The James Hydrick story goes far deeper than PhantomStrider talked about. After being exposed, he gave a bunch of excuses about how his powers were weakened due to having a cold that day. He later admitted to being a fraud in 1981, as he learned the trick in prison and wanted to see how easily he can scam the world. Despite all of this, people still believed he was psychic and he had a relatively successful career afterwards. He was later arrested in 1989 for the molestation of 5 boys he was "training" and was institutionalized because of california laws. He is still commited to this day due to his tendencies of pedophilia, paraphilia, and antisocial personality disorder, which combined make him a danger to the general public.
Yep true :) I cut a crapload out of James Hydrick due to both some of it being distasteful and I felt there wouldn't be much interest from viewers hearing the detail. Honestly it mostly just made me want to talk about James Randi's career debunking psychics and I felt there wasn't much artistic or educational value in me discussing Hydrick's criminal behaviour and future. So I kept it very very short :) Thanks for the extra info!
So about the Max headroom incident: He wasn't calling Doctor Who a nerd. He was calling Chuck Swirsky, a local sportscaster on the first station they tried to intercept, a nerd. It was two stations they intercepted and the first one didn't have any sound go through.
This. The other station was WGN, and the signal for them lasted about a few seconds before they went to a back-up transmitter. The sportscaster said something along the lines of "Well, if you're wondering what happened, so am I." There was a post on reddit from someone who was supposedly in the group of people who did the hijacking or was the sibling of the person who was Max Headroom. It does provide some plausible points for why and how it happened, but take it with a grain of salt
@@pierrecusmybladdersempty1938 i actually thought it was WGN themselves. Since they’re the types to do that? I live in lake county Illinois… and I’ve watched em my entire life, they’ve got to be the most unprofessional bunch of news casters well not unprofessional, more careless and just normal people. But for some reason the line up of them reminds me of the number 2 station from anchor man. They’re all just super schemy looking to me and I love it.
As a store clerk i have so many depressing stories about people who buy lotto numbers and it’s just sad. Dealt with guys who bought $100 dollars worth of tickets but begged me to give him free food.
Yup. I can see dropping a few $ now and then, but never the $50-100 some people do. I never play, but occasionally when one of the mega lottos reaches $1billion or so I have dropped maybe $8-10.
I remember when a store clerk said that they were going to be throwing away food bagged it twice dude spent his entire paycheck on lotto numbers he was luckily living in a apartment complex that was cheapest place to live in my home town and it being a small town were everyone knows everyone for the most part so he wasn't going to starve
One of the places where I used to work didn't give us Christmas bonus's. Instead, he gave us lottery tickets in Christmas cards. Needless to say, I was personally insulted.
One of my best friends and former coworkers used to spend hundreds of dollars a day on these tickets. She was a very underprivileged person, on a fixed income, living in government housing, with multiple children, and living off EBT. She'd waste so much of her checks on these tickets and spend up to an hour buying and paying out random tickets. It honestly made me really sad to see someone so desperate to do that.
Add Publishers Clearing House to this list. They sent my mother at least 2 envelopes a day, and sometimes 4 or 5. Each one said a winner was going to be picked on [x] day. "It could be you! You have a good chance of winning! No purchase necessary! But hey, we have a ton of shit to sell you!" She used to say, "God will let me win the jackpot!" but that never happened. She passed away in March. I am still trying to purge all the damn crap she bought because she thought she would have a better chance.
I called a psychic hot line once for laughs. She asked my name and I came back with "You're the psychic. You tell me." I got silence and then she hung up on me.
It’s great that you’re covering stuff like this, even when the scams in question aren’t recent. Hopefully videos like these help people realize how subtle and not so subtle scams can really be.
Happy holidays :) Thank you for giving my vids a look this year. I hope you have a safe and pleasant new year and the new year has some pleasant little surprises waiting for you.
Looking back on these I’m glad scam commercials and ads have become easier to notice than ever especially with how mainstream social media is nowadays. This was a very unique and fun video Strider
Yea the times i had to tell my Mom and Friends that Trash TV isnt actually real... its insane. I am from Switzerland and we get a lot of, we call it "Assi TV" - "Asocial TV", it usually shows completely fake Families in Germany that act highly trashy, don't work, who act just like 100% human garbage. And you would be shocked, at how many people use this, to "verify" their own shitty life, to "not be as bad as theirs" It feels real, because they don't use real actors. Just people who want to be on Television. So many people believe that these people "really are like that".
I've genuinely met people who believe I'm a Celebrity is filmed in a forest where the contestants have to survive starvation... Like dude no, it's clearly a set in some studio and they're obviously fed between sessions, it wouldn't even be legal to starve them.
@@Kamifox1 I remember one guy actually got really hurt he messed up his leg and his wound actually became infected and they had to take him off the show there was another guy that got an appendicitis and there was another guy that actually got heat stroke That was on the Survivor Series now I don't know if any of the environments were real but the injuries were real
They might be scams, but they really got creative with the 1-900 ads. For whatever reason they were really prominent on the SciFi channel (especially psychic hotlines) so I got to know them pretty well when I taped MST3K. I remember the more risqué ones from watching ad breaks during Night Flight too. Maybe it's because they weren't shot like traditional ads, but I always found them fascinating.
One that stuck out to me was from an old Nostalgia Critic commercial special that didn’t even look like it was trying. Just a badly made red puppet thing.
If I recall correctly, once a math professor told me in school that you are more likely to be killed by a cow than winning on the lottery, and he stated even the fact that we were in the city, really far away from any cow was put in consideration of his statemant😂
Now, the NFL does the same thing for gambling, then at the end They say don’t over spend Your money. Gambling is a scam and an addiction, that You just can’t say no to. It really made Me feel sick, when the NFL participated with it.
I was so tickled pink that you covered Ms. Cleo! My family and I would laugh our butts off when we saw her commercials. I was just a kid, but it was the first scam I really understood. Sadly, I fell hook, line, and sinker for those Skechers shoes! You forgot to mention that they turned out to be kind of dangerous because customers could easily roll/sprain their ankle while wearing them. I agree 110% with you about the lottery. I’m from Las Vegas, and we don’t have a lottery, we just have the giant, bottomless pits downtown where people can toss their money if they feel like it. Some people call them “casinos” lol 😆 Love this, it was fascinating and funny!
Lol, I thought Vegas residents would be more adverse to buying lottery tickets but man, the number of people I know that regularly take an afternoon to drive to Primm is shocking! I guess it's more understandable they tend to only buy in once the jackpot gets relatively high, though. And I guess my balance was better than I thought because I never had the rolling ankle problem or bad knees afterwards. I miss those shoes so much; nothing since has offered the comfort of Shape Ups.
I remember so many of these ones from the 90s growing up. not to mention the infomertials,.. "BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE! Call within the next 20 minutes and we will double your offer, not one BUT TWO of these pieces of garbage we couldnt sell at a discount store. Your satisfaction is guaranteed, and if you aren't completely satisfied with your purchase, return it, for a full refund - just pay the shipping and handling." I swear the only decent stuff sold on an infomercial was sold by "Billy Mays, here! Introducing Oxy clean!" Oh and the scam that was the shopping channel. Brings back memories.
Hi Josh! Incidents like these are why I don't trust infomercials, because you never know if it's a scam or not. And sometimes even in stores you have to be careful what you buy [so many recalls happening lately...]! It's always good to take caution when purchasing items, to avoid being scammed.
Kids are far more resilient and knowledgeable than their parents expect. They pick up on a lot. When my parents sat young me and my sister down to explain how Santa wasn't real and how "the birds & bees" worked, we admitted we knew all that. Every kid in early elementary school knew. 😅
@@lancerevell5979 When I was in fourth grade, we had to watch a video about periods to explain what they were, it was during school, and the video also mentioned "by the way periods happen because this is how babies are made." And they even showed digital art of it. They don't bring it up again, and just move onto what a period is and why it happens, but all of us learned "the birds and the bees" that day just from that one scene.
In Germany ads for the lottery are always followed by a disclaimer of how low the chances of winning are, how it can be addicting and how you are not allowed to play if you're under 18 years old. It doesn't help much, but it does put things into perspective a bit.
I always tell people "I've played enough Mario Party and RuneScape to know that luck is never going to be on my side for the lottery." The thing I hate the most about the lottery is that, excepting VERY specific extenuating circumstances, they LEGALLY REQUIRE you to appear ON-CAMERA and be ADVERTISED on their web site and their machines. Yeah, THAT'S real smart, I mean, it's not like people FAMOUSLY get crazy over large quantities of money or anything; CERTAINLY people don't get robbed or worse over their newfound wealth or anything. Seriously, the fact that the lottery believes that you, as an individual, don't have a right to privacy over winning disgusts me; I wouldn't brag about winning a boat-load of money, why would I want someone doing it FOR me!? I'd rather be keeping that to myself else I'd quite literally be painting a country-sized TARGET on my personage! >.
If I remember right, they do let the winners wear a mask. They just want to record a person actually signing the paperwork foe proof people can win, you hiding your face doesn't bother them.
@@angrytheclown801 Don't they still publish the names, though? Besides, that's a silly justification: "We want people to know it's *possible* to win." OFC we know it's *POSSIBLE*, you loony lotto loofahs, just like it's also possible to be struck by a meteor on a Sunday during a solar eclipse on a Leap Year! It's just the likelihood is so astronomically small the odds may as well be non-existent! The random-number-generator is...well...just that: random! I'll much rather take my chances with rare loot drops from map metas in Guild Wars 2: at least then, if I don't get what I want, the only thing I've lost is time...and patience...and maybe a little dignity... XD
@@bluestreaker9242 I'm not sure about publishing your names, but I worked in the gambling industry. It's not that silly a justification. Think about it: You know people win at casinos, someone just won a jackpot while I'm typing this. But neither of us want to go to the casino and blow a paycheck. Most people would agree to this. But there's just something about seeing someone win that gets people hooked. No one became a gambling addict by just being told they could win a fortune but probably not, they have to experience that win if at least vicariously.
Remember, just because it isn't illegal doesn't mean it still isn't wrong and won't bite you in the ass in the end. I may want to have more money, but I don't want to scam innocent people like these idiots did. We all work better with a clear conscience. With that said, I wish you PhantomStrider, your fiance, your cat, Boo, and all of your loved ones happy holidays! Let me know what kinds of Australian Christmas foods you like! 🎄🎄🎄🎄
Fun fact about the Fyre Festival: Apparently I found out that rapper Ja Rule also founded the event with Billy and thought it was legitimate. However, he wasn’t as hands on and left Billy mostly in charge. Unlike Billy, he was remorseful about what happened, mostly avoided the eight lawsuits and even sued Billy himself. Which is a shame because I bet if he had found out earlier he would’ve done something or probably made the event better. It honestly shocked me that he okayed this!
Lottery tickets being more of a scam than Fyre Festival is one hell of an achievement. Also, I had no idea Skechers even made shoes for adults, I just thought they made those shoes that looked awesome to kids.
Yeah I think Josh was really stretching on that one, it's not so much that you're unlikely to win the lottery, you'll probably win small or moderate amounts of money if you play enough, it's the winning millions things that's unlikely and I personally don't see anything wrong with buying the occasional ticket, it's better then wasting money on booze and tobacco that's for sure, at least lottery tickets won't slowly kill you.
@@jadedheartsz If you get satisfaction out of buying tickets that argument is sound. If you buy the tickets to actually win a good amount of money the argument is not there. I at least get positive brain chemicals when I drink or smoke.
@@salamantics Yeah i do get satisfaction out of it, but even if I don't win at least's no risk of cancer from playing the lottery(or chance of getting a DUI and losing your license like my dad did from drinking).
as someone who’s just fascinated by this stuff; More of this stuff please! The Max Headroom incident was started with Chicago's local news station, and outside of calling Dr Who a nerd after the news channel cut him off, he also poked insults at the news anchor who was live during the hijacking (the Chuck Swirsky guy he mentions in footage you used). As for suggestions maybe cover Gameshow bloopers. I remember one incident on the Price is Right where they rigged their most famous game (Plinko) for a commercial to promote the home console versions of The Price is Right... and accidentally forgot to unrig the Plinko game board before a contestant was called up to play Plinko the next day. They ended up owing this contestant extra money off camera, on top of what she won during the redo. ... the family fued music on the last segment made me think of this.
Honorable (or maybe dishonorable) mention; Publishers Clearing House. They're just trying to sucker you into subscribing to magazines you may never have time to read in a day much less a single lifetime. And name me one actual person who won that $1 million cash prize. I bet you can't.
PCH is one of the worst scams perpetrated upon the American public, right behind party politics. They say "no purchase needed to qualify", but if you don't buy their overpriced rags, you will NEVER be allowed to 'qualify'. They just keep throwing pages of magazine ads at you, saying "just one more step to qualify!" Yeah, total scamfest. 😡
I used to work in a convenience store that sold lotto. I've sold thousands of tickets to people; I even experienced when the Powerball had their biggest jackpot at the time. Needless to say, some bought 50+ tickets (as in for a single buyer) that day. I worked full time with 10-hour shifts at that store for months. Never had anyone won a ticket even once the whole time I was there. It's kinda sad to see that those who play the lottery actually think they could win big and will keep playing until they do, usually justifying to make up the losses of spending for the tickets, when it'd have been easier to just not buy them in the first place. 🤷🏻♀️
You solve that problem by just buying one ticket occasionally and not a ton at once. I much prefer buying scratch-off tickets as that way you don't have to wait for the numbers to be announced and you're more likely to win those.
South Park did an episode based upon the Shake Weight. It made me feel better knowing I wasn't the only one who thought it looked inappropriate. That episode was pretty funny.
The Kevin Trudeau story is really appalling-he got in trouble for infomercial product scams and through some legal loophole was able to sell books, so started selling those instead of things like his memory system and I think some real estate fraud system. Of course the books were scamming people too. But he was an absolute fixture on program length infomercials starting in the 80s, Wild West times for infomercials
It’s really sad that he did what he did. My friend and I did his diet that came out before the cure book. Both of us did very well and a Dr in my town and her brother followed the original dr’s plan for it and did so well she was helping patients with it. When it first started the injections of the hCG were illegal in the states. About a year or two they were legalized and GNC and many other places sold the synthetic form. I have an extreme needle phobia so I did the synthetic form and she did the injections. Only diet program that truly helped me loose weight. Also it was the easiest for me to follow, probably because it said you can eat this, this and this and nothing else. There are many recipes on Pinterest that are the hCG diet friendly. I actually have been pondering going back on it as I have had some health issues and have put on a good bit since. If he had of stopped there and not gotten greedy. Sadly some just can’t.
Number three reminded me of my dad telling of his childhood. He was in Chicago watching TV with his parents when the hijacking popped up on the screen. Left him a bit disturbed and his parents so confused
It's the Jews. It's always the Jews. That's ultimately who "They" are when conspiracy theorists talk about folks who "don't want you to know" something. Every conspiracy theory has some element of "The Jews Did It" in it.
Me and my siblings used to watch Miss Cleo religousily as kids back in the 90s. I don't remember if we actually believed her claims, but her personality always made her a fun watch.
Miss Cleo told me, a 13 year old girl at the time, that my husband was finally getting out of jail. I didn’t even ask a question first just said good day lol.
Cleo is not a good person. She committed the grave sin of lying and scamming, all of which are sins that God is no longer forgiving as of 2020. If she had died later, she would most certainly be tormented by the demons lurking in the fiery pits of Hell. I refuse to show compassion to people like her. And it saddens me to know that you guys still show kindness to people like her.
13:23 Whoa, neat impression of Nin's impressions! I even loved the "yaaay~" you did. 21:36 Is that word, "vial", sic or was it a typo? In any case I got thrown back to that Dragon Quest monster, Vial Creature. Quite clever name considering what it is. =) I also quite like the Max headroom hack character's quirk, happy he didn't pull something so vehemently malicious considering the power he had and hey, I didn't know he inspired some cool stories! 31:04 And not to mention no one's gonna come at you for getting that money. I gotta say, this was an unusual topic for a vid from you, and you handled it magnificently so major props to that! I love learning new things by you. Sorry for all the people who fell for these scams, I hope in the long run it was more a learning experience than a harmful one and that those scammers learned their lesson.
My old coworkers used to say I was a wet blanket because I didn’t put money into a lottery bank that someone used to buy an expensive ticket and if they won, they would split the money. Pretty much everyone except me and one other person did it. And guess what. They didn’t win. They were just each out $5 and got horribly disappointed. But the joke’s on me, I guess
I used to think Sketchers were for old people until...My father passed away and he had just bought a pair a few weeks earlier. So my mom gave them to me , I put them on one day and I was like "Damn these shoes are so comfortable". So now I wear Sketchers and have several pairs, I love the slip in ones. Plus every few months the Sketcher store has a buy one get a second pair for half price. i usually get two pair for about $60, beats the hell out of spending $75-$100+ for one pair of Nikes.
If I made this list, I would have added Reality TV and those awful Phone Ringtone commercials. Reality TV is a pretty obvious scam, fooling people into thinking these shows are "real" despite are all following a script of events, however loose said events are. But I knew a few kids personally that would ring up mommy and daddy's credits cards to get those awful bit crushed to hell ringtones on their phones. And the worst part is that some of those programs were hidden spyware, so when they'd charge you the next month for more ringtones, they'd conveniently be more tuned to your listening habits. Canceling those subscriptions would be a nightmare, literally playing ring around the rosy with customer service folk that could barely speak English. And they had the audacity to make you pay for a cancelation fee on top of that. Plus said spyware would of course contain some nasty malware, and while cellphones were pretty primitive at the time, those scammers still found ways to screw with that new at the time tech.
You forgot gambling ads on Aussie TV that airs every ad break and they tell you to waste all of your money on bets on sports. The only reason why they're allowed to air their ads is because of two reasons. Reason one is because they air a 5 second warning at the end to tell people to gamble responsibly and reason two is because they pay the government so that the government doesn't outlaw gambling.
Oh lord, did some Australia states legalize sports betting recently too? Just happened in the US. It was really bad this spring and summer. Soooo many ads. Hasn't completely been legalized in the country but I think 25 or so states just passed legislation about it. Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Indiana are a few at the top of my head. And they brought out a bunch of celebrities to hawk these services.
@@SheilaDeBonis At least in your country they don't have pokies in restaurants like AppleBees and inside of pubs because in AUS there is a lot of space in the pubs that caters to slots. Also in the USA you have to be 21 to gamble which is weird but that means that less young people would waste their money while in AUS you can gamble at 18. The gambling industry doesn't have as much grip on your politicians like they do here but it still a bad thing because your politicians don't want to outlaw gambling in children games like FC 24 or Fornite because their are being paid off by the companies. There are a lot of people playing EA sports games here on UA-cam and are winning meaning that there is a likely chance that those guys and gals are plants paid by EA to glorify gambling. Those games also have no age verification meaning there is nothing stopping kids from using their parents money to gamble on players in the ultimate team or skins in Fortnite. The FC/ FIFA, NBA 2k and Madden series are all rated E in your country even though you can spend real money on players and skins that you can't buy directly and instead you have to put money in a slot and hope that you get the item that you wanted which is gambling and yet it rated E and not AO. Same thing in AUS because most sports games are either G or PG meaning that there is no restriction on who can play it and the only thing that the advisory board said about gambling is that the game got in game purchases which is more than the ESRB does where they don't even mention that because the ESRB is compromised because the ESRB board is made up of the leaders of video game companies who are the ones who put gambling inside of full price games Fornite is M here and T over in USA but my point still stands because M is not a restricted rating like MA15 or R18 and anyone can still play it while in USA T for teen is 13+ but in USA you have to be 21 to gamble.
15:04 Canadian here, our prime minister has the last name. It's easier than you think, it's just pronounced "True doh" Love your videos! They're incredible, keep going!
the whole max headroom incident is hilarious to me because a person that hijacks a network to provide a message only to never be caught would probably have been expected to say something ominous and threatening, meanwhile when the max headroom guy did it in real life they just did it for the sake of a joke
Fascinating topic. In regards to the sunscreen causing cancer bit: it's partially true, certain brands of spray sunscreen in the US were recalled in 2022 for containing benzene, a carcinogen. First time I ever saw my current dermatologist I was given a list safe sunscreens.
this is my first time watching this video, and I appreciate the Scams that You’ve uncovered, especially the Lottery, I showed it to my Wife, Who now understands that the Lottery is fake and that You Can’t Win. Thanks So Much for Your Grateful Information on these Scams.
This might end up becoming one of my favorite videos that he's ever mad Edit: Guys, half of you told me I made a typo. It's not original. I'm not changing it, probably would've if only one person said it, but now I won't out of spite.
I used to love Miss Cleo, she definitely had a warm character, even if she was all fake. Of course I wasn't surprised when I found out she wanted to be an actor. Shame she was instead part of a giant scam and didn't even make a whole lot despite her fame. I don't think "Max Headroom" was calling The Doctor a nerd since the failed first attempt at signal hijacking was done on WGN, and "Max" even references the network and Chuck Swirsky, who was one of their sports commentators. It's likely "Max" was either referring to Chuck or someone else at WGN he also had issues with. We'll probably never know.
My mom used to watch a lady called Sylvia Brown when I was growing up, she was the first person I thought of while hearing about that "Miss Cleo" gal. I think she either had her own show or her own segment on a show. Sadly I think she's passed on now, but goes to show how some scams are timeless. Edit: I never knew Miss Cleo was a supporter of LGBTQ rights or came out as a lesbian though, good for her
Kinda sad that because someone nefarious aligns with your ideals just makes everything hunky-dorey. Ya'll need to start living as critical-thinking individuals.
@@mr.voidout4739 Never said that. Just giving credit where credit is due. That doesn't necessarily mean I agree with every single thing she said/did. Although I will say, from the info given in the video, it sounded to me like she might not have been treated well by the people actually in charge. I wouldn't be surprised if she simply played a character and wasn't afforded the decision to warn viewers that it was only that- a character. Like all those ""psychic"" people shows/call lines etc should have been doing and still do in the first place. Again, nowhere am I saying that I agree with the scam or absolutely everything about her. Because I don't.
This is probably gonna hit some folks in the childhood, but Fushigi was a pretty big scam during the 2000s. Fushigi was a big metal "Magic Gravity" ball that was advertised as being capable of floating in odd ways when in reality it was quite literally just the sleight of hand making it look like it was floating or holding still in some capacity. Basically Fushigi was a fancy magic trick to show those unaware of how such things worked but it required *a lot* of time and effort to successfully pull it off. A waste of money for the buyers and a waste of resources for the manufacturers. But at least you could make something worthwhile that uses those oversized paperweights with enough of them.
I remember seeing those ads for that guy’s books. Mom works as a diabetic educator and she joked that if they had a cure they would have given it to the public so they could escape from all the work and overtime they have to do
You should've covered the ringtone scams of the 2000's or the Interacel ads that plagued Central American countries for some years. Great video regardless
in 1997 I was about ten. I called Miss Cleo. She said I would marry and have a baby. Twenty four years later, I did. COINCIDENCE????? Probably. But she technically wasnt wrong....
I briefly worked at an AT&T call center. A customer called complaining about being scammed by a 900 sex line. At first it was assumed that he was claiming that he never dialed the number, but his actual complaint was that he called the number and talked to a couple of ladies, but he wanted a refund because he didn't have sex with any of them. Needless to say the charges were sustained.
One thing about the Lottery is that even if you win, most blow it all, getting into worse debt that before, and some have a bunch of people asking for a cut. And some would try to kill you for the winnings
The Joker was hijacking radio and TV broadcasts in the comics decades before Max Headroom or the 1989 Batman movie. I've always found these broadcast hacks and similar stuff (numbers stations!) creepy because they suggested to me that there was some weird hidden world out there that we only occasionally got glimpses of via broadcasting glitches and the like.
The most hilarious scam this year is the videogame called the day before that released the same day as Hilda season 3 and completely shut down after 4 days.
I think it's funny the guy, released a second book titled "The Cure for debt" or something like that, just because his first book more than likely put people into debt. It's something I would expect out of a Simpsons episode, not something I'd expect in real life. I hate the thought of scamming people though, it's a reason I'm careful spending my money on charities and stuff because I don't want to fund something that I don't agree with or worse I could agree with it but the people who are involved could actually never see the money or be harmed because of it.
It's astonishing to me that Billy McFarland is still trying to get Fyre Festival 2 off the ground. He's selling tickets to an event that doesn't have a location or date yet. He's sold a few so far but it's widely believed no one will listen to him after what he did before. Bonus Fact: Billy did actually rent out the island once owned by Pablo Escobar. But did so on the condition he wouldn't mention that it was formally owned by Escobar. He mentioned him immediately and the owners pulled the plug.
Sketchers does make really good normal shoes. The problem is when they go off into other things, like hoodless hoodie jackets which is ridiculous because they act like that should be called a hoodie, plus they act like it's more mature and for adults not to have a hood, because you know, you don't need that to protect you from rain or cold weather.
What sucks about the Sketchers Shape-Ups is that they did indeed have benefits. My girlfriend has had bad feet, ankles, and knees her whole life. From what she told me, the dr had to pull her out of her mom by the feet which dislocated them and they never healed properly. The Shape-Ups were the only shoes she could find that would let her walk all day long without pain due to the rounded shape at the bottom (she doesn't have a proper arch in either foot). If only those advertising morons didn't make such outrageous claims.
You really had me thinking that you were gonna talk about Theranos with the clip of Elizabeth Holmes at the beginning, but I still 100% agree with every placement on this list, Strider. This was an absolute rollercoaster of a video and I would love to see it get another installment, if you’d like to make one, of course. And hey, you already have another Top 3 Scam Contender right there! 😄 Anyways, regardless of whether or not this is the only one of these videos that you do, this was a very telling and well made video! Great work, Strider! 👍
To make Treadeu's scam even worse, he didnt even write his books. They were ghost written. On another note, I can't hep but picturing a 9O year old man lying on his death bed. He motions his family closer and whispers in a frail, shaking voice "I was Max Headroom".
Theranos should've been #1 instead. Also I think Bishop Sycamore should've been on the list instead of the Max Headroom(as that wasn't really a scam so much as a bizarre event). The fact that a fake school got broadcast on ESPN is mind-boggling.
Strider: Number 5, Kevin Trudeau… Me: The Prime Minister of Canada?! Strider: (Does segment) Me: Oh, that’s…that’s a different guy… (blushes from embarrassment) Also, I love the Animal Crossing music during the Fyre Festival segment! 🦝 🐢
Awesome video as always! I'm so glad that you tackled this video because unfortunately, there are even more scams nowadays and many people do fall victim to these scams.
Thank you for dunking on the Lottery. It's also considering gambling. Not only are your chances slim to none, but all that money will be given to a company with clear deceptive practices in mind. Thus, you won't have any money for said lottery tickets. The more you want, the more you'll consume.
Actually in New York the lottery is controlled by the state and the money goes to education, actually in 2022-2023 the lottery contributed $3.7 billion dollars to the states education system. From what I understand in the United States, lotteries are controlled by the states they are in, not a private company and not all states have the lottery.
27:50 my friend growing up won the win for life grand prize from the scratch off tickets. you can really win. money is gone though, he didnt invest it.
I have a family member who won the lottery, it's all well and good that he won but from what i heard he didn't spend much of the money. And there was major issues when he died cause my family fought over who could get what was left. Sad thing is they fought in court so much the money wasn't really given to us it more went to the lawyers. Only my grandfather tried to respect what my relative wanted but everyone else like "screw that, gimme money now!" From what i know I think my relative would have sooner had the money donated to a school or something.
The flip side is if you DO win the lottery its a huge life change and not usually for the better. There are plenty of videos on here about what happens to people and its very sad
Scammers are absolute scum. I’m ashamed to say that I fel for one. They took a few thousand dollars before I realized it and felt like the dumbest person because it seems so obvious now. I wonder if people who fell for these felt the same way
10. The Santa Clause with Tim Allen had a similar joke but with "Spank Me" to which Scott Calvin said "I know that number" :D It was cut because it was a real adult hotline that some kid called up which resulted in a $400 phone bill. 9. His little scheme eventually forced him to COUGH up the cash. (I'll show myself out.) 8. We also had a TV psychic that ended up being the biggest douche of the universe. 7. These "cold readings" burn me up! 6. I think Skechers need to "shape up" and cut this nonsense! 5. He was hired by Miss Information wasn't he? 4. One of those also gives out "cab fare". 3. Still better than Chuck Swirsky. Friggin' liberrrraaaall! 2. I think it's time to put out that Fyre. 1. I'll use my coin to "scratch" off playing the lottery from my to-do list.
I definitely like your new ideas they definitely feel new and fresh and some stuff I didn’t know about myself your entertaining till this day love you strider! ❤
One scam that always annoyed me as a kid was that french Microsoft virus pop up that would basically say that if you close the pop up before you call them, they will deactivate your computer. It's really sad that some people are so desperate that they would scam people, and even sadder that some people would fall for them. Let's just hope that the people who got scammed get a happier ending. Great video PhantomStrider!
Of course it wasn't a TV scam, but I just thought I should mention those virus scams. I also just found out that there was an English language version that basically says the same thing, but slightly shorter by a few seconds.
Honestly, those 900 number ads were really stupid. I remember one about a rabbit, and another about famous cartoon characters like He-man. All of which I never called said number. As for lottery tickets, I never bought any, because it's a waste of money and I know I'll never win.
The James Hydrick story goes far deeper than PhantomStrider talked about. After being exposed, he gave a bunch of excuses about how his powers were weakened due to having a cold that day. He later admitted to being a fraud in 1981, as he learned the trick in prison and wanted to see how easily he can scam the world. Despite all of this, people still believed he was psychic and he had a relatively successful career afterwards. He was later arrested in 1989 for the molestation of 5 boys he was "training" and was institutionalized because of california laws. He is still commited to this day due to his tendencies of pedophilia, paraphilia, and antisocial personality disorder, which combined make him a danger to the general public.
Yep true :) I cut a crapload out of James Hydrick due to both some of it being distasteful and I felt there wouldn't be much interest from viewers hearing the detail. Honestly it mostly just made me want to talk about James Randi's career debunking psychics and I felt there wasn't much artistic or educational value in me discussing Hydrick's criminal behaviour and future. So I kept it very very short :) Thanks for the extra info!
Celebrities be like “CHILDREN!!!!”
@@AccurateThings fr especially back in the 70s & 80s
@@andykishoresothertvstuff5759 it’s trafficker dumbass
Institutionalized? As in Not in prison?
Yep. Sounds like California alright.
So about the Max headroom incident:
He wasn't calling Doctor Who a nerd. He was calling Chuck Swirsky, a local sportscaster on the first station they tried to intercept, a nerd.
It was two stations they intercepted and the first one didn't have any sound go through.
This. The other station was WGN, and the signal for them lasted about a few seconds before they went to a back-up transmitter. The sportscaster said something along the lines of "Well, if you're wondering what happened, so am I." There was a post on reddit from someone who was supposedly in the group of people who did the hijacking or was the sibling of the person who was Max Headroom. It does provide some plausible points for why and how it happened, but take it with a grain of salt
@@pierrecusmybladdersempty1938 Oddity Archive.
@@pierrecusmybladdersempty1938 i actually thought it was WGN themselves. Since they’re the types to do that? I live in lake county Illinois… and I’ve watched em my entire life, they’ve got to be the most unprofessional bunch of news casters well not unprofessional, more careless and just normal people. But for some reason the line up of them reminds me of the number 2 station from anchor man. They’re all just super schemy looking to me and I love it.
Max headroom, sounds like it should be combined with max legroom.
It was the greatest and funniest hijacking in American TV history.
As a store clerk i have so many depressing stories about people who buy lotto numbers and it’s just sad. Dealt with guys who bought $100 dollars worth of tickets but begged me to give him free food.
Yup. I can see dropping a few $ now and then, but never the $50-100 some people do. I never play, but occasionally when one of the mega lottos reaches $1billion or so I have dropped maybe $8-10.
The lottery industry profits off of addiction. That's how they make so much money.
I remember when a store clerk said that they were going to be throwing away food bagged it twice dude spent his entire paycheck on lotto numbers he was luckily living in a apartment complex that was cheapest place to live in my home town and it being a small town were everyone knows everyone for the most part so he wasn't going to starve
One of the places where I used to work didn't give us Christmas bonus's. Instead, he gave us lottery tickets in Christmas cards. Needless to say, I was personally insulted.
One of my best friends and former coworkers used to spend hundreds of dollars a day on these tickets. She was a very underprivileged person, on a fixed income, living in government housing, with multiple children, and living off EBT. She'd waste so much of her checks on these tickets and spend up to an hour buying and paying out random tickets. It honestly made me really sad to see someone so desperate to do that.
Add Publishers Clearing House to this list. They sent my mother at least 2 envelopes a day, and sometimes 4 or 5. Each one said a winner was going to be picked on [x] day. "It could be you! You have a good chance of winning! No purchase necessary! But hey, we have a ton of shit to sell you!" She used to say, "God will let me win the jackpot!" but that never happened. She passed away in March. I am still trying to purge all the damn crap she bought because she thought she would have a better chance.
That sex hotline joke was the most R rated joke I've ever seen Strider make 😭
Nah that caught me so off guard lmao
@@abbygamepop Bruh same lmfao XD
@@bgaming2297yeah back then Strider I believe used to make more r rated jokes but now he really doesent so it's actually surprising
Lol
It the less offensive R rated joke I seen
“But hold on! In a previous life, he could have been George Washington!”
That’s literally Ed Edd n Eddy worthy scam material.
It looks like satire, yeah
The thought of scamming innocent people makes me sick to my stomach. Great video as always PhantomStrider.
That sickness means you have more humanity than most. Great job! Keep it up and happy holidays to you.
@@dolphincrescent54thank you very much. Happy holidays to you too :)
Same
I hope all three of y’all have a very merry Christmas.
@@Megajaybreaker4thanks! I hope you have a Merry Christmas too!
I called a psychic hot line once for laughs. She asked my name and I came back with "You're the psychic. You tell me." I got silence and then she hung up on me.
XD that's a hilarious way to know for certain if a psychic was a scammer
@@sammitaylor3942 😁😁
Guess that must have been before the days of caller ID..lol!
What would you have done if she said your name, address and more? 😅
pretty much all tv sales are pay walked behind a robo call to prevent prank camera from waiting their time, it's been like this since the early 2000s
It’s great that you’re covering stuff like this, even when the scams in question aren’t recent. Hopefully videos like these help people realize how subtle and not so subtle scams can really be.
Happy holidays :) Thank you for giving my vids a look this year. I hope you have a safe and pleasant new year and the new year has some pleasant little surprises waiting for you.
Sup strider
@@xxRaph_tmntxx sup subzero :)
the way Josh says "Brittney Spears was my crush" killed me 😭
Looking back on these I’m glad scam commercials and ads have become easier to notice than ever especially with how mainstream social media is nowadays. This was a very unique and fun video Strider
Yeah, it's mostly just FB etc. scams now...
I ruined reality TV for my mom by telling her that most of it was not real. I'm proud of myself
Yea the times i had to tell my Mom and Friends that Trash TV isnt actually real... its insane.
I am from Switzerland and we get a lot of, we call it "Assi TV" - "Asocial TV", it usually shows completely fake Families in Germany that act highly trashy,
don't work, who act just like 100% human garbage.
And you would be shocked, at how many people use this, to "verify" their own shitty life, to "not be as bad as theirs"
It feels real, because they don't use real actors. Just people who want to be on Television. So many people believe that these people "really are like that".
Not all heroes wear capes 💪
Some reality shows are more real than others.
I've genuinely met people who believe I'm a Celebrity is filmed in a forest where the contestants have to survive starvation... Like dude no, it's clearly a set in some studio and they're obviously fed between sessions, it wouldn't even be legal to starve them.
@@Kamifox1 I remember one guy actually got really hurt he messed up his leg and his wound actually became infected and they had to take him off the show there was another guy that got an appendicitis and there was another guy that actually got heat stroke That was on the Survivor Series now I don't know if any of the environments were real but the injuries were real
They might be scams, but they really got creative with the 1-900 ads. For whatever reason they were really prominent on the SciFi channel (especially psychic hotlines) so I got to know them pretty well when I taped MST3K.
I remember the more risqué ones from watching ad breaks during Night Flight too. Maybe it's because they weren't shot like traditional ads, but I always found them fascinating.
One that stuck out to me was from an old Nostalgia Critic commercial special that didn’t even look like it was trying. Just a badly made red puppet thing.
Four words, for the risqué ones:
*_Pick Up The Phone!!_*
A lot of those were targeted at kids too. To trick them into calling with or without their parents knowing.
If I recall correctly, once a math professor told me in school that you are more likely to be killed by a cow than winning on the lottery, and he stated even the fact that we were in the city, really far away from any cow was put in consideration of his statemant😂
Now, the NFL does the same thing for gambling, then at the end They say don’t over spend Your money. Gambling is a scam and an addiction, that You just can’t say no to. It really made Me feel sick, when the NFL participated with it.
That is just brokie cope. the lottery is still a valid investment.
I was so tickled pink that you covered Ms. Cleo! My family and I would laugh our butts off when we saw her commercials. I was just a kid, but it was the first scam I really understood. Sadly, I fell hook, line, and sinker for those Skechers shoes! You forgot to mention that they turned out to be kind of dangerous because customers could easily roll/sprain their ankle while wearing them. I agree 110% with you about the lottery. I’m from Las Vegas, and we don’t have a lottery, we just have the giant, bottomless pits downtown where people can toss their money if they feel like it. Some people call them “casinos” lol 😆 Love this, it was fascinating and funny!
Lol, I thought Vegas residents would be more adverse to buying lottery tickets but man, the number of people I know that regularly take an afternoon to drive to Primm is shocking! I guess it's more understandable they tend to only buy in once the jackpot gets relatively high, though.
And I guess my balance was better than I thought because I never had the rolling ankle problem or bad knees afterwards. I miss those shoes so much; nothing since has offered the comfort of Shape Ups.
@@sujimtangerines my mom also really liked how those shoes felt
As a fellow Dr Who fan after max headroom hijacked the show and called the Doctor a nerd, I consider him my greatest enemy
I understood it more as "If the doctor is a nerd, then being a nerd is fantastic!"
Reddit ass comment
Allegedly part of the Eminem rap God music video is inspired by the max headroom incident
ALL OF BRITAIN HATES HIM AT THIS POINT
Rassilon would like a word with him.
I remember so many of these ones from the 90s growing up. not to mention the infomertials,.. "BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE! Call within the next 20 minutes and we will double your offer, not one BUT TWO of these pieces of garbage we couldnt sell at a discount store. Your satisfaction is guaranteed, and if you aren't completely satisfied with your purchase, return it, for a full refund - just pay the shipping and handling." I swear the only decent stuff sold on an infomercial was sold by "Billy Mays, here! Introducing Oxy clean!" Oh and the scam that was the shopping channel. Brings back memories.
“Look at the dog in his previous life he could have been George Washington” 💀
The napealin one made me laugh
Some girl I know thinks her cat used to be Ethel Merman.
😂@@josephrowe849
*_REINCARNATION_*
I'd like to think if reincarnation was real, we'd move UP the foodchain, not down it. 😒
Hi Josh! Incidents like these are why I don't trust infomercials, because you never know if it's a scam or not. And sometimes even in stores you have to be careful what you buy [so many recalls happening lately...]! It's always good to take caution when purchasing items, to avoid being scammed.
It's always funny to me when adults act like something is going to traumatize their kids, but the kids just laugh
Kids are far more resilient and knowledgeable than their parents expect. They pick up on a lot. When my parents sat young me and my sister down to explain how Santa wasn't real and how "the birds & bees" worked, we admitted we knew all that. Every kid in early elementary school knew. 😅
@@lancerevell5979 When I was in fourth grade, we had to watch a video about periods to explain what they were, it was during school, and the video also mentioned "by the way periods happen because this is how babies are made." And they even showed digital art of it. They don't bring it up again, and just move onto what a period is and why it happens, but all of us learned "the birds and the bees" that day just from that one scene.
I only knew about the birds and the bees 🐝 in the 5th grade which is strange
In Germany ads for the lottery are always followed by a disclaimer of how low the chances of winning are, how it can be addicting and how you are not allowed to play if you're under 18 years old. It doesn't help much, but it does put things into perspective a bit.
We have a fast and soft-spoken bit at the end for ours about "gambling responsibly" and the exact chances of winning.
There are loads of regulations concerning lotteries in the US as well.
This one was a rollercoaster ride of emotional changes Josh. Holy crap! (Also the Nin never getting sick line SLAYED me!)
Dishonorable mention: The Glasglow Willy Wonka experience.
I always tell people "I've played enough Mario Party and RuneScape to know that luck is never going to be on my side for the lottery." The thing I hate the most about the lottery is that, excepting VERY specific extenuating circumstances, they LEGALLY REQUIRE you to appear ON-CAMERA and be ADVERTISED on their web site and their machines. Yeah, THAT'S real smart, I mean, it's not like people FAMOUSLY get crazy over large quantities of money or anything; CERTAINLY people don't get robbed or worse over their newfound wealth or anything. Seriously, the fact that the lottery believes that you, as an individual, don't have a right to privacy over winning disgusts me; I wouldn't brag about winning a boat-load of money, why would I want someone doing it FOR me!? I'd rather be keeping that to myself else I'd quite literally be painting a country-sized TARGET on my personage! >.
If I remember right, they do let the winners wear a mask. They just want to record a person actually signing the paperwork foe proof people can win, you hiding your face doesn't bother them.
@@angrytheclown801 Don't they still publish the names, though? Besides, that's a silly justification: "We want people to know it's *possible* to win." OFC we know it's *POSSIBLE*, you loony lotto loofahs, just like it's also possible to be struck by a meteor on a Sunday during a solar eclipse on a Leap Year! It's just the likelihood is so astronomically small the odds may as well be non-existent! The random-number-generator is...well...just that: random! I'll much rather take my chances with rare loot drops from map metas in Guild Wars 2: at least then, if I don't get what I want, the only thing I've lost is time...and patience...and maybe a little dignity... XD
@@bluestreaker9242 I'm not sure about publishing your names, but I worked in the gambling industry. It's not that silly a justification. Think about it: You know people win at casinos, someone just won a jackpot while I'm typing this. But neither of us want to go to the casino and blow a paycheck. Most people would agree to this. But there's just something about seeing someone win that gets people hooked. No one became a gambling addict by just being told they could win a fortune but probably not, they have to experience that win if at least vicariously.
Remember, just because it isn't illegal doesn't mean it still isn't wrong and won't bite you in the ass in the end. I may want to have more money, but I don't want to scam innocent people like these idiots did. We all work better with a clear conscience.
With that said, I wish you PhantomStrider, your fiance, your cat, Boo, and all of your loved ones happy holidays! Let me know what kinds of Australian Christmas foods you like! 🎄🎄🎄🎄
You spoke nothing but facts.
And happy holidays!
Happy holidays to you too Dolphin :) I really like roast turkey this time of year! 🍗 Delish
You know,i got scammed a lot out of pokemon cards from 7-10 years old,so i understand completely
Exactly @NateB_cu8wy
@@phantomstrider I'm more of a ham person for Christmas.
Fun fact about the Fyre Festival: Apparently I found out that rapper Ja Rule also founded the event with Billy and thought it was legitimate. However, he wasn’t as hands on and left Billy mostly in charge. Unlike Billy, he was remorseful about what happened, mostly avoided the eight lawsuits and even sued Billy himself. Which is a shame because I bet if he had found out earlier he would’ve done something or probably made the event better. It honestly shocked me that he okayed this!
Also Ja Rule 10 minutes after festival opening on twitter: I AM NOT GUILTY and IT WAS *NOT* A SCAM
Lottery tickets being more of a scam than Fyre Festival is one hell of an achievement. Also, I had no idea Skechers even made shoes for adults, I just thought they made those shoes that looked awesome to kids.
Yeah I think Josh was really stretching on that one, it's not so much that you're unlikely to win the lottery, you'll probably win small or moderate amounts of money if you play enough, it's the winning millions things that's unlikely and I personally don't see anything wrong with buying the occasional ticket, it's better then wasting money on booze and tobacco that's for sure, at least lottery tickets won't slowly kill you.
@@jadedheartsz If I could trade out my addiction of Fast Food with an addiction to the Lottery, I would.
@@jadedheartsz If you get satisfaction out of buying tickets that argument is sound. If you buy the tickets to actually win a good amount of money the argument is not there. I at least get positive brain chemicals when I drink or smoke.
@@salamantics Yeah i do get satisfaction out of it, but even if I don't win at least's no risk of cancer from playing the lottery(or chance of getting a DUI and losing your license like my dad did from drinking).
Pay £2 for scratch card wins £2, buys another scratch card and wins nothing
as someone who’s just fascinated by this stuff; More of this stuff please!
The Max Headroom incident was started with Chicago's local news station, and outside of calling Dr Who a nerd after the news channel cut him off, he also poked insults at the news anchor who was live during the hijacking (the Chuck Swirsky guy he mentions in footage you used).
As for suggestions maybe cover Gameshow bloopers. I remember one incident on the Price is Right where they rigged their most famous game (Plinko) for a commercial to promote the home console versions of The Price is Right... and accidentally forgot to unrig the Plinko game board before a contestant was called up to play Plinko the next day. They ended up owing this contestant extra money off camera, on top of what she won during the redo. ... the family fued music on the last segment made me think of this.
Out of any attempt to recreate the max headroom hijack Nintendo win
Honorable (or maybe dishonorable) mention; Publishers Clearing House. They're just trying to sucker you into subscribing to magazines you may never have time to read in a day much less a single lifetime. And name me one actual person who won that $1 million cash prize. I bet you can't.
PCH is one of the worst scams perpetrated upon the American public, right behind party politics. They say "no purchase needed to qualify", but if you don't buy their overpriced rags, you will NEVER be allowed to 'qualify'. They just keep throwing pages of magazine ads at you, saying "just one more step to qualify!" Yeah, total scamfest. 😡
"That's what I used to think!" said the paid actor in the TV ads. No doubt his paycheck for the spot was all the money he ever got from them.
I used to work in a convenience store that sold lotto. I've sold thousands of tickets to people; I even experienced when the Powerball had their biggest jackpot at the time. Needless to say, some bought 50+ tickets (as in for a single buyer) that day.
I worked full time with 10-hour shifts at that store for months. Never had anyone won a ticket even once the whole time I was there.
It's kinda sad to see that those who play the lottery actually think they could win big and will keep playing until they do, usually justifying to make up the losses of spending for the tickets, when it'd have been easier to just not buy them in the first place. 🤷🏻♀️
You solve that problem by just buying one ticket occasionally and not a ton at once. I much prefer buying scratch-off tickets as that way you don't have to wait for the numbers to be announced and you're more likely to win those.
It's gambling on a larger level. But people don't acknowledge it.
My neighbour 3 doors down won £3m years ago. I guess thats all the luck in the street used up now.
i saw people win small amounts on tickets but never more than $100 on a single ticket
Sad thing is, though, it's usually disabled and elderly doing it. So it's usually for healthcare costs and medical debt/treatment/medication.
When you said that it’s impossible to win the lottery, I remembered about a teacher at my primary school who won the people’s postcode lottery
Everytime I see the shake-weight in action, I laugh like a child.
Never gets old, I swear.
I would have started a company handing them out for free and advertising it to women for videos.
South Park did an episode based upon the Shake Weight. It made me feel better knowing I wasn't the only one who thought it looked inappropriate. That episode was pretty funny.
The Kevin Trudeau story is really appalling-he got in trouble for infomercial product scams and through some legal loophole was able to sell books, so started selling those instead of things like his memory system and I think some real estate fraud system. Of course the books were scamming people too. But he was an absolute fixture on program length infomercials starting in the 80s, Wild West times for infomercials
I remember my aunt trying to buy some of his cancer cures iirc for her father. Ofc it didn't work. He graveyard dead. No disprespect, Papa I miss you.
It’s really sad that he did what he did. My friend and I did his diet that came out before the cure book. Both of us did very well and a Dr in my town and her brother followed the original dr’s plan for it and did so well she was helping patients with it. When it first started the injections of the hCG were illegal in the states. About a year or two they were legalized and GNC and many other places sold the synthetic form. I have an extreme needle phobia so I did the synthetic form and she did the injections. Only diet program that truly helped me loose weight. Also it was the easiest for me to follow, probably because it said you can eat this, this and this and nothing else. There are many recipes on Pinterest that are the hCG diet friendly. I actually have been pondering going back on it as I have had some health issues and have put on a good bit since. If he had of stopped there and not gotten greedy. Sadly some just can’t.
Number three reminded me of my dad telling of his childhood. He was in Chicago watching TV with his parents when the hijacking popped up on the screen. Left him a bit disturbed and his parents so confused
It turned out that 2 stations were hijacked. WGN and WTTW.
"They" are whoever people want them to be. Fox News uses it all the time, and when pressed for details, "they" always change.
It's the Jews. It's always the Jews. That's ultimately who "They" are when conspiracy theorists talk about folks who "don't want you to know" something.
Every conspiracy theory has some element of "The Jews Did It" in it.
Me and my siblings used to watch Miss Cleo religousily as kids back in the 90s. I don't remember if we actually believed her claims, but her personality always made her a fun watch.
Miss Cleo told me, a 13 year old girl at the time, that my husband was finally getting out of jail. I didn’t even ask a question first just said good day lol.
If I remember right there was an episode of that's so raven about a similar thing
Cleo is not a good person. She committed the grave sin of lying and scamming, all of which are sins that God is no longer forgiving as of 2020. If she had died later, she would most certainly be tormented by the demons lurking in the fiery pits of Hell. I refuse to show compassion to people like her. And it saddens me to know that you guys still show kindness to people like her.
@@nevaehhamilton3493 I never said that she was a good person, just that she was fun to watch when I was a kid
@@stlouisrocker100 your youth of the past are just as intellectually inept as ours of the present day.
13:23 Whoa, neat impression of Nin's impressions! I even loved the "yaaay~" you did.
21:36 Is that word, "vial", sic or was it a typo? In any case I got thrown back to that Dragon Quest monster, Vial Creature. Quite clever name considering what it is. =) I also quite like the Max headroom hack character's quirk, happy he didn't pull something so vehemently malicious considering the power he had and hey, I didn't know he inspired some cool stories!
31:04 And not to mention no one's gonna come at you for getting that money.
I gotta say, this was an unusual topic for a vid from you, and you handled it magnificently so major props to that! I love learning new things by you. Sorry for all the people who fell for these scams, I hope in the long run it was more a learning experience than a harmful one and that those scammers learned their lesson.
My old coworkers used to say I was a wet blanket because I didn’t put money into a lottery bank that someone used to buy an expensive ticket and if they won, they would split the money. Pretty much everyone except me and one other person did it. And guess what. They didn’t win. They were just each out $5 and got horribly disappointed. But the joke’s on me, I guess
I have a shakeweight. It did actually help me bulk up. It wasn’t for 9 seconds though. Everyone knows that action needs at least 30 mins
Think less about baseball.
Sketchers will not tone you up (only exercise and a diet that works for you), but my Sketchers for work are super comfy so I guess they've learned.
I used to think Sketchers were for old people until...My father passed away and he had just bought a pair a few weeks earlier. So my mom gave them to me , I put them on one day and I was like "Damn these shoes are so comfortable". So now I wear Sketchers and have several pairs, I love the slip in ones. Plus every few months the Sketcher store has a buy one get a second pair for half price. i usually get two pair for about $60, beats the hell out of spending $75-$100+ for one pair of Nikes.
If I made this list, I would have added Reality TV and those awful Phone Ringtone commercials.
Reality TV is a pretty obvious scam, fooling people into thinking these shows are "real" despite are all following a script of events, however loose said events are.
But I knew a few kids personally that would ring up mommy and daddy's credits cards to get those awful bit crushed to hell ringtones on their phones.
And the worst part is that some of those programs were hidden spyware, so when they'd charge you the next month for more ringtones, they'd conveniently be more tuned to your listening habits.
Canceling those subscriptions would be a nightmare, literally playing ring around the rosy with customer service folk that could barely speak English.
And they had the audacity to make you pay for a cancelation fee on top of that.
Plus said spyware would of course contain some nasty malware, and while cellphones were pretty primitive at the time, those scammers still found ways to screw with that new at the time tech.
You forgot gambling ads on Aussie TV that airs every ad break and they tell you to waste all of your money on bets on sports. The only reason why they're allowed to air their ads is because of two reasons. Reason one is because they air a 5 second warning at the end to tell people to gamble responsibly and reason two is because they pay the government so that the government doesn't outlaw gambling.
From the US here and we have those ads as well.
Oh lord, did some Australia states legalize sports betting recently too? Just happened in the US. It was really bad this spring and summer. Soooo many ads. Hasn't completely been legalized in the country but I think 25 or so states just passed legislation about it. Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Indiana are a few at the top of my head. And they brought out a bunch of celebrities to hawk these services.
@@SheilaDeBonis At least in your country they don't have pokies in restaurants like AppleBees and inside of pubs because in AUS there is a lot of space in the pubs that caters to slots. Also in the USA you have to be 21 to gamble which is weird but that means that less young people would waste their money while in AUS you can gamble at 18. The gambling industry doesn't have as much grip on your politicians like they do here but it still a bad thing because your politicians don't want to outlaw gambling in children games like FC 24 or Fornite because their are being paid off by the companies. There are a lot of people playing EA sports games here on UA-cam and are winning meaning that there is a likely chance that those guys and gals are plants paid by EA to glorify gambling. Those games also have no age verification meaning there is nothing stopping kids from using their parents money to gamble on players in the ultimate team or skins in Fortnite. The FC/ FIFA, NBA 2k and Madden series are all rated E in your country even though you can spend real money on players and skins that you can't buy directly and instead you have to put money in a slot and hope that you get the item that you wanted which is gambling and yet it rated E and not AO. Same thing in AUS because most sports games are either G or PG meaning that there is no restriction on who can play it and the only thing that the advisory board said about gambling is that the game got in game purchases which is more than the ESRB does where they don't even mention that because the ESRB is compromised because the ESRB board is made up of the leaders of video game companies who are the ones who put gambling inside of full price games Fornite is M here and T over in USA but my point still stands because M is not a restricted rating like MA15 or R18 and anyone can still play it while in USA T for teen is 13+ but in USA you have to be 21 to gamble.
@@Ensign_gamesWE DO??? I cut the cable cord maybe 5-6 years ago so it must be a more recent development?
yeah it became a more recent development@@sujimtangerines
“Have you been a naughty boy?”🤣🤣🤣
15:04
Canadian here, our prime minister has the last name. It's easier than you think, it's just pronounced "True doh"
Love your videos! They're incredible, keep going!
Thank you from a fellow Canadian!
Oh, he knew how to pronounce it, he just did not want to say it lol
The “oh honey no” reaction in #5 was so classic and funny. I LOVED IT
Can't blame Blink-182 for getting out of that festival, the event itself sounded like such a disappointment
It was a horrible scam. Netflix has a great documentary on it
@@tiffanyeyoung1800 Just out of curiosity, do you know the name of the documentary so I can search it on Netflix?
the whole max headroom incident is hilarious to me because a person that hijacks a network to provide a message only to never be caught would probably have been expected to say something ominous and threatening, meanwhile when the max headroom guy did it in real life they just did it for the sake of a joke
in what way is this even a scam actually
@@hokton8555 it wasn't, he says in the video that he was breaking the rules because he wanted to talk about it
Fascinating topic. In regards to the sunscreen causing cancer bit: it's partially true, certain brands of spray sunscreen in the US were recalled in 2022 for containing benzene, a carcinogen. First time I ever saw my current dermatologist I was given a list safe sunscreens.
Robocop made that joke decades ago.
this is my first time watching this video, and I appreciate the Scams that You’ve uncovered, especially the Lottery, I showed it to my Wife, Who now understands that the Lottery is fake and that You Can’t Win. Thanks So Much for Your Grateful Information on these Scams.
This might end up becoming one of my favorite videos that he's ever mad
Edit: Guys, half of you told me I made a typo. It's not original. I'm not changing it, probably would've if only one person said it, but now I won't out of spite.
All of his videos are my favorite.
I like his TV show reviews the most :3
Sorry to be that guy, but *made
@@samariathemaniacsamee :D
What a simp
@@nicosfangsalso, your profile picture looks adorable
I used to love Miss Cleo, she definitely had a warm character, even if she was all fake. Of course I wasn't surprised when I found out she wanted to be an actor. Shame she was instead part of a giant scam and didn't even make a whole lot despite her fame.
I don't think "Max Headroom" was calling The Doctor a nerd since the failed first attempt at signal hijacking was done on WGN, and "Max" even references the network and Chuck Swirsky, who was one of their sports commentators. It's likely "Max" was either referring to Chuck or someone else at WGN he also had issues with. We'll probably never know.
My mom used to watch a lady called Sylvia Brown when I was growing up, she was the first person I thought of while hearing about that "Miss Cleo" gal. I think she either had her own show or her own segment on a show. Sadly I think she's passed on now, but goes to show how some scams are timeless.
Edit: I never knew Miss Cleo was a supporter of LGBTQ rights or came out as a lesbian though, good for her
Kinda sad that because someone nefarious aligns with your ideals just makes everything hunky-dorey. Ya'll need to start living as critical-thinking individuals.
@@mr.voidout4739 Never said that. Just giving credit where credit is due. That doesn't necessarily mean I agree with every single thing she said/did. Although I will say, from the info given in the video, it sounded to me like she might not have been treated well by the people actually in charge. I wouldn't be surprised if she simply played a character and wasn't afforded the decision to warn viewers that it was only that- a character. Like all those ""psychic"" people shows/call lines etc should have been doing and still do in the first place. Again, nowhere am I saying that I agree with the scam or absolutely everything about her. Because I don't.
It's all right in the end since she suddenly found a way to be excused of scamming people by having a mental illness.
I REMEMBER SYLVIA BROWN! She got completely destroyed on Montel Williams IIRC.
A scammer is a scum period
This is probably gonna hit some folks in the childhood, but Fushigi was a pretty big scam during the 2000s.
Fushigi was a big metal "Magic Gravity" ball that was advertised as being capable of floating in odd ways when in reality it was quite literally just the sleight of hand making it look like it was floating or holding still in some capacity.
Basically Fushigi was a fancy magic trick to show those unaware of how such things worked but it required *a lot* of time and effort to successfully pull it off.
A waste of money for the buyers and a waste of resources for the manufacturers. But at least you could make something worthwhile that uses those oversized paperweights with enough of them.
Never heard of it
I remember seeing those ads for that guy’s books. Mom works as a diabetic educator and she joked that if they had a cure they would have given it to the public so they could escape from all the work and overtime they have to do
You should've covered the ringtone scams of the 2000's or the Interacel ads that plagued Central American countries for some years. Great video regardless
in 1997 I was about ten. I called Miss Cleo. She said I would marry and have a baby. Twenty four years later, I did. COINCIDENCE????? Probably. But she technically wasnt wrong....
Another great and informative video. Plus your sense of humour is great :)
Ngl, how strider said “Oh honey, no” got the biggest laugh out of me. Amazing
I briefly worked at an AT&T call center. A customer called complaining about being scammed by a 900 sex line. At first it was assumed that he was claiming that he never dialed the number, but his actual complaint was that he called the number and talked to a couple of ladies, but he wanted a refund because he didn't have sex with any of them. Needless to say the charges were sustained.
AAAAH I can't believe I missed the upload and it's been 4 weeks already! I love how you worked the sprites out on Nin The skit was awesome!
One thing about the Lottery is that even if you win, most blow it all, getting into worse debt that before, and some have a bunch of people asking for a cut. And some would try to kill you for the winnings
The Joker was hijacking radio and TV broadcasts in the comics decades before Max Headroom or the 1989 Batman movie.
I've always found these broadcast hacks and similar stuff (numbers stations!) creepy because they suggested to me that there was some weird hidden world out there that we only occasionally got glimpses of via broadcasting glitches and the like.
The most hilarious scam this year is the videogame called the day before that released the same day as Hilda season 3 and completely shut down after 4 days.
I think it's funny the guy, released a second book titled "The Cure for debt" or something like that, just because his first book more than likely put people into debt. It's something I would expect out of a Simpsons episode, not something I'd expect in real life. I hate the thought of scamming people though, it's a reason I'm careful spending my money on charities and stuff because I don't want to fund something that I don't agree with or worse I could agree with it but the people who are involved could actually never see the money or be harmed because of it.
It's astonishing to me that Billy McFarland is still trying to get Fyre Festival 2 off the ground. He's selling tickets to an event that doesn't have a location or date yet. He's sold a few so far but it's widely believed no one will listen to him after what he did before.
Bonus Fact: Billy did actually rent out the island once owned by Pablo Escobar. But did so on the condition he wouldn't mention that it was formally owned by Escobar. He mentioned him immediately and the owners pulled the plug.
That's because the island didn't actually belong to him, just an associate of his
Dissing the lotto is one of the most based thing Strider has ever said like THANK YOU PHANTOMSTRIDER AND FUCK THE LOTTERY
Your unexpected videos always makes my day better : ) Cheers to you mate!
South Park did a spot-on take off on the Shake Weight. Hilarious.
Apparently some people used them for bad pranks
Sketchers does make really good normal shoes. The problem is when they go off into other things, like hoodless hoodie jackets which is ridiculous because they act like that should be called a hoodie, plus they act like it's more mature and for adults not to have a hood, because you know, you don't need that to protect you from rain or cold weather.
What sucks about the Sketchers Shape-Ups is that they did indeed have benefits. My girlfriend has had bad feet, ankles, and knees her whole life. From what she told me, the dr had to pull her out of her mom by the feet which dislocated them and they never healed properly. The Shape-Ups were the only shoes she could find that would let her walk all day long without pain due to the rounded shape at the bottom (she doesn't have a proper arch in either foot). If only those advertising morons didn't make such outrageous claims.
You really had me thinking that you were gonna talk about Theranos with the clip of Elizabeth Holmes at the beginning, but I still 100% agree with every placement on this list, Strider.
This was an absolute rollercoaster of a video and I would love to see it get another installment, if you’d like to make one, of course.
And hey, you already have another Top 3 Scam Contender right there! 😄
Anyways, regardless of whether or not this is the only one of these videos that you do, this was a very telling and well made video!
Great work, Strider! 👍
To make Treadeu's scam even worse, he didnt even write his books. They were ghost written. On another note, I can't hep but picturing a 9O year old man lying on his death bed. He motions his family closer and whispers in a frail, shaking voice "I was Max Headroom".
You know it’s a good day when Strider posts a video.
Until the max headroom mystery is finally solved, I’m gonna say that it was a prank by disgruntled TV station employees at the time.
Theranos should've been #1 instead. Also I think Bishop Sycamore should've been on the list instead of the Max Headroom(as that wasn't really a scam so much as a bizarre event). The fact that a fake school got broadcast on ESPN is mind-boggling.
I had fun, i don't mind more like this
Strider: Number 5, Kevin Trudeau…
Me: The Prime Minister of Canada?!
Strider: (Does segment)
Me: Oh, that’s…that’s a different guy… (blushes from embarrassment)
Also, I love the Animal Crossing music during the Fyre Festival segment! 🦝 🐢
You're thinking of Justin Trudeau
Strider: who's they?
Josh duhmal: THEYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!
I think covering top 10 craziest hijacks would be interesting
Awesome video as always! I'm so glad that you tackled this video because unfortunately, there are even more scams nowadays and many people do fall victim to these scams.
You are the best channel I have ever seen in my life. Thanks for making UA-cam a better place for me!
19:58 thanks for including this Josh
Thank you for dunking on the Lottery. It's also considering gambling. Not only are your chances slim to none, but all that money will be given to a company with clear deceptive practices in mind. Thus, you won't have any money for said lottery tickets. The more you want, the more you'll consume.
Actually in New York the lottery is controlled by the state and the money goes to education, actually in 2022-2023 the lottery contributed $3.7 billion dollars to the states education system. From what I understand in the United States, lotteries are controlled by the states they are in, not a private company and not all states have the lottery.
27:50 my friend growing up won the win for life grand prize from the scratch off tickets. you can really win. money is gone though, he didnt invest it.
I have a family member who won the lottery, it's all well and good that he won but from what i heard he didn't spend much of the money. And there was major issues when he died cause my family fought over who could get what was left. Sad thing is they fought in court so much the money wasn't really given to us it more went to the lawyers. Only my grandfather tried to respect what my relative wanted but everyone else like "screw that, gimme money now!" From what i know I think my relative would have sooner had the money donated to a school or something.
The flip side is if you DO win the lottery its a huge life change and not usually for the better. There are plenty of videos on here about what happens to people and its very sad
Great video josh. This was a lot of fun and really showed your heart
Scammers are absolute scum. I’m ashamed to say that I fel for one. They took a few thousand dollars before I realized it and felt like the dumbest person because it seems so obvious now. I wonder if people who fell for these felt the same way
:) Thank you so much for covering Miss Cleo. There aren't enough videos on her.
Phantom strider I'm glad that your content keeps getting better & better Keep up the good work!!!
Max Headroom was not "computer generated." He was played by actor Matt Frewer. His image was distorted to make him jerky but he was very real.
10. The Santa Clause with Tim Allen had a similar joke but with "Spank Me" to which Scott Calvin said "I know that number" :D It was cut because it was a real adult hotline that some kid called up which resulted in a $400 phone bill.
9. His little scheme eventually forced him to COUGH up the cash. (I'll show myself out.)
8. We also had a TV psychic that ended up being the biggest douche of the universe.
7. These "cold readings" burn me up!
6. I think Skechers need to "shape up" and cut this nonsense!
5. He was hired by Miss Information wasn't he?
4. One of those also gives out "cab fare".
3. Still better than Chuck Swirsky. Friggin' liberrrraaaall!
2. I think it's time to put out that Fyre.
1. I'll use my coin to "scratch" off playing the lottery from my to-do list.
In germany, there is a whole TV channel for people to call someone that can "read their future" and talk to ghosts etc. Old People love calling there
Great video, Strider! Hope you and your family have a Happy Holidays and a great New Year! ☺️👋
I definitely like your new ideas they definitely feel new and fresh and some stuff I didn’t know about myself your entertaining till this day love you strider! ❤
Another day, another great video from PhantomStrider
One scam that always annoyed me as a kid was that french Microsoft virus pop up that would basically say that if you close the pop up before you call them, they will deactivate your computer.
It's really sad that some people are so desperate that they would scam people, and even sadder that some people would fall for them. Let's just hope that the people who got scammed get a happier ending. Great video PhantomStrider!
Of course it wasn't a TV scam, but I just thought I should mention those virus scams. I also just found out that there was an English language version that basically says the same thing, but slightly shorter by a few seconds.
Honestly, those 900 number ads were really stupid.
I remember one about a rabbit, and another about famous cartoon characters like He-man.
All of which I never called said number.
As for lottery tickets, I never bought any, because it's a waste of money and I know I'll never win.
"F%CK THE LOTTERY!" -Tourettes Guy, c. 2004
1990s TV scams were weird and bizarre
"TRudeau" is also the name of the Prime Minister of Canada, and pronounced like what he planned to steal, "True dough". --Bob Bailey in Maine, USA