CuriositiesMAR 13, 2024

30 People Share What Loopholes They Exploited Until Someone Realized What Was Going On

We have laws for a reason. They're there to deter people from stealing, committing fraud, and other crimes. But even the legal system can't always be perfect. People find ways to trick the system and benefit in some way, whether it's through insurance, unlimited discounts, or just free pizzas for a year.

One netizen was curious to know whether people had stories about similar things. So they asked: "What's the greatest legal loophole you've found in life?" People flocked to share their experiences of finding real-life cheat codes. Some of them were just small everyday wins, while others had pretty significant changes in their lives. Check them all out below, and don't forget to upvote your favorites!

#1

30 People Share What Loopholes They Exploited Until Someone Realized What Was Going On

My little brother got a job at Harvard. He didn’t have a college degree. He was allowed to take one class a semester (or something like that). It took him ten years, but he got a degree from Harvard in archeology.

evil_burrito, Zhanhui Li

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169points

#2

That if you’re rich enough, most laws that are punished by fines simply mean those things are legal for a price.

PolarBearChuck, Nathan Dumlao

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137points

#3

They say most people eat 8 spiders in their lifetime, but really you can eat as many as you want. Treat yourself!

TK-Squared-LLC, Pixabay

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119points

It may seem that the law is the law, and that's that. There's no going around it, right? Well, according to legal professionals, sometimes, things can slip through the cracks. Laws may not be well thought-out, or they might be phrased ambiguously. Then loopholes are bound to appear.

There are some loopholes in U.S. laws that might seem untrue but are definitely legit. For example, in Wisconsin, underage (under 21) people can drink alcoholic beverages. The condition is that they have to be with their parents, legal guardians, or spouses who are of legal age. Some establishments might prohibit this, as the law states that this applies only "at the discretion of the licensee."

#4

While in college, I won a “free pizza for a year” contest from Papa John’s on a radio station. It was really one pizza per month for 12 total. I called in and told the guy I had the little card they gave me and he said no problem and sent the delivery guy over who confirmed I had the card and gave me my pizza. Next month I did the same. Then it dawned on me… they’re not taking my card or marking it in any way so I called a different Papa John’s and told them my story and sure enough it worked and they didn’t do anything with my card either. I started working 4 different PJ’s near me to get one pizza per week every month without arousing suspicion. With leftovers, I could stretch it to two or three days easily. I did this for almost two years before I was sick of PJ’s pizza and gave my card to my roommate as I finished college and moved out. For a broke a*s college kid, this saved me. But to this day, I can’t eat PJ’s.

cordsandchucks, The Nix Company

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104points

#5

I missed out, but I loved the gold dollar fiasco. In 2008 the US mint produced more than a billion new gold dollar coins. Nobody wanted them. So they figured maybe if they offered free shipping then people would order some online. Some clever folks ordered bookooos of them using credit cards that gave rewards, frequent flyer miles, etc. When the coins were delivered they just deposited them into their bank accounts, paid off the credit card bill, and went to Hawaii with their free frequent flyer miles.

Igotthesilver, CardMapr.nl

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96points

#6

A co-worker had a car where it would come with a 30 day free trial of Sirius XM. He never signed up, but after getting a new battery installed he found that the trial renewed itself. Eventually he figured out that all he needed to do for free Sirius XM was to disconnect the battery every 30 days and the trial would automatically reset.

Spindlebrook, Sayo Garcia

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80points

There is a loophole to avoid repossession if you miss a few car loan payments. The Repo Man can only take your car if you parked it at your address. If you park the car, say, in the neighbor's driveway, they might not be able to repossess it. However, there is a small hiccup with this loophole. License plate numbers might betray which car is yours, so the Repo Man can still repossess it based on them.

You like getting naked and think walking around in your birthday suit in public places is your God-given right? If you live in North Carolina or Kansas, you might be able to do just that.

While public nudity is illegal in North Carolina, people can be nude on their own property. So, standing in your doorway with no clothes on is technically legal. In Kansas, however, you can walk around naked as long as there are no obvious signs of arousal or sexual behavior. So, you can strut your stuff down the street with no problem!

#7

You know, you can just order a happy meal for yourself as an adult. No one actually checks.

PUNCHCAT, freestocks.org

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67points

#8

GameStop ran an promotion where they bought used games for 50 euros. Specific games tho. Anyway I ran to nearby outlet stores bought the stock for 20-30euros per game and threw them to GameStop and got cash. I got about 900 euros out of that before they fixed it.

omegabaryon, Tdorante10

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64points

#9

It used to be cheaper for me to take a class at a nearby university and get student health insurance that way than it was to just buy health insurance. If you get really lucky, you can find a professor who’ll let you do a one-hour independent study, and it’s even cheaper, and if they’re cool with your reasons, you won’t even have to work that hard. Haven’t checked out the prices or done a comparison lately, but it’s always an option, as long as you don’t pick an online class that doesn’t qualify for health insurance.

No-Two79, Pixabay

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60points

Do you know about the First Church of Cannabis? It's a legit church founded in 2015 by Bill Levin in Indiana. Levin says that the church was a direct response to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).

At first glance, the law allows Hoosiers to exercise their religious freedom. But upon closer inspection, it also might allow businesses and individuals to discriminate against homosexual individuals based on their religious opposition to homosexuality.

#10

My dad got a parking ticket, on the ticket it said the car was black. My dad's car was dark green. He contested and won. This was before they took photos and I guess they just didn't press it, but still, no charge!

Plenty_Wash8190, Samuel Regan-Asante

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56points

#11

Local online retail store (think H&M) ran a competition to win a 150 bucks off coupon. I naturally entered with my account, my sister and my moms. All three of us won and the coupon code sent to all of us was the exact same. So I figured if I created a different email every time, I'd continue using it. Which I did, for the whole year until the expiration date, and by that time I had spent over 5000 bucks without them noticing.

Ok_Spot_5629, RDNE Stock project

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50points

#12

I once got a speeding ticket for driving 52 in a 35 (mph / USA). I was driving on a stretch of road that was only about a mile long (intersections at both ends) and there were no speed limit signs on the road. All adjacent roads had a posted speed limit of 35, so one would assume that the speed limit on the road I was stopped on should be 35. BUT state law dictates that the default speed limit on county roads when not otherwise posted is 50 mph. I took pictures of the road at several places to show that there were no posted speed limit signs, and brought those pictures to court when I challenged the ticket and the judge dropped the ticket.

This isn't truly great in the grand scheme of things, but for a moment I felt like I had just won the greatest legal case in history.

airwalker08, Kindel Media

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48points

The congregation of the First Church of Cannabis, who call themselves Cannaterians, wanted to use cannabis during their service, but the courts dismissed their case. While they did try to find a loophole for smoking weed in a church during service, the court ruled that not allowing them to do so did not infringe on their religious freedom.

#13

Pay off a insurance company 5 dollars a week untill it took so l long they settled the debt 2k less than what I owed. They couldn't take me to court as long as I paid something.

Earthsubstance, Karolina Grabowska

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46points

#14

I got a refund on a non-refundable flight with Delta. Normally if you cancel a non-refundable flight, they will only give you the value back as a voucher to use on another flight.

I booked a non-refundable flight that I didn't need to take then cancelled it and got the voucher for the amount for that flight. I used that voucher and booked a refundable flight then cancelled it. It gave me the option to refund it back to my credit card and it let me do it so I got my money back instead of it being applied as a voucher again.

TheCountChonkula, Simon Ray

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44points

#15

Oregon doesnt care about misdemeanors from other states

I had arizona ruin years of my life for small weed charges

Oregon cops run my name, hear i have a warrant, and then we have a laugh and then we split ways.

ramonnoodles2, Pixabay

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41points

#16

Air BnB related:

If someone messages you about having more guests over than what you specified on the booking and claim they have you on camera, check to see if they disclose cameras on the property. If not, you do not have to pay for the nights you stayed.

queenoflimons, Alan J. Hendry

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40points

#17

Cruiseship casino: I was gifted 200$ in credit to pay for ship extras/activities when I ordered my cruise package.

When I got to the casino I realized you could load that credit into the slot machines.

After one round of testing with depositing a small amount and immediately cashing it out worked, I went back and came out of the casino with 2 crisp 100$ bills never placing a bet.

urbandk84, Kvnga

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40points

#18

Old LL tried charging me a cleaning fee when i moved out for some very minor things, like hair on the window ledge? I had spent the whole weekend before i moved out cleaning the place so i know it wasnt in bad shape at all. I’m guessing they were going to have cleaners come anyway and wanted to find any reason to charge me.

Long story short, I fought it and won because local law said they had to send a claim via certified mail within 30 days, and all our communication was done via text or email.

Elfhoe, Ketut Subiyanto

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36points

#19

That you can get a divorce by default.

I legit cried after 2 years of struggling to get the papers signed, a divorce that he asked for too!

HopefulPaperFrog, cottonbro studio

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35points

#20

I tried and failed to get tickets for the London Olympics via the main ticket application site. A small number of tickets are also sold by national associations and so I went through every single European countries' Olympic websites. Every one was in high demand or required being a resident except one. On the Icelandic website, the English version mentioned nothing but if you went to the Icelandic language version, then you could buy tickets for almost any event.

So I immediately bought the cheapest tickets for the 100m athletics final, the tennis finals, and the swimming finals.

jimbo5451, Bogdan C Rogulin

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35points