Yes, and it is so much worse. We have very few actual choices for major services and are forced into business with them because life without these services is next to impossible.

Think about the tax code as an example. We literally have to buy software or pay a professional to decipher the madness. It's by design in order to keep all these people and companies profitable!

Or shrinkflation. Is selling a candy bar that is half the size of the packaging yet the same cost as it was before they shrank the product fraud or is it just smart business?

It fits the definition of fraud more than anything...