What are some scams which are commonly used to deceive the people?
What are some scams/tricks played with us, about which we need to be careful and need to know?
We got your point that you are angry about Religion, and it's already mentioned in a number of answers, thus please do not repeat it.
We got your point that you are angry about Religion, and it's already mentioned in a number of answers, thus please do not repeat it.
100+ Answers
Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) is a massive and completely legal international scam run by Visa and MasterCard. It allows merchants (online and physical) and ATM operators to charge unsuspecting travelers up to a whopping 8% extra by offering to charge them in their home currency instead of the local currency. The spiel Visa/MC gives merchants is that it's "convenient" for customers to "know exactly how much they'll be charged at the time of sale". At a completely unnecessary hefty cost unknown to the consumer!
Here's an example: suppose your home currency is USD, and you're doing a bit of shopping in Dublin. Your receipt might have the option to pay in USD or EUR. If you choose EUR, the local currency, you'll be charged the same amount as all the locals. If you choose USD, you might end up paying 4%, 6%, or even 8% more, hidden in the poor exchange rate. If your credit card charges a foreign transaction fee, as many do, you may still be hit with a foreign transaction fee if you accept DCC and pay in USD, meaning you might end up paying 3% on top of the markup from DCC. If you decline DCC and have a credit card without foreign transaction fees, such as a Discover or Capital One card, you can completely avoid these currency exchange fees.
The practice is very common in China and Ireland, but happens virtually everywhere. The worst part is that it's completely avoidable, but merchants will still aggressively push it on you as they get a commission every time someone falls for it. Per Visa/MasterCard merchant agreements, you're supposed to be able to opt out of it. This doesn't stop rogue merchants from accepting DCC on the payment terminal for you, or websites from hiding the option (PayPal does this by making you opt out each of your cards in the payment method settings, using extremely deceptive wording) – here's a screenshot from PayPal showing how deceptively these options are worded. The first option, which makes no mention of PayPal's 3% exchange rate markup, is selected by default. The second option, which has no PayPal markup, is worded to sound like an inferior option when it is in fact absolutely the better choice:
A brief description of DCC from a FlyerTalk thread about the practice:
The Points Guy also recently wrote an wrote an article about DCC and how you can avoid it.
Here's an example: suppose your home currency is USD, and you're doing a bit of shopping in Dublin. Your receipt might have the option to pay in USD or EUR. If you choose EUR, the local currency, you'll be charged the same amount as all the locals. If you choose USD, you might end up paying 4%, 6%, or even 8% more, hidden in the poor exchange rate. If your credit card charges a foreign transaction fee, as many do, you may still be hit with a foreign transaction fee if you accept DCC and pay in USD, meaning you might end up paying 3% on top of the markup from DCC. If you decline DCC and have a credit card without foreign transaction fees, such as a Discover or Capital One card, you can completely avoid these currency exchange fees.
The practice is very common in China and Ireland, but happens virtually everywhere. The worst part is that it's completely avoidable, but merchants will still aggressively push it on you as they get a commission every time someone falls for it. Per Visa/MasterCard merchant agreements, you're supposed to be able to opt out of it. This doesn't stop rogue merchants from accepting DCC on the payment terminal for you, or websites from hiding the option (PayPal does this by making you opt out each of your cards in the payment method settings, using extremely deceptive wording) – here's a screenshot from PayPal showing how deceptively these options are worded. The first option, which makes no mention of PayPal's 3% exchange rate markup, is selected by default. The second option, which has no PayPal markup, is worded to sound like an inferior option when it is in fact absolutely the better choice:
A brief description of DCC from a FlyerTalk thread about the practice:
Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) is a "service" some merchants and ATM operators offer that will charge a cardholder in the native currency of the card rather than the local currency. A more complete definition and examples are available via this Wikipedia article on DCC. While sold as a convenience to cardholders traveling outside of their home country, it is a pure profit play by the merchants. You may end up paying a fee of up to 8% over the purchase price for accepting DCC. Always decline DCC and asked to be billed in the local currency!
The Points Guy also recently wrote an wrote an article about DCC and how you can avoid it.
Yelp.com - they have been accused of extorting small businesses, insisting on a monthly fee in order to suppress negative reviews.
A Long Beach veterinary hospital, for example, was threatened to pay $300 a month for a year to suppress or delete negative reviews. When the hospital declined, negative reviews immediately started appearing in droves. One review referred to the Dr. Perrault as an "ass", "a jerk", a DBag," and so forth. Other companies have noticed that negative reviews surface to the top of the comments section moments before receiving a call from Yelp Representative to "fix the problem."
So Yelp reviews are largely biased in favor of those companies that purchase Yelp's advertising schemes.
Read more here:
Yelp Accused of Extortion | WIRED
Yelp and the Business of Extortion 2.0 | East Bay Express
If you're stuck in the slow moving traffic of Bangalore (India), look out for jaywalkers. They would claim that your car ran over their feet and would start banging on the window from one side. If you roll down the window to address him someone from his team would quickly grab your belongings (mobile, wallet) on the dashboard and disappear in the crowd.
Hmmmm:
- Transcendental Meditation
- Obsession with HFC's, "low carb", "low fat", "all natural", "Organic", etc. (keeping in mind that I aim for complex carb, generally low fats, natural, organic and non-refined carbs -- because it's about balance -- but I don't obsess over it)
- Diets that tell you to never eat XYZ type of food, like Cave Man or Atkins or Skinny Bitch diets.
- Homoeopathy
- Faith Healing
- Exorcisms
- Most religions (though, clearly I allow for exceptions)
- Science denial
Thanks to the fine investigative work by the Tampa Bay Times and The Center for Investigative Reporting we now have a view into America's Worst Charities.
The Scam: For-profit professional solicitation organizations that siphon off $.80 and more of every $1.00 donated to the specific charity.
Example: Kids Wish Network
Edit on April 7, 2014 - I am asserting the people's rights in bringing these two separate class action lawsuits against certain professional fundraisers:
Daniel Pepper v. Charitable Resource Foundation, Inc. et al
Filed: April 4, 2014 as 2:2014cv02573
Daniel Pepper v. Associated Community Services Inc et al*
Filed: December 30, 2013 as 2:2013cv09539
Edit on May 7, 2014 - We have filed a stay on the above action with Associated Community Services due to this development: Michigan-based telemarketer files for bankruptcy
Edit on May 26, 2015 - FTC, All 50 States and D.C. Charge Four Cancer Charities With Bilking Over $187 Million from Consumers
The Scam: For-profit professional solicitation organizations that siphon off $.80 and more of every $1.00 donated to the specific charity.
Example: Kids Wish Network
Every year, Kids Wish Network raises millions of dollars in donations in the name of dying children and their families. Every year, it squanders almost every penny.
The money gets diverted to enrich the charity’s operators and the for-profit companies Kids Wish hires to drum up donations. Sick children wind up with less than3 cents of every dollar raised. That has been the formula for 16 years, ever since Kids Wish mimicked the respected Make-A-Wish Foundation and launched its relentless drive for money. In the past decade alone, Kids Wish has channeled nearly $110 million donated for sick children to its corporate fundraisers. That makes it the worst charity in the nation, according to a Times/CIR review of charities that have steered the most money to professional solicitation companies over time.
In addition to the money paid to for-profit fundraisers, Kids Wish has paid its founder and his own companies at least $4.8 million in salary and fees over the years. While founder Mark Breiner was still president of Kids Wish, earning $130,000 a year, he joined a former employee as a partner in a fundraising company called Dream Giveaway.
In 2008 and 2009, Kids Wish paid Dream Giveaway nearly $1.7 million in consulting fees to run automobile give-aways that raised money for the charity.
Breiner continued making money after he retired from Kids Wish in mid-2010 and left his mother-in-law on the charity board. In 2010 and 2011, the charity paid two of Breiner’s companies $2.1 million for licensing, consulting and brokerage fees.
Kids Wish violated IRS rules by waiting four years to disclose the money it paid Breiner. The charity blamed the delay on a mistake by its accountants.
Breiner declined to answer questions about his fundraising and consulting businesses, which received an additional $1.26 million from Kids Wish for a car giveaway in 2012.
<end of excerpt - see full article>
Edit on April 7, 2014 - I am asserting the people's rights in bringing these two separate class action lawsuits against certain professional fundraisers:
Daniel Pepper v. Charitable Resource Foundation, Inc. et al
Filed: April 4, 2014 as 2:2014cv02573
Daniel Pepper v. Associated Community Services Inc et al*
Filed: December 30, 2013 as 2:2013cv09539
Edit on May 7, 2014 - We have filed a stay on the above action with Associated Community Services due to this development: Michigan-based telemarketer files for bankruptcy
Edit on May 26, 2015 - FTC, All 50 States and D.C. Charge Four Cancer Charities With Bilking Over $187 Million from Consumers
