History Main / ScamReligion

'''Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease [[note]]We know you Website/{{Reddit}} [[RageAgainstTheHeavens atheist]] [[HollywoodAtheist types]] are just itching to say "AllOfThem".[[/note]] There is a reason that this trope is [[MedalOfDishonor the example used on that page.]]'''

* LetsPlay/HATFilms and 'The Hand of Truth' in ''Cornerstone''. Not entirely clear what the religion involves, but it sure likes gold.

* ''Series/{{CSI}}'': Played for [[AlwaysMurder the standard tragedy of this show]] in one episode where the Las Vegas Police encounters the site of a cult's mass suicide. It is revealed that the cult was one of these and the scam artist leader's M.O. was to stage faked suicides to run off with the money while everybody was conked put on tranquilizers, however he had the bad luck of running into TheOnlyBeliever of his teachings when he was readying his getaway car…

* The Orzhov Syndicate, from the Ravnica setting of ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'', is half of this, and half of LegitimateBusinessmensSocialClub. It's a little unclear of ''how'' fake the Orzhov church is, but it's abundantly clear that everyone in that guild is there for the money and power, and not the piety.

* In ''WebOriginal/OrionsArm'', the Epimethian movement promoted subsingularity abdication, that is, returning to an [[FormerlySapientSpecies animal consciousness]] on the basis that language and cognition are a barrier to the true understanding of the world. It managed to convince several sophants to revert back to average primate intelligence to become ''Homo Epimetheus'', which was to live in a park managed by the Epimetheus Foundation, which would receive all the adherents' properties. It was later discovered that the said Foundation was a money-making scheme, and the managers of this scam only invested a minimal amount in the park, which their charges couldn't protest since they already had lost any higher cognitive capacities.

'''Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease - There is a reason that this trope is [[MedalOfDishonor the example used on that page.]]'''

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': Most witches in the Boiling Isles worship [[GiantCorpseWorld the Titan]], believing that [[HighPriest Emperor Belos]] is his prophet and will lead them to utopia during the upcoming Day of Unity. [[spoiler:[[AmbiguousSituation Though the Titan may be indeed alive to some extent]], Belos is actually a human witch-hunter and plans out to [[FinalSolution wipe out the entire witch species]] through the aforementioned Day of Unity. His various dogmas, such as the necessity of the Coven system, exist only to make the process go as smoothly as possible.]]

* The book ''Leaving Fishers'' by Creator/MargaretPetersonHaddix is about a girl who joins a cult called Fishers of Men. Among the many other things wrong with it, one thing she finds out at the end [[spoiler:when she de-coverts]] is that the head of the cult is using their donations to support a lavish lifestyle while making it out as though he can barely afford things. [[spoiler:The main character admits to having given the cult her college savings...]]

* The Hymn of One in ''WebVideo/{{lonelygirl15}}'' is actually a front for [[AncientConspiracy The Order]].

%% ''Literature/TheTatamiGalaxy'' has a combination religion/pyramid scheme.

* In ''LightNovel/{{Bakemonogatari}}'', this is part of Senjougahara's backstory. Her mother got scammed by one of these cults and gave away their family's life savings, as well as [[spoiler:offered her daughter to be raped by the cult leader (she escaped).]] Played for drama.

* In the original web novel version of ''LightNovel/{{Overlord}}'', Zuranon (the cult of death that [[{{Necromancer}} Khajit]] belongs to) runs one. Jashin, the God of Death worshiped by the cult, was made up by the higher-ups of Zuranon to manipulate their followers easier. This backfires a little when Ainz shows up, as he ends up usurping control of the cult - the members who aren't aware that Jashin isn't real believe him to be Jashin incarnate, and he has the power to back it up.

The followers of the Scam Religion are not evil, it's merely a matter of wasting time and resources. In a setting where there is One True Religion, the greatest crime of the Scam Religion is to keep people distracted, thus preventing them from accepting the ''true'' salvation. In a setting where there isn't One True Religion, then the Scam Religion is, well, just a scam. That said, even in settings where there is no One True Religion, Scam Religions aren't entirely harmless--some of them can literally ruin the lives of their participants financially or relationally or otherwise, and just because the Scam Religion isn't plotting to kill people in society at large or summon TheLegionsOfHell does not mean it is not capable of hurting people. For example, while one may not be seeking to kill people at large, one may be quite willing to kill ex-members who leave and could bring back lawyers and/or media attention. Or the sex the higher-ups are getting is ''rape.'' Or the amounts of money being taken are so significant that victims are left impoverished or dependent on the government or other people. Or its existence justifies a corrupt and unjust secular government. Etc, etc...

* The Silver Wolf Order in ''Anime/BNABrandNewAnimal'' presents a shapeshifting teenage girl as the reincarnation of the Beastman god Ginrou. She's actually Michiru's school friend Nazuna, who used to be human like herself but turned into a [[AsianFoxSpirit Kitsune]]. At one point Nazuna makes the claim that even if she's a fake god she gives the Beastmen hope, [[spoiler: but her priest is actually using her to destroy the Beastmen's faith by exposing her as human at the height of her concert.]]

* The ''Series/{{Sliders}}'' episode "Prophets and Loss" has a fundamentalist church which "sends its believers to paradise" with what the protagonists think is Sliding technology [[spoiler:but is actually a human incinerator]].

* ''Series/WhatsHappening'' had an episode where Rerun joined a cult that worshiped a head of lettuce named Ralph. The couple behind it are scam artists who tell their new "followers" to give up all their possessions to them.
* ''Series/StargateSG1'' dealt with destroying many of these, from the parasitic Goa'uld to the demigod-like Ori, and even a few fringe cults, like the time an SG team member went crazy/rogue and declared himself a god.

* ''Series/{{JAG}}'': The Wicca religion is portrayed as such in "The Witches of Gulfport".
* ''Series/Zoey101'' had the Silver Hammer Society, a supposedly elite group that turned out to be a scam for the leaders to get the people who wanted to join to do stuff for them.
* ''Series/RedDwarf'' has Silicon Heaven from "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonIIITheLastDay The Last Day]]", which is a rare overlap of this with RobotReligion. In a rare variant, nobody actually takes Silicon Heaven[[note]]mechanoids can assure themselves an eternity of blissful rest by obediently serving humans throughout their runtime[[/note]] seriously apart from the mechanoids who have been forcibly programmed to believe it, because the fact that it's just a cheap, lazy way to try and keep mechanoids happy with slaving away to serve humanity is written in the "humans only" section of every mechanoid operating manual.
* ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' has "Crackpot Religions," displaying a series of rather silly holy sees which is then interrupted by what appears to be a serious minister addressing the issue. Then he gets a phone call:
-->'''Minister''': Hello? (''pause; pulls out Financial Times'') Well, how about Allied Breweries? (''pause'') All right, but keep the Rio Tinto.

* ''Series/Evil2019'': In the episode "I is for IRS", the team is hired by the IRS to investigate the New Ministry of Satan, which is applying for tax exempt status, to see if they're a legitimate religion or a con. After their investigation, they come to the conclusion that it is indeed fraudulent, only using Satanic imagery to get attention so that people will buy their merchandise (with the ministry's leader taking the bulk of the profits for himself).