You've probably signed up for a "free trial" and later found unexpected charges on your credit card. Dark pattern examples exist everywhere in your digital world, and designers create them to manipulate your actions.

These deceptive practices are nowhere near as rare as you might expect. Research by the European Commission reveals that 97% of popular apps used by EU consumers display dark UX patterns. The consequences can be severe - French authorities fined Google $170 million and Meta $68 million in 2022 because they used these manipulative designs.

Websites use various tricks like confirmshaming and subscription traps that make cancellation nearly impossible. These tactics erode user trust while companies chase quick profits. This piece will show you eight real-life examples of dark patterns that websites use in 2025. The examples will help you spot these deceptive tactics before they trap you.

What is Dark Pattern?

The term "dark pattern" came from Harry Brignull, a UK-based UX designer, in 2010. He created a website to name and shame deceptive user interfaces. A dark pattern is a user interface that tricks you into doing something that helps the company—not you.

Dark patterns work like digital magic tricks. Good UX design wants to help users complete tasks easily. These deceptive designs trick you into making choices you wouldn't normally make. They exploit your psychological biases and limited attention span to meet business goals at your cost.

Dark patterns typically trick you into:

1. Paying more than you meant to for products or services

   
   

2. Getting stuck with recurring bills you didn't want

   
   

3. Giving away personal data without real consent

   
   

4. Making choices based on misleading info

   
   

5. Accepting unfair terms and conditions

   
   

These manipulative designs hit vulnerable users hardest, especially those who are rushed or less tech-savvy. This raises serious ethical concerns.

Dark patterns are everywhere. A 2019 study by Princeton University and the University of Chicago found these deceptive designs on more than 10% of 11,000 popular ecommerce sites. The numbers get worse. Researchers from the University of Zurich found dark patterns in 95% of 240 free, trending apps from Google Play store. More than half had about 7 deceptive patterns each.

8 Dark Pattern Examples to Avoid

Confirmshaming

Image Source: Deceptive Patterns

"No thanks, I hate saving money." You might have seen this kind of dismissive option when trying to close a popup. This manipulative tactic is called confirmshaming, one of the most aggressive dark pattern examples that websites use to make you feel guilty about saying no to their offers.

Harry Brignull, the UK-based UX expert who first spotted dark patterns, defines confirmshaming as "the act of guilting the user into opting into something". The decline option uses words that make you feel inadequate or foolish about not accepting their offer.

Confirmshaming targets your emotions like guilt or shame to influence your choices. This dark pattern tries to increase the chances you'll give in to what they want, which helps the company while taking a toll on your mental well-being.

You'll most often encounter confirmshaming in:

1. Email signup popups

   
   

2. Newsletter subscription forms

   
   

3. Unsubscribe processes

   
   

4. Free trial offers

   
   

5. Notification permission requests

   
   

What makes Confirmshaming impressive?

1. Looking at pure conversion numbers, confirmshaming seems to work. A study by Strahilevitz showed that users who saw confirmshaming signed up for a questionable program 20% of the time, while the control group was below 15%. The study also revealed that people with high school education or less were more likely to fall for this dark pattern.

   
   

2. Denver-based designer Nick Anderson explains why confirmshaming in popups works well. He says it completely breaks your focus, comparing it to "someone slapping a post-it note in your face while you're reading a book". The manipulative text makes the interruption even more noticeable, and you have to process the shame-inducing message.

   
   

3. This practice has become a widespread problem. Research from Princeton University and University of Chicago found it commonly used to get email addresses in exchange for discounts. The situation has gotten bad enough that people now create online roundups to "shame the shamers" who use these tactics.

Roach Motel

You've probably been there - trying to cancel a subscription and ending up stuck in an endless maze of clicks, surveys, and frustration until you give up. This is the Roach Motel dark pattern at work - a sneaky design that makes signing up super easy but leaves you trapped when you want to leave.

The name comes from Black Flag insect traps with their catchy slogan "Roaches check in, but they don't check out!". Users face the same fate as those bugs - stuck in services they want to escape but can't.

Bloomberg's subscription cancellation shows this perfectly. Users must click ten times through chats, discount popups, and surveys just to cancel. The New York Times takes it further - you can subscribe in seconds but need to call and wait on hold to cancel.

What makes Roach Motel impressive?

1. Businesses love this dark pattern because it keeps users around. Take gym memberships - you sign up online in minutes but need to show up in person to cancel. Many people keep paying $15 monthly because canceling takes too much effort.

   
   

2. Amazon Prime's cancellation system stands out as a masterclass in friction. Users who click "cancel" see screen after screen of cheaper options and "pause membership" suggestions. This psychological barrier works exactly as planned - subscribers stay put.

   
   

3. The craftiest Roach Motels layer multiple dark patterns. The Financial Times places tricky buttons in their cancellation flow - the "Confirm change" button upgrades your plan to yearly instead of canceling it. The real "Confirm cancel" button sits at the bottom, easy to miss.

Forced Continuity

Image Source: Medium

You sign up for that "free" trial with your credit card, and months later, mysterious charges appear on your statement from a service you thought you'd stopped using. This sneaky dark pattern, Forced Continuity, automatically moves you from a free trial to a paid subscription without proper notice.

Your credit card gets charged silently after a free trial period ends, with no warning whatsoever. The process "robs users without even letting them know about it". This manipulative tactic collects your payment information during the original signup and automatically bills you when the trial expires. The companies count on you to forget about the subscription completely.

What makes Forced Continuity impressive?

1. The business world finds forced continuity remarkably effective at generating revenue. Human memory fails us - we often forget to cancel subscriptions before trial periods end. Companies can rely on a percentage of users becoming paying customers through simple inaction.

   
   

2. Spotify exemplifies this dark pattern perfectly. Users who sign up for Spotify Premium's free trial automatically commit to monthly charges afterward, with pricing details hidden in fine print. The company sends bills only after the first paid month and stays quiet about future charges. Users feel frustrated, and many ask whether "Spotify is trying to hide our receipts to let people forget to unsubscribe".

   
   

3. This pattern succeeds because it exploits psychology and convenience together. People want instant access to services and hate the hassle of remembering to cancel. Companies take advantage of this by making it easy to start (just enter your card details!) while banking on human forgetfulness to turn free users into paying customers.

Trick Wording

Image Source: Deceptive Patterns

You probably didn't read that terms and conditions box carefully. Many websites count on this behavior. Trick wording is a dark pattern that exploits your tendency to scan-read online content. The practice uses confusing language to mislead you into making choices you didn't intend.

This deceptive technique works because of our online reading habits. Most of us scan-read instead of analyzing every word due to information overload in the digital world. Websites using trick wording typically employ:

1. Double negatives that confuse your understanding

   
   

2. Misleading button labels that don't clearly state their function

   
   

3. Questions worded to trick you into selecting unwanted options

   
   

4. Important information buried in dense paragraphs

   
   

5. Vague terms that obscure the actual outcome of your choices

   
   

Ryanair showed a perfect example of this dark pattern between 2010 and 2013. Their flight booking system displayed a prominent instruction asking users to "Please select a country of residence" in a dropdown menu. This innocent-looking step actually made you purchase travel insurance unknowingly. The only way to decline meant finding "No travel insurance required" hidden between Latvia and Lithuania in the dropdown list.

What makes Trick Wording impressive?

1. Trick wording succeeds remarkably well because it exploits psychological biases. Users who face confusing options often pick what looks like the standard choice—usually one that benefits the company.

   
   

2. Facebook's permissions dialogs demonstrate this subtlety. They use phrases like "Use this activity" instead of clearer options such as "Agree to Data Collection" or "Agree to Targeted Advertising." Users can't tell exactly what they're agreeing to.

   
   

3. Sky TV created a similar trap with their checkbox that said "Click here to refuse this package." Many customers accidentally subscribed to unwanted services because they misread this as an opt-in rather than an opt-out.

Preselection

Image Source: ResearchGate

Those pre-ticked checkboxes you see while shopping online? That's preselection—a dark pattern where websites set default options that benefit the company, not you. Unlike other dark patterns based on confusion or trickery, preselection takes advantage of your natural tendency to stick with pre-chosen options.

This manipulative design strategy uses the "default effect" bias—people usually accept preset options instead of changing them. Preselection shows up in many ways:

1. Pre-ticked checkboxes for newsletters or additional services

   
   

2. Items that appear in your cart automatically

   
   

3. Pre-selected choices in multi-step processes

   
   

4. Default picks for the most expensive options

   
   

Preselection stands out as one of the most common dark patterns in digital interfaces

.

What makes Preselection impressive?

1. Preselection works because it targets multiple psychological weak spots. Users often miss pre-selected options as they quickly scroll through webpages. The ones who notice still need to read, understand and decide to change the selection.

   
   

2. The Trump campaign showed preselection's power in 2021. They added a pre-ticked box for "Make this a monthly recurring donation," which led many supporters to make unplanned recurring payments. They didn't stop there. A second pre-selected checkbox tricked users into making an extra donation.

   
   

3. Travel websites love this trick. They pre-select travel insurance and add it to your total unless you opt out. Many people don't notice this sneaky addition until they reach checkout—if ever.

Basket Sneaking

Image Source: The Interaction Design Foundation

Ever noticed that mysterious extra item in your online shopping cart? It's no accident. Basket sneaking happens when websites quietly add items or fees to your cart without asking you first. Just like a digital pickpocket, this dark pattern quietly bumps up your bill. They're betting you won't notice before hitting that purchase button.

Dark pattern expert Harry Brignull says it's just like "the equivalent of a supermarket worker putting things into your shopping cart without your knowledge". These sneaky additions usually pop up right when you're about to pay - if you catch them at all.

Basket sneaking shows up in several ways:

1. Charitable donations added automatically (like Zomato's "feeding India" contribution)

   
   

2. Extra products or accessories you didn't pick

   
   

3. Warranties or insurance you didn't ask for

   
   

4. Priority shipping options you never chose

   
   

5. Subscription services bundled with your purchase

   
   

The numbers are pretty shocking. A LocalCircles survey shows that 73% of users on movie and event ticketing platforms run into basket sneaking. The breakdown gets worse - 46% say it happens "very frequently," while 27% see it "sometimes".

What makes Basket Sneaking impressive?

1. Basket sneaking works like a charm because it takes advantage of your scattered attention during checkout. Most shoppers are too eager to finish their purchase to check their cart carefully. This gets even worse during flash sales or limited-time deals when everyone's in a rush.

   
   

2. Dutch Royal Airlines showed how powerful this dark pattern can be. They automatically added CO2 compensation donations to flight bookings. They even went a step further by making it impossible to set this donation to zero euros. Google Calendar pulls a similar trick by adding Google Meet links to calendar invites. This creates confusion even when users specifically add Zoom links.

   
   

3. The holiday season makes this pattern extra effective. Retailers cash in on shopping excitement, and customers racing to grab deals often miss these hidden additions. Companies boost their profits through these low-cost, high-margin items.

   
   

Nagging

Image Source: Deceptive Patterns

"Just a quick reminder to enable notifications!" You probably declined that yesterday, right? Nagging happens when websites or apps keep bombarding you with the same request over and over, even after you say no. This manipulative tactic drains your time and attention until you finally give in—not because you want to, but just to stop the interruptions.

Take Instagram's aggressive 2018 campaign that asked users to enable notifications. The app only gave a "Not Now" option instead of a permanent "No Thanks" button, which meant the prompts would never end. Many websites also keep asking for cookie consent whenever you visit a new page, and they wear down your resistance through repetition.

What makes Nagging impressive?

1. Nagging succeeds through psychological exhaustion from a business point of view. It works as "adversarial resource depletion"—each interruption drains your mental energy until you finally give up. Users often decide it's easier to just say yes than to keep saying no after multiple pop-ups.

   
   

2. Research shows that teenagers usually nag their parents nine times for something before they get what they want. Some pre-adolescents ask more than 50 times for specific products. Companies now use this same principle in the digital world, and marketing strategists call it a "nag factor" to change behavior.

Interface Interference

Image Source: ResearchGate

That tiny "X" in the corner of that massive popup? That's Interface Interference at work—a dark pattern design that tricks you into clicking things you never meant to. This deceptive tactic highlights certain information while hiding significant details. It makes decisions without your knowledge.

YouTube shows this pattern through its autoplay feature. It takes control of your viewing experience and guides you down unexpected content paths that might not match your interests. Many websites also hide their unsubscribe buttons by using tiny text or matching text color with backgrounds, which makes them almost invisible.

What makes Interface Interference impressive?

1. Interface interference works because it exploits how humans process visual information. Companies make choices for you by controlling what stands out and what stays hidden. Virtual reality increases this dark pattern's power because its realism mixes virtual and physical elements. This makes it easier to change your perception without you noticing.

   
   

2. Research shows the psychological effects are most important. Even experienced users need extra mental energy to fight these manipulative interfaces. Graphics and functional icons need more brain power to resist than simple text, which makes visual tricks especially effective.

Conclusion

Dark patterns are everywhere in our digital world, quietly manipulating how we behave online through deceptive design tactics. This piece looks at eight common examples that websites still use in 2025. These range from guilt-inducing confirmshaming to frustrating roach motel experiences that lock users into unwanted subscriptions.

Of course, these manipulative designs might boost short-term metrics and generate quick profits. But companies using these tactics face serious risks. They don't just damage user trust and brand reputation - dark patterns now attract legal scrutiny. Tech giants like Google and Meta have already faced hefty fines.

Ready to replace dark patterns with ethical, high-converting UX? At Bricx, we design user-first experiences that build trust—not frustration. Book a call with us and let’s redesign your product the right way.