Why “scam” is being discussed
The most recent Hacker News stories and comments contributing to this topic's mentions.
Would it create a crack in Section 230? Some ads are from shills in the comments. Are sites now responsible for illegal scam shill commenters? I personally think they should be.
by 2OEH8eoCRo0 · Nov 5, 2026
Which means that if the ad companies have consequences for letting through scams, new identities will face restrictions (e.g. identity verification, initial safety deposit, not…
by tgsovlerkhgsel · Nov 5, 2026
They're some kind of tax/ business rates scam judging by how many there are.
by nprateem · Nov 5, 2026
> pgrust shows the way. You mean the pgrust which was recently caught for cheating benchmarks and incapable of even performing basic queries outside the benchmark set? Would lov…
by anonymous908213 · Nov 5, 2026
It doesn't matter. As long as Google is not held accountable for showing you a scam ad that makes you lose $10k, Google doesn't care about the trustworthiness of the spammer. Th…
by OptionOfT · Nov 5, 2026
It was always a scam because LED bulbs need power supply and that creates heat, switching hundreds of volts ac to low volt dc. They don't last any longer than incandescent in fa…
by AmazingEveryDay · Nov 4, 2026
Interest
Proportion of Hacker News items mentioning "scam" over time.
Mentions
Total number of Hacker News items mentioning "scam" over time.
A scam, or a confidence trick, is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using a combination of the victim's credulity, naivety, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibility, and greed. Researchers have defined confidence tricks as "a distinctive species of fraudulent conduct ... intending to further voluntary exchanges that are not mutually beneficial", as they "benefit con operators at the expense of their victims ". Read more on Wikipedia