Have you ever been going about your day and suddenly thought…wait, this is a scam?
Some things are so deeply woven into everyday life that we accept them as normal, either because everyone else does or because we feel like we have no choice.
Here are 10 things that are widely considered scams, yet society has accepted them anyway.
College Bookstores
Beyond the already steep prices for required textbooks, there’s another layer that feels particularly egregious: professors who require students to purchase their own books.
It feels like a shakedown, and frankly, it is. New editions get released regularly, prices are exorbitant, and students have no option but to pay up.
Read More: 11 of the Best Ways To Get Free College Textbooks
Convenience Fees on Electronic Payments
This one is perhaps the biggest insult to everyone’s intelligence.
You’re being charged an extra fee to give a company your money electronically, without them needing to pay an employee to process it.
The computer does the work, yet somehow it costs you more.
Many utilities and services require a fee to pay electronically, and you end up paying it because calling or visiting in person simply isn’t worth the hassle.
Getting bank accounts and cards that don’t charge fees helps, but you can’t always avoid them.
Ticketmaster
Few things illustrate the concept of a captive audience quite like Ticketmaster.
In one widely shared example, a ticket to a pro hockey game was priced at $108 ….with a Ticketmaster fee of $83 on top. Going directly to the box office or venue used to be a workaround, but many venues now use Ticketmaster exclusively, leaving consumers with little choice.
Weddings, Rings, and Bachelor Parties
It’s considered completely normal to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a wedding, engagement ring, and bachelor or bachelorette party, all for a one-time event.
There are plenty of ways to celebrate with family and friends without starting married life by burning through your savings, yet the social pressure to spend big remains very much intact.
TurboTax
It’s a strange situation: paying for software just to figure out how to pay the government what you owe.
What makes it worse is that companies like TurboTax have lobbied to make it difficult to file taxes without their software. In other countries, filing taxes can take as little as 15 minutes on a basic government website.
Worth noting: If you go to the IRS Free File, they have lists of options to file your federal and state tax returns based on very specific requirements. The IRS used to have a free filing option, but it was removed in 2026 by the current administration.
Dental Insurance
Health insurance in the U.S. gets a lot of criticism, but dental insurance may actually be the worst deal. With health insurance, once you hit your out-of-pocket maximum, the insurer picks up the rest.
With dental insurance, once you hit your out-of-pocket maximum, you pay 100% of everything.
Either way, consumers are left with significant debt for seeking basic care, even after paying hundreds of dollars a month in premiums.
Student Loans
Student loan debt is widely recognized as a genuine crisis.
The push for everyone to attend college, regardless of their goals or circumstances, has contributed to a system where many people take on massive debt for degrees that may not serve them. College is not for everyone, and not the best career choice for everyone.
For those who do plan to attend, starting early with savings tools like ESAs and 529 plans can make a meaningful difference.
Tipping Culture
Tipping the people who serve you is a kind and appreciated gesture, but the broader system built around it is harder to defend.
In countries like Australia, workers are simply paid a living wage, and tipping isn’t expected.
In the U.S., responsibility for compensating service workers has largely been shifted to customers, and increasingly, tip prompts are appearing in places far beyond traditional sit-down restaurants.
Fad Diets
Fad diets don’t work; they never have, and they likely never will, yet a new one seems to pop up every other month.
The industry is built around preying on people who are insecure or uninformed, and the damage goes well beyond wasted money.
Fad diets can cause and exacerbate eating disorders and other health conditions, making them not just ineffective but genuinely harmful.
Recycling
Recycling is a good idea in principle, but whether it actually happens is another question.
A significant portion of what gets placed in recycling bins ends up in landfills anyway, with very little actually being repurposed. There are even documented cases of cities collecting recycling only to dump it alongside regular garbage.
Consumers pay for the service and do the work of sorting, but the follow-through isn’t always there.
Some of these scams are more avoidable than others, but all of them share one thing in common: they persist because enough people either accept them as normal or feel powerless to push back.
Knowing about them is at least a starting point.
