Considering The Food Frauds On This List, A Simple Grilled Cheese Sounds Appealing

By Farah J

This article was originally published on myfryingpan

Name one thing that is worse than a scam. You can’t. However, when it comes to food scams, nothing leaves you feeling more betrayed. It has become so common: paying for 90% air, 9% plastic, and 1% food. It’s like paying for your own tears. This is a generation of foodies, and food scams tend to hurt us more vigorously than others. They are the least discussed heartbreaks, which is sad, seeing as we don’t have any unity to stand up for the injustice being done to us by the heartless scammers! We should all support this dedicated Reddit group, FoodScam, that decided to shed some light on our mutual enemy, the food scammers, by sharing their dirty deeds with the world. Let’s take you through some of the worst crime scenes of all time!

Scam-wich

Raise your hands if you love sandwiches to death. We do. And now raise your hands if the “to death” part has come true for you all, thanks to our lovely food scammers. We believe we all have had that one experience that led us to hate food scammers with all our hearts.

Image Source: rangersmetsjets/Reddit

Sandwich? More like a “scam-wich,” where the sandwich fillings are there for the display, and when you open the sandwich, all you find is the bread and a teeny bit of filling. At least now we know better than to order sandwiches from a cheap market.

Birthday surprise!

Twenty dollars says that the person who had the birthday had the biggest surprise of their life when they cut the cake. Imagine their surprise when they started cutting the first slice of this pretty Frozen cake while everybody sang happy birthday.

Image Source: Anger_Puss/Reddit

They could only cut halfway! This is a crime against the cake, and most of all, the one with the birthday! Because if we were them, and our customized cake turned out to be Styrofoam, we’d have ended up suing the bakery! Hope they did the same.

A box of lies

We all lie, yes. As Meredith Grey says in Grey’s Anatomy, “Lying is bad, but we still lie all the time.” But food scammers are taking this way too seriously, not to mention literally! This is not what she meant when she said that lies sometimes keep us from getting hurt.

Image Source: RalphiesBoogers

This box of “lies” is only hurting us! Don’t these food scammers have a heart? Whoever thought of scamming poor innocent chocolate lovers like this should be put in jail for being heartless. In fact, this should be a crime under the law!

The bonus Oreos

As infuriating as it is, this scam can be seen as a good thing. It’s all about perspective, right? So, look at it this way: you bought a fancy tin for your sewing and knitting kit but got six round, delicious Oreos as a free bonus snack! At least this perspective will save you a lot of heartbreak and rage.

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We are doing the pathetic food scammers a favor. Consider this forgiveness from the people who had to experience your nastiness in the form of charming oreo cookies because they sure would have come after you if they didn’t find some way to calm down.

Half-full or half-empty?

Here we go again, paying for air and plastic. And this time, the food scammers are testing us to our limit. This person thought they were buying a container full of spice until they flipped the bottle upside down.

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Food scammers are clever for putting a wrapped sticker on the top half, making you think that the bottle is filled to the top. But, we guess that the people are smarter for seeing through their façade and lying games.

Center-filled jam

Jam? More like a scam to us. The brioche looks like it’s been robbed of its basic right. It even looks sad and apologetic, like it knows what’s coming. The packaging is a lie, and the company should be sued for doing this to people.

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This brioche company isn’t the only one that scammed us like this. Most snacks that promise us filled pastries are like this! Even though we wouldn’t want the amount of jam presented on the wrapper in our brioche, the actual amount we received is a shame!

A beef box

Food scammers are like, “On tonight’s episode of ‘how to fool the customers,’ we present to you this box of beef jerky!” We’re emphasizing the box, not beef jerky. But let’s have fun and make people think otherwise!” Well, food scammers are way out of line with this food scam.

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If you’re smart enough, you’ll catch their nasty scam by looking from under the box instead of just the sides. The food scammers show us what they want us to see, which beef jerky is in this case. But next time you go grocery shopping, don’t forget to peak from the bottom!

Extra sour cream on the side

Well, this could’ve gone better. Technically, they gave you exactly what they wanted, but they did this on purpose, as far we can tell. The notoriety of the food scammers exceeds their reputation, and this is proof of it. We bet hundreds of people go through this every day. 

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The food scammers are too clever to be this dumb. It’s too obvious not to call them out for their schemes. This man’s wife asked for extra fillings, and they definitely didn’t deliver. We wouldn’t be surprised if she has trust issues now.

Bigger bag, more air to breathe in!

All hail Pringles, the only chips company which doesn’t charge us for air. It’s the advertisement for a “bigger bag, more to share” on the green Doritos bag for us. Like, yes, sir, we believe you. It is a bigger bag, which means more plastic and more air for us.

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As if there was not enough plastic already in this world and not enough air in our crisps. Food scammers, you guys know exactly what you are up to! We asked for more chips, not a bigger bag with more air!

The scammer-licious

A couple of delis out there used to be our go-to junk food, but they ruined it too! They are slowly taking everything from us, and we are silently letting them. Not only that, we are paying them double than before. This is outrageous. It needs to be stopped!

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What is this? A slice of cucumber and tomato and a little leaf of lettuce for the display? To stop this, we first need to stop trusting what they display on the shelf and the mouth-watering pictures and get them to make our sandwiches right in front of us!

Oreo-less ice cream

Ice cream is the snack that helps us get through the tough times, right? It’s the international symbol of happiness and joy in food form. But guess what? Food scammers have got other plans for when you order oreo ice cream by giving you only the cream and not the oreo.

Image Source: Krystaphonix/Reddit

Where are the Oreos, you freaks? We are already having a bad day, and now you are adding to it! Food scammers, you guys really need to put your shenanigans somewhere else. Don’t mess with those who depend on the oreo ice cream to get through the day! 

Broccoli roses and thorns

This is a great example of “when you wish for roses, you get thorns instead” because it is happening here, literally. Even the packet says “delicate roses,” meaning that it should be a bag of broccoli flowers. Except the food scammers got a surprise for you inside.

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Somebody (the food scammers) ate the “roses” and left you with the nice green stalk. How hearty of them! We would like to throw this stalk in their faces. That’s how whole-hearted we feel right now after seeing our “delicate roses.”

Pop-scam

Now, this is plain evil. There was no point in doing this to people, and we all know it. Even the food scammers know it, but they are too nasty and greedy for money to tell you that. How do these guys live with themselves after doing this?

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And why waste a good amount of cardboard and plastic for this? Why would you think of doing people this dirty when all they are trying to have is a good movie night? We bet the person who bought this never bought ready-made popcorn to save time again.

Grief bacon

We hate it when food scammers try to be “funny” with their customers, like, no sir, you messing with us regarding food is not funny in any way! Especially when they pay full price for something that is nothing but shame in the name of food.

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Just like this “side of bacon” a person ordered. This is just aggravating. The fact that they paid six dollars for this “side” makes us want to have a word with their scammer manager. These scammers are getting bolder by the minute, and it needs to be stopped.

Raisin bagel, not raisins.

Well, what did you expect? They clearly said raisin…bagel. Singular. Not a cinnamon bagel full of raisins. They kept their word. One raisin bagel coming your way. You can’t do anything about it because the clever food scammers have the upper hand here.

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At least if you ordered this, you would be able to send it back. Food scammers think they can get away with this, but they won’t. They are going to do their time if we keep posting their mess-ups on the internet for the whole world to see.

Two halves of a wrap

This is intentional fraud. Well, when it comes to food scams, it’s always intentional, and it makes us sick. But this is pure evil. Whoever thought of doing that has it coming for them. We will make sure of that.

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Yes, we are angry. Wraps are our favorite thing to eat when we’re stressed. And we have the right to be angry when we see this! What makes them think that they can put two different quarters of a wrap at two ends of a package leaving the middle part empty?

Breakfast wrap

There are times when people need to get out of their homes quickly and need to stop and get breakfast on the way to work or school. Imagine looking forward to having breakfast and getting this a minute later…

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This is evil. No sane person with a little sense of humanity and a heart can do that to someone who is about to start their day. You have to be heartless to ruin someone’s day, mood, and above all, morning breakfast like this. This wrap is a shame.

Tacos-cam

Okay, we give up. We won’t call this evil or ridiculous or aggravating; this is just sad. A sad, sad attempt by taco bell at making, well, who knows what they were trying to make. All we know is that they put zero effort into it.

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The reality is making us cringe, and we can’t imagine the expression on this person’s face when they opened the box. They probably judged the cover too quickly to notice the food scammers running the taco place. They will never order nachos again.

Chocolate chip muffin

Here we have another instance like the raisin bagel! They say chocolate chip, not chips! Why would you think that food scammers are nice people who would award you with dozens of chocolate chips in one muffin that would make you melt with joy?

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At least they are keeping their word for what they said. It has a chocolate chip for you to remember what kind of muffin you ordered, and it’s not just a plain muffin. Next time, do yourself a favor and try to make them at home.

Cannoli stripped

This is just plain gross and, if not already, should be a crime because it is one against humanity in our eyes. This doesn’t even look like food to us. Is it even edible? Or is it some kind of hospital food only patients are supposed to eat?

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Stripping the cannoli of its dignity, respect, and filling was not a good move, food scammers! The cannoli has done nothing to you, so please stop disrespecting it like this. This looks like bird poop, and we are pretty sure it tastes like it too.

Non-conversation hearts

When Taylor Swift said, “Maybe we got lost in translation, maybe I asked for too much,” and when she said, “I can’t talk to you when you’re like this,” we all felt that. Well, by the looks of it, the food scammers felt it the most.

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That’s the only defense from the food scammers we are willing to consider in front of the jury because nothing else they say about the lack of words on these sweethearts would convince us that they aren’t guilty.

Avocados and lack of nigiri

Maybe the person who took their order wasn’t in their right mind because it’s just avocados. There is no nigiri insight. When you order avocado nigiri in a sushi restaurant, don’t they bring you an avocado nigiri dish, and not both of them separately? 

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And most certainly not only one of them? What is this scam? Like, are we the only one seeing it? Don’t they have the common sense that no one orders plain avocados; it must be a whole dish mentioned on the menu, like avocado nigiri, perhaps?

Baby garlic bread

This food scam hits us like a train. Just imagine seeing those pretty, juicy, golden, crunchy, big pieces of garlic bread, only to find tiny babies of garlic bread that look nowhere near like their parents on the packaging!

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Food scammers should be embarrassed by their actions. We don’t know how they live with themselves after doing this to the innocent people who only want to have a life and good food at this point! Why do you want to make us so sad?

Chocolate meh cookies

Just comparing the expectation vs. reality in this picture is making us want to hit our head on the wall! Even the color of the cookies is just meh. These aren’t cookies at all, we believe. Thank you for the two tiny chocolate chips, though!

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These are probably some chocolate biscuits in fake and misleading packaging that advertises chocolate chip cookies. The least food scammers could do was get the color of the cookies right so we could give them some benefit of the doubt.

Paleta Postizo

First of all, both of them are creepy. We wouldn’t blame food scammers entirely for this absurdity. Why would anyone want to eat the head of a creepy clown? Especially when the insides of the packaging look like…that.

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Still, we don’t even have a word to describe how dirty food scammers did to the poor person who was looking forward to eating a chocolate-covered marshmallow clown. The eyes of the clown look yummy, though. Can we have one eyeball?

Special tomato salad

Wait, do you call this a ‘salad?’ Because we only see differently shaped slices of tomato presented on a plate topped with onions. We don’t think this counts as a ‘tomato salad.’ It’s just freaking tomatoes on a plate!

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And on top of that, they had the audacity to charge five pounds for this ridiculous scam! The nerve! We sure hope that the customer sued the place after. This is pure mockery, and food scammers think it’s a game!

Ice beer

Food scammers had no right to act on their ridiculous thought of scamming them unless they ordered ice with a hint of root beer in it. People notice things, especially when they are paying for them. A person can’t even have a root beer in peace!

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Unfortunately, this trick by food scammers is pretty common all around the world. And no one speaks up about how so many of us are the targets of injustice here. We want a cold drink, but that doesn’t mean we just want ice! Get a refrigerated soft drink next time.

Cornetto

We are tired of these lies, and we cannot stress enough how many of them are out there in the food-scamming world. When is this all going to end? When are we going to get our fair share of cornetto ice cream?

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At least leave the ice cream alone, food scammers. Ice cream is everyone’s favorite thing, especially in the summer. Why would you break our hearts by breaking down cornetto? Give us our ice cream back! You make us want to cry!

Blueberry muff-

Hey, we got a lovely blueberry muffin! Look! We got a whole muff- wait. Oh. We got scammed. Again. We got a plain muffin with one blueberry on top. Well, why aren’t we surprised? They clearly said ‘blueberry,’ not blueberries.

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We should’ve seen it coming. It’s the singular, plural scam again. You ask for a blueberry muffin, and you get precisely one muffin with one blueberry—nothing more, nothing less. Next time, make sure to get your order right.

SSS: Separated shrimp scam

When you order jumbo shrimp, make sure they’re not cut in two halves and placed at opposite ends of the packet covered with a sticker in between because the chances are that the sticker hides the truth. And the truth, in this case, is that you are about to be scammed!

Image Source: RalphiesBoogers/Reddit

Why would anyone do that? If you are selling the shrimp, give the whole thing to your customers. Why do you have to do them dirty like this? Even the poor shrimps look like they have questions for you.

Sour scam

Our childhood came back in the worst way possible. This packaging gives us nostalgia, but the sticks don’t. Unless the outer packaging outgrew the sticks, we don’t want to hear any explanation as to why these lovely treats are half their original size.

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Just looking at this hideous sour stick scam is leaving a sour taste in our mouths. Food scammers really are focusing on the ‘sour’ part of life, wanting to ruin people’s day like this. Kids today won’t know the true power of sour sticks.

Four chocos and a paper ball

We don’t think any food scammer would be able to reach this stage where they do the innocent people dirty by taking one of their chocolate balls and replacing it with paper without letting them know. But guess what? They did!

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Five chocolate balls are now four, with a paper ball as a bonus! Like, ‘whoever loves chocolates? Let’s give them paper balls to play with!’ We are guessing that this was the behind dialogue between food scammers before this horrid deed.

Stem-fresh broccoli

Nah, this can’t be called steam-fresh because it’s just a fresh stem of broccoli. Maybe we need to buy a separate flower of broccoli and steam it ourselves before using our packet of broccoli stem. Food scammers may have better ideas, though.

Image Source: AlexMayhem86

What do you think, you freaky scammers? We believe that if these guys wanted us to pay for the real thing, i.e., steam-fresh flower broccoli, they would’ve just said so, right? But, we guess we are going to have to do everything after learning from our mistakes of buying food from scammers!

Blueberry granola fraud

This person was robbed of their rights to the blueberry granola. And we are not going to take this singular plural scam this time! We all know that this heavenly item’s ingredient list mentions “Blueberries” despite the name on the packet.

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So, either give the public the exact thing you swore to sell or shut down this scamming business of yours, you mean food scammers! We are not going to sit back and tolerate this behavior. It’s getting out of line now!

Tomato paste can

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of 12 ounces of tomato paste? Yes, that it will be full to the brim and NOT hollow from the middle! Because this is just plain dirty and a horrible scam.

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Imagine opening a sealed can and finding this. You immediately become enraged because you’ve been fooled, and you can’t help but want to throw the paste at the factory manager’s house! At least that’s what we would’ve done.

Burger with “extra” tomato

Imagine their surprise when they received this long-awaited meal. By the looks of it, we think that this person is a tomato lover and wanted extra tomatoes on their burger this day. Well, we guess the person who took the order wasn’t very sensible.

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Either that or they were just playing with the person and decided to give him the shock of his life. Because we don’t think any person in their right mind would do that; only food scammers are foolish or clever enough to do something this malicious.

Saucy cheeseburger

Rather lack thereof. For this person, ordering a rodeo cheeseburger from Burger King was what they looked forward to all week. But on this day, they definitely weren’t happy. Burger King broke them with their famous rodeo burger.

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Burgers are supposed to be saucy! What’s a rodeo burger without barbecue sauce? Seeing a mere drop, and we aren’t even exaggerating at this point, of barbecue sauce in your burger and lack of other sauces, too, would make us take Burger King down!

Chocolate “filled” crispy cookies.

Watch out for the tidal wave of chocolate in these amazing Pepperidge Farm Milano melted chocolate-filled cookies! You would never be able to come out of the chocolate rush that these cookies give you! It’s like a chocolate factory in one biscuit!

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Our tongues are swollen from all the sarcasm that we just threw at these cookies’ makers, more like cookie scammers. They display something on the box, and they give us 1% of it. This is nauseating. It’s not hard to put a little bit more chocolate in there.

Jolly Ranchers hassle

Who doesn’t love Jolly Ranchers? We all do. But when these Jolly Ranchers start doing us dirty like this, who are we supposed to trust? We have already come to the conclusion that this Jolly Ranchers’ tassel was not worth the hassle. 

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Putting Styrofoam in the mug instead of Jolly Ranchers that these guys are apparently trying to sell is one horrifying and misleading business food scam. And we won’t be here for it. Your pretty mugs and colorful ribbons won’t do you any good scammers!

Chocolate-less wafer sticks

We didn’t know that chocolate wafer sticks came chocolate-less. We guess we’re supposed to buy melted chocolate from somewhere else, pour it down this hollow, chocolate-less, wafer stick, and then enjoy it. That’s the only plausible solution to this.

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We don’t see any other solution provided on the misleading packaging of chocolate wafer sticks. All we see is wafer sticks filled with a tremendous amount of melted chocolate that is enough to make our mouths watery. The reality is so far from that.

Two sprinkles doughnut

Dunkin’ Donuts is internationally loved, respected, and not to mention famous for their options and doughnut recipes. Well, we guess not every Dunkin’ Donuts place is as perfect as the original. Food scammers got ahold of one of them, too.

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Sadly, one Dunkin’ Donuts branch in some parts of the world is enough to make us second guess our choice of buying doughnuts from there. Scams really do take away our trust. Thanks so much for the two sprinkles, though!

Deranged Elsa cake

Well, to be honest, we wouldn’t call this a scam. When you look at it, there are two possibilities behind the derangement of this cake. Either the buyer didn’t check for their sample cakes. Or, the baker simply wasn’t up to decorating the cake.

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Honestly, the hair part is really good. Something probably happened before the rest of the icing was done on the cake. Or maybe the cake decorator was switched out for an amateur. Or maybe it is a scam but a mild, non-hurtful one.

Foot-o-longs

These aren’t even connected! How do the scammers think we are supposed to eat it? Separately, or switch between the two longs bite after the first bite? The main fun of this foot-o-long jelly is that you have to chew on them together!

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Their flavors are supposed to collide in our mouths, making a delicious mash! But nah, food scammers are busy being horrible and nasty with their tactics. We are ready to bet that this roll isn’t a foot long either! We know better now.

Half a cheesecake for double the price

Is this cheesecake made of gold or something? Why does this person’s cheesecake, which is half the size of the container, cost ten dollars? Is there a prize hidden in there? Why is it so costly? That’s all we want to know!

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What are these food scammers up to now? They are selling a thin slice of cheesecake in a container that can clearly fit another slice of cheesecake for the price of two pieces? We would send this puppy right back!

Fish with onion fillings

This is barbarous! Putting silverfish rings on the outside for a nice silvery advertisement and filling the inside of the box with white onions where the packaging covers it is one heck of a nasty deed. How do food scammers even live with themselves?

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After all this, food scammers are still in business. As much as this is hard to believe, it is true. And the highly logical reason for this is because food scamming has become such a common and expected thing that no one stands up for it anymore.