) to my state licensure. I only need my state license to practice (and a separate school services license if in schools).

#48

Most private schools don’t meaningfully provide a different education than public schools.

Private school is pretty much spending thousands to make sure your kid doesn’t have to go to school around too many black or brown kids. It’s like a subscription service to segregation.

#49

In healthcare if your insurance doesn’t pay. Ask to the cash price or a reduced balance based on income-especially if you are near a teaching hospital.

#50

Medical industry and the insane markup on common products. A gallon of Clorox bleach, EXACTLY the same as you would buy as a normal consumer, cost 5x as much. Really made me realize why healthcare costs so much, whether it’s end-user, insurance or the government that pays.

#51

Engineering/tech ector.

One big reason WFH was implemented was to see which roles can be offshored.

Sure, many think it is to ensure public health and business continuity during the COVID-19 pandemic, it indeed started out that way, however over time the thinking changed. And in short order too.

WFH prove that certain roles can be uncoupled from local offices. It also showed us that collaboration, task management, and productivity tracking could all be done entirely online, paving the way for easier outsourcing and offshoring to cheaper locations- We just need to find out what are the roles that can be offshored without affecting numbers too much. WFH gave us that data.

#52

Software subscriptions.

#53

25 years as a chef, the biggest racket is how much they charge for dinner salads vs food cost. It’s outrageous.

#54

Charter schools are lying about their results. They are making up test scores and attendance. Don’t give them any money.

#55

I work in an oncology clinic and due to the fact that we draw labs, have exam rooms (perform bone marrow biopsies in), administer infusions/injections – we are considered an “Off Campus Hospital Facility”. With that comes a facility fee, no matter what you walk in the door for. Labs? $192. B-12 injection? $192. Experiencing a common side effect from your chemo and need a new prescription or IV fluids? $192. Oh, your treatment plan is 7 days in a row for Vidaza injections? $192 EACH DAY. Here’s the kicker, needing to see our psychiatrist that specializes in oncology patients? $312 facility fee. This is not the actual charges for the services received but rather just a fee because of what type of facility is performing them.

Medical care is a total scam in the US and I know everyone is aware but it’s these types of things that make people go into medical debt they can never afford. I could go on and on about the cost for our oncology patients, but, who is listening?

With that said, if you are in medical debt and you have a chronic illness that you can’t afford, please talk to the people that work there at the medical office. Whether that’s your provider, the front office, nurses, anyone. There are likely programs that can help you. Our hospital has a hospital sponsorship program that helps so many people. These types of programs in public hospitals are not awarding you money, they write it off on their taxes. Take advantage of them. Medications may have free programs or copay cards. Foundations and grant monies are available for certain diagnosis’s and treatments. Ask for a patient advocate. Y’all stay healthy out there!

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