Towing companies have a certain reputation for being predatory, lurking in the shadows and waiting for unsuspecting parkers to put one wheel out of place. Pouncing moments after the driver is out of sight, dragging their car away to hold it for ransom without remorse or exception...

There is no shortage of dishonest people in this world, a fact that becomes readily apparent as soon as you get in even the most minimal of traffic collisions. There are honest people, too, but you're hardly going to remember the time you got into a traffic collision with the nicest guy on earth, are you? At that point, you're exchanging information and going your separate ways, and while inconvenient, it becomes kind of a non-issue. People don't like owning up to accountability, and to be fair…

If, at first, you don't succeed… tell a sob story and beg your target for cash instead. This is the scammer's creed—at the first sign of their scam going sideways, they'll crumple like paper and resort to tearful begging instead. That, or get overwhelmingly aggressive. The begging is really just the continuation of the same initial scam, and just because you were wary and caught them out on the initial attempt doesn't mean you won't be suckered in by the crocodile tears that follow. Commenters…

It's often the case that treating people with respect will net you the best result, no matter how frustrating you find something to be. That doesn't mean that you won't need to lean a bit of weight on an ineffective organization or bureaucratic nightmare; the fact of the matter is that, often, in these cases, being the squeaky wheel will get you the grease. But, again, you should always do this with as much kindness and respect as possible. Having been on the other side of this in customer serv…

It's usually best not to make assumptions about people based on appearance. Generally, this is considered a bad move… while also being unethical. Plus, when your designs are dishonest, making assumptions about people's ability to recognize your deceit could backfire spectacularly. In this story, this scammer mechanic completely underestimated his customer because he deemed her to be an easy target, expecting a small blonde woman not to know all that much about cars. The thing is, both her broth…

There's no worse result to shopping for a new car than getting stuck with a lemon from a shady dealership. When this happens, you can be out of pocket thousands of dollars and still end up with a faulty vehicle. That is… unless you can get the dealership to own up and take the vehicle back. Redditor u/DeusExPir8Pete shared this story to Reddit's r/MaliciousCompliance subreddit, telling of how they managed—with sheer obstinance—to get the dealership to take the car back and issue them a full ref…

It's not often that being at fault in an accident actually gets you money, but when a scammer tries to extort you for fake repair costs, it can end up working out in your favor. When u/bigcapper69 accidentally ran into someone else's vehicle in a parking lot, they immediately apologized profusely and offered to pay for the damages. They describe that the scammer, who they refer to as 'Brent', initially came across as very cool. Brent seemed to be taking everything in stride and was quite happy…

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you… There are times in our lives when someone does us wrong; usually, the best thing you can do in that situation (and the thing you should do) is walk away. There are times, though, when an opportunity to even the scales presents itself that just can't be passed up, and you give in to your most basic instinct. That's what this games cabinet seller experienced when a customer, who had scammed them out of both payment and a cabinet, attempted to sel…

Hanlon's razor urges us to “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity," — yet I can't help but shake the thought that Hanlon might have underestimated the malfeasant tactics that would be employed by 21st-century hustlers to get ahead. For sure, there is still plenty of stupid involved in these strategies but, in a world were insider trading goes unpunished, NFTs

Phishing is a very real threat —so why does it seem so ridiculous every time you see a story about it? Every time it makes news —or happens in your own workplace— the story is always somewhere along the lines of “Bob from accounting bought $100,000 of gift cards for fake CEO” or “Deborah from HR gave all the company's passwords to someone impersonating her boss.” You always walk wondering just what in the heck these people were thinking… How on earth did they fall for that? Usually, phishing at…

That'll show 'em.

This is one of those lessons that is incredibly brutal to learn firsthand. It's almost biblical in a way; a wary and weary traveler is hailed by a stranger who claims to have suffered some misfortune. Will they help out? Will they give them the shirt off their own back? Except in this story, the stranger doesn't magically transform into a beautiful woman or a bearded old man and bestow riches upon them for their heart of gold. Nah, this is Vegas, baby - that stranger is going to strangle you wi…

This Wife sought vengeance after her husband, an Australian serviceman, was scammed by a US Marine. With clever tactics, she brought the incident to the attention of his superiors and made it an embarrassing problem for them. Woe be upon you if you cause embarrassment for the top brass. This story was posted to Reddit's r/ ProRevenge subreddit by Reddit user u/AussieTopCat, who is an Australian serviceman's (ex) wife. Her husband, she explains, loves to trade and collect military insignia from…

It's almost hard to believe that a (mostly) credible financial institution could resort to such predatory practices but the unfortunate thing is that it happens all of the time. Something similar happened to me with one of the top medical institutions in the state where I grew up. Turns out, they had hidden fees that they charged into an “account” under your name every time you went for a visit. This was in addition to the copay I had to make for my insurance.

What has the world come to?

Maybe going viral will make the police take her seriously…