‘I got 5000 bucks without them noticing’: 20+ of the Most Entertaining Legal Loopholes

Author image for Eleonora Bader
Eleonora Bader
Mar 11, 2024 1:00 PM EDT

People are wild, but clever, and they all gather in one place to share their hilarious stories that might just help you out one day… Reddit.

But before we dive in, let's discuss why we're here. It often feels like the law is out to get us. Some were born to cater to humanity, while others came about to enforce certain hegemonic behaviors. Now, I'm not a fan of the legal system, but I understand why it exists, and mostly, I agree with what the law states. 

But there are some weird laws all around the US, and I'm here to tell you about them. For example, you can't wash your neighbor's car without permission in Los Angeles. I kind of get it, but also, hello, they'd be doing you a favor! Then we have the 'It's illegal to run out of gas' which definitely has my eyebrows raised. Apparently, Youngstown Ohio have a serious thing for cars running out of gas. And finally, in Denver Colorado, you're not allowed to drive a black car on Sunday. Weird.

Next up, a boss who forced his employee into a managerial role without a promotion…

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  • 01
    What's the greatest legal loophole you've found in life?
    via u/Standard-Stock3454
  • 02
    Lulu_42.15 hr. ago At one point, there was a statute in Virginia that essentially said if there was no one manning the booth to get on the toll road, you were not responsible for a fine if you ran it (because otherwise you had to have exact change). But in my area, they ended up completely unmanned after a certain hour, so I had a letter I provided my friends as a template so that they could completely avoid this hefty fine. Worked for all of us. 5.8k Reply Share
    via u/Lulu_42
  • 03
    evil_burrito 10 hr. ago 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. 6.5k Reply Share ...
    via u/evil_burrito
  • 04
    No-Two79 12 hr. ago 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
    via u/No-Two79
  • 05
    ParlHillAddict . 11 hr. ago Plus you would be able to take advantage of any other benefits that come with having a valid student ID: discounted admissions to attractions, cheaper groceries on certain days, etc. 1.2k Reply Share ...
    via u/ParlHillAddict
  • 06
    Igotthesilver 11 hr. ago 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
    via u/Igotthesilver
  • 07
    airwalker08 11 hr. ago edited 10 hr. ago 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
    via u/airwalker08
  • 08
    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. 3.1k Reply Share
    via u/airwalker08
  • 09
    Ok_Spot_5629. 12 hr. ago 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. 3.2k Reply Share
    via u/Ok_Spot_5629
  • 10
    miffiffippi. 9 hr. ago This feels like when I ordered Jimmy John's in college and they messed my order up. They gave me a replacement order and added a couple cookies and a drink to my sub as an apology which was cool. For whatever reason, if I hit the "express reorder" or whatever it was called, it would go through as free again. I didn't want to make it obvious so I used it like once a week until the website interface changed and it stopped working. It was awhile ago so I don't remember exactl
    via u/miffiffippi
  • 11
    DAM5150 11 hr. ago In college, I lived with my gf. We had renters insurance that I managed. I left for 6 months to go to grad school in a different state, but only took a portion of my things. She moved into a different place with a friend of hers. They decided that her friend would keep her rental insurance because it was cheaper. They had a pipe burst while they were out of town for a few weeks and lost everything.
    via u/DAM5150
  • 12
    Turns out, her friends policy was cheaper because it was capped at 10k. I'm lazy. I never called my insurance company to cancel my policy. Mid way through their flight over the money, I called my company and said hey, I moved but didn't tell you, am I still covered? They were like 'sure, we insure your stuff, not the building '. The claim ended up being close to 50k and was a nice way of replacing all my old cp from college before starting real life. Also, for the same claim, the adjuster got so
    via u/DAM5150
  • 13
    Earthsubstance. 19 hr. ago Pay off a insurance company 5 dollars a week untill it took so I long they settled the debt 2k less than what I owed. They couldn't take me to court as long as I paid something. 3.0k Reply Share ...
    via u/Earthsubstance
  • 14
    queenoflimons . 17 hr. ago 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. 4.1k Reply Share ...
    via u/queenoflimons
  • 15
    ModernSimian · 12 hr. ago Not a legal loophole, but a business one. The New York Yankees in their late 90s heyday had a trick to get playoff and world series tickets. Since orders were taken over the phone and batch processed over night, there would inevitably be data entry errors or over limits that would kick a sale back and those tickets back into the available pool. Simply calling at opening the day after tickets went on sale got us tickets to every post season game we wanted to go to for ye
    via u/ModernSimian
  • 16
    rukoslucis 12 hr. ago Obscure high end and totally overpriced food onlineshop had a rating feature that gave you reward points for the store. Don't remember how many points per review and they only accepted about 1 in 3 reviews that I wrote, but I was in school and had time. Got about 200-250€ in overpriced food out of it, but hey it was free (since my time wasn't valuable back then, or at least i thought so) I was scared about the legality so i did not exploit it, by using multiple accounts.
    via u/rukoslucis
  • 17
    I stopped after some months when they dropped the rewards feature. Looking back, I am still amazed that nobody ever noticed that one person wrote about a 1000 reviews on expensive food items, but never bought anything (apart from the 3 or 4 orders I did, when I reached about 70€ in bonus points) 563 Reply Share
    via u/rukoslucis
  • 18
    pogulup 12 hr. ago To help build your kid's credit, make them an authorized user on your cards. Don't actually let them use it but your use and payment on your card seems to transfer to the kid. Step-son had a 730 credit score at 21 without ever taking out any cards/loans himself. Another credit tip...if you file bankruptcy and need to build credit AND have some cash, take out a secured loan with a bank/credit union. You have to front the money in a savings account and make payments but there is
    via u/pogulup
  • 19
    urbandk84 12 hr. ago 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. 1.2k Reply Share
    via u/urbandk84
  • 20
    HopefulPaperFrog. 13 hr. ago 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! 924 Reply Share
    via u/HopefulPaperFrog
  • 21
    PolarBearChuck . 14 hr. ago That if you're rich enough, most laws that are punished by fines simply mean those things are legal for a price. 1.3k Reply Share Micklikesmonkeys 14 hr. ago I love Sweden. A speeding ticket fine is based on income. This dude got a $1M ticket. https://www.hotcars.com/heres-why-a-dude-in- sweden-received-a-1-million-speeding-ticket/ ⇧ 706 Reply Share
    via u/PolarBearChuck, u/Micklikesmonkeys
  • 22
    Goatgoatington · 13 hr. ago Lying on your resume is fine 339 Reply Share ... tigersmhs07 12 hr. ago I put I was TIME person of the year for 2006 and got a chuckle once. ⇧ 224 ↓ Reply Share ...
    via u/Goatgoatington, u/tigersmhs07

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humor the law funny stories attorney lawyer legalities court smart justice system funny reddit clever people weird laws outwit legal loopholes
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