Skip to content

Fans Bummed After The Spice Girls Reveal What Their 'Big Announcement' Is—And It's Not A Reunion Tour

Search AI Powered
Human content, AI powered search.

Latest Stories

People Break Down The Biggest Scams Of All-Time

People Break Down The Biggest Scams Of All-Time
Photo by regularguy.eth on Unsplash
John Curtis
By John CurtisSep 15, 2022
John Curtis
A novelist, picture book writer and native New Yorker, John is a graduate of Syracuse University and the children's media graduate program at Centennial College. When not staring at his computer monitor, you'll most likely find John sipping tea watching British comedies, or in the kitchen, taking a stab at the technical challenge on the most recent episode of 'The Great British Baking Show'.
See Full Bio
Make us preferred on Google

It's become increasingly hard to get through a day without encountering a scam artist.

Be it an email where you've been told you won a non-existent prize, a fraudulent call from the IRS claiming there's a warrant issued for your arrest, or a neighborhood psychic, luring you in to tell you a terrible fate awaits you, but you have to pay hundreds of dollars more to find out what it is.

From snake oil salesmen to Ponzi schemes, scam artists have been around for ages, and will not be going anywhere any time soon.

And while our hearts break for anyone who falls victim to these horrendous acts of deception, there is also little that is more compelling than reading about some of the more outrageous scams which ever took place (Fyre Festival anyone).

Redditor BaronsofDundee was curious to hear about the the biggest acts fraud, both ongoing and historic, leading them to ask:
"What is the biggest scam in the history of mankind?"

Un-Holy Matrimony Is More Like it...

"The wedding industry is one big scam."- Resafalo

Tax Fraud Has Several Forms...

"Telling me to figure out my own taxes."

"Then, they tell me I did it wrong. If you know how much I owe, just tell me and I’ll pay it!!'- dinahsaur523

Just Don't Tell Tom Cruise...

"Scientology."

"L Ron Hubbard is quite a fascinating man to learn about, terrible, terrible man, he began lying at a young age and then never stopped afterwards."

"Becoming a billionaire out of that creepy cult like 'religion' is the biggest scam of all time."- Joe_PM2804

happy tom cruise GIF by South Park Giphy

You Do Just Keep Needing More...

"Printer ink."- Mr_BananaPants

Spending More Money With The Slip Of A Finger

"The ads that claims to be inter actable but when your finger barely touches the screen it takes you to AppStore."- AnimePeter_

Access DENIED!

"Textbook access codes that you get after buying a new textbook and can use only once."- SuvenPan

Bg3 GIF by Larian StudiosGiphy

The Money Goes Somewhere...

"Payday loan companies."- Im_Negan

It Runs In The Family!

"My mom telling me she won't be mad if I tell her the truth."- Low_Quarter_583

Maybe Not A Girls Best Friend...

"Diamonds."- TheCyrcus

diamonds GIFGiphy

Scams Fine If It's the Nazis Your Scamming...

"Eye doctor here."

"I'd like to dispel the myth regarding carrots and good vision or night vision because of a scam set forth by Britain at the time to screw with the enemy."

"They had just started performing night air raids and the Germans couldn’t figure out how they were accurately flying and bombing in the dead of night so the Brits printed in their newspapers that they were feeding their pilots carrots to improve their night vision and how good carrots were for your vision due to the beta carotene."

"Turns out that the Brits had just effectively mounted radar units to their planes for the first time and beat Germans to the punch with it."

"The truth is that beta carotene, while important for vision, is rarely in short supply in most diets and you can probably get enough out of a few packets of ketchup for weeks of good vision."

"Meanwhile, here we are now approaching 100 years after the development of radar still eating the lies of carrots."- OscarDivine

It's amazing the lengths people will go to deceive people for money.

And that sometimes they actually get away with it.

But as a general rule of thumb, if something seems like it's too good to be true, then it probably is.

Latest News

Ken Paxton
Donald Trump

GOP Texas Senate Nominee Ken Paxton's Brag About Women 'Leading' Economic Comeback Has MAGA Furious

Hasan Piker
Celebrities

GOP Convention Tries To Shame Twitch Streamer By Showing His Underwear Thirst Trap On Jumbotron—And It Backfires Spectacularly

Donald Trump
Donald Trump

Old Trump Tweet Resurfaces After His Proposal To Give Americans $5k If GOP Wins Midterms—And It's Hypocrisy At Its Richest

Screenshot of Donald Trump
Donald Trump

Trump Blasted After Leading GOP Convention In Pledge To 'Cheat Like Hell' In Midterm Elections

More from Trending/best-of-reddit

Donald Trump
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Trump's Midterm Convention Is Getting Epically Roasted After His Dismal Crowd Size Is Revealed

Despite the fact that President Donald Trump was one of several speakers scheduled to speak at the GOP midterm convention, the event has nonetheless attracted attention for the number of empty seats sure to upset a president obsessed with crowd size.

Liz Landers, the White House correspondent with PBS News Hour, shared footage of the event "officially kicking off in Dallas" that clearly shows scores of empty seats.

Keep ReadingShow less
TikTok screenshots
@girlcodelettie/TikTok

Woman Floored After Tinder Date Tells Her She Can Only Have 2nd Date With Him If She Follows His Unhinged Rules

A woman who goes by the name Lettie (@girlcodelettie) on TikTok gave people a glimpse into dating in the age of the "Alpha male" with her now viral video.

Her post, viewed over 177,000 times and garnering over 1,000 comments, shared the rules a man told her she must follow in order to earn a second date with him.

Keep ReadingShow less
Josh Hutcherson (left) and AnnaSophia Robb (right) starred in Bridge to Terabithia.
Leon Bennett/Getty Images for HBO; Courtesy of Buena Vista Pictures

Josh Hutcherson Jokingly Apologizes For 'Traumatizing' Entire Generation Of Kids With 'Bridge To Terabithia'

Nineteen years, several Hunger Games and countless therapy sessions later, millennials are apparently still seeking justice for what Bridge to Terabithia did to us.

For anyone fortunate enough to have escaped this childhood trauma, Josh Hutcherson played Jess Aarons in the 2007 fantasy drama alongside AnnaSophia Robb as Leslie Burke. The unlikely best friends create the magical world of Terabithia to escape everyday life.

Keep ReadingShow less
screenshots of Vivek Ramaswamy campaign ad
@vivekgramaswamy/Instagram

Vivek Ramaswamy Dragged After Showing Off His Awkward Baseball Swing In Cringey Batting Cage Campaign Video

Billionaire former Republican presidential and current Ohio GOP gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy's athletic prowess is being derided online after his campaign posted a video of him hitting baseballs in a batting cage on Instagram and TikTok on Tuesday.

The ribbing got so bad that the Ramaswamy campaign pulled the video off Instagram, leaving up only a similar one from June in which he wields a tennis racket. Unfortunately for them, plenty of people had already made and shared copies across social media where the merciless mockery continued.

Keep ReadingShow less
Carly Rae Jepsen (left) revealed her baby boy’s name was inspired by Heated Rivalry (right).
Natasha Moustache/Getty Images; Courtesy of Crave

Carly Rae Jepsen Reveals Her Baby's Name Was Inspired By 'Heated Rivalry'—And Fans Are So Here For It

If the Venn diagram of Carly Rae Jepsen fans and Heated Rivalry fans wasn’t already a circle, this might finally do it.

The "Call Me Maybe" singer just revealed that her first child with husband Cole M.G.N. is a baby boy named Ilya—and yes, that Ilya may have had something to do with it. While speaking with The Hollywood Reporter about her new album, Day and Night, Jepsen opened up about her love for Heated Rivalry before casually dropping the baby-name revelation.

Keep ReadingShow less