Based on the reaction to a previous post it's clear that people are very interested in the dubious and unethical ways that people save money and cheat the system to get ahead.
We've pulled together a new thread of dirty tricks and illegal cheats from Reddit and elsewhere.
These hacks are uniformly unethical. Some veer into fraud. They should be regarded as informational and for entertainment purposes rather than as actual suggestions. You shouldn't do them. If you do do them, you are a bad person.
"At my summer theater where everyone is brought in from various parts of the nation and lives together for the season, the length of employment is roughly 68 days. Walmart's electronic return policy is 90 days. So, the carpenters would get a huge widescreen hi-def, whatever, lovingly store every scrap of packaging and the receipt, and take it back as soon as the season was over. It was actually pretty freaking smart."
walmart Walmart Media Relations
Via Reddit:
"If you want to cancel your cellphone contract without paying a fee, pull up the provider's service map. Find a huge hole in the map, like a desert out west. Look for a town name in that map. Tell them you're moving to Putzachateeawaka, Arizona and you want to cancel because they don't provide service there. Boom.
"3 times now. 3 times."
Ruta 40 ArgentinaShutterstock"Putzachateeawaka" is not a real place, but this is a remote desert that probably doesn't have good cell coverage.
"This one should be kept a secret but whatever. Next time you're at your dentist or any place that has a layout of various magazines, take a picture of the barcode, address, and name. When you get home that's all the information you'll need log into the online version of the magazine. Either that or set it up on your iPad and enjoy free versions of magazines forever." 
Building a startup or website? There are lots of underhanded ways to boost traffic, via OMGPOP founder Dan Porter:
  • Drive traffic, either directly or indirectly, with pornography. "It's cheap to buy and can generate a lot of clicks," Porter writes.
  • Traffic robots and meta-refresh can help artificially boost stats as well. 
  • More suggestions here.
"I've been canceling and switching the name on my cable bill now for 10 years between myself and my wife so I always get the new customers rate."
"I know a married couple who started a "food blog" basically so they can write off their entire grocery bill."
It's surprisingly easy to take advantage of people's fear and insecurity with the "fear then relief" technique. Basically, you make someone think they're in serious danger of losing their livelihood, or anything else likely to provoke fear. Then you relent, and ask for something less. They're much, much more likely to comply
An example would be a manager making an employee think that their job's in danger, leaving them to stew for a few hours or a day, then relenting and letting them know they're safe. That's when they ask for them to work overtime. 
undercover boss boston marketBoston Market
"I learned that you can get into almost any special event by wearing a chef coat. Even just carrying one and walking like you know where you're going will work every time. Most people don't want to look stupid by asking you who you are." 
An unethical business tactic that isn't technically illegal, via Quora user Antone Johnson:
"(Tie) up a key competitor or strategic partner in extensive negotiations (merger, joint venture, etc.) when you aren't seriously considering actually doing the deal and are just trying to learn as much as possible about their business -- or use them as a competing bidder to drive up the price for the other company you're serious about."
"My go to missing work call was never "I'm sick", it was "Family problems". They never questioned it, it's vague enough and embarrassing enough that nobody ever asks."   
Lots of people have figured out how to look busy and satisfy their bosses without doing all that much work. A few tips to accomplish this.
  • Respond extremely rapidly to emails. It doesn't take that much effort, and makes you look on top of things.
  • Prioritize visible tasks for the people that can help your career over anything else, regardless of import or job function.
  • Always have a long list of things you're working on so you aren't assigned more.
  • Pad your estimates of how long things will take by 25%, and deliver ahead of schedule, but use this sparingly.
  • Make a "decoy screen."
working, busy, focused, tumblr, january 2012, bi, dngDaniel Goodman / Business Insider
"My friend from high school works at the recycling center for his college. About a thousand books get thrown away each semester because the school won't buy them back. Amazon definitely buys them though. He gets about a $1000 bonus every semester."
"When career hunting, flagging Craigslist posts as spam after applying, or taking down flyers for a position (like at a college campus). cuts down on the competition."
"Lots of government bodies/agencies buy computers with the OS pre-bundled and pre-installed (Windows Vista, 7, 8) which they then overwrite with XP because that's what the IT department wants. If you see a relatively new computer running XP, check the side of it for the license sticker. More likely than not it will be a perfectly valid windows 7/8 pro license key not being used and never going to be used. I've picked up over 50 this way. Anytime I need to upgrade a friend's PC, I use one. No point in them going to waste."
"I always sleep in the Islamic prayer rooms when I have a red-eye layover somewhere...they're fairly spacious, absolutely quiet, and clean as can be. There is plenty of room to lay down on the carpet, and security never comes in to bother you."