It's time we had a dedicated topic on this matter. Sources are irrelevant (personal experience, videos, books, research papers, movie scenes... any resource will do). Scams, cons, heists, etc. also welcome, but the subtler the better. The best theft not only goes wholly unnoticed, but has you thinking you gain something in return (e.g. clickbait). In the end, it all boils down to corruption. 

If a crocodile is the perfect animal to symbolize traps, for corruption it is the octopus. It can camouflage, release ink to literally muddy the waters, squeeze through any hole no matter how small; yet when its tentacles grab you, they won't let go. And there's 8 of them, so while you're busy fighting one or two or even 7, there's always another to nab you from behind. Plus it's slimy.
This is exactly how self-deception operates. And what is theft if not (self-)deception? Except Maya has infinitely many tentacles, is so well-camouflaged it's indistinguishable from your perception, and is completely intangible.    https://www.actualized.org/forum/topic/110777-octopus-awakening

Here's a visual I generated for this thread, heavily 'inspired' by an image taken from the Europol website and fed into an AI trained on stolen data, with a slightly different color scheme, a background overlay of the world map, and a correct placement of different industries the octopus has its tentacles wrapped around. Drugs/pharma between USA & Mexico, financial schemes in the Caribbean tax havens, law in the western EU (The Hague, Euroclear, Geneva), oil in the GCC, and construction (or more broadly, manufacturing) in China/India/Bangladesh. It's rather interesting that they all align pretty closely in a straight line just above the Equator. As though the places above or below are of little importance, serving only as sources of extraction of value.



But enough foreplay. I'll get us started with a personal story, at the risk of tarnishing my reputation or catching a ban. This one takes place within the microcosm of digital piracy, yet contains layers upon layers of theft, lies, self-deception, gaslighting, and exploitation. Got plenty more just like it, crazier and broader in fact. Even though the examples we'll hopefully assemble here are useful, truly understanding the depth of this matter requires massive and intimate real-life exposure to it, and even then most of it you'll never know due to factors beyond your control. 

Example 1:
So just this little anecdote from a fairly niche domain illustrates the degree of prevalence and entanglement of the issue. The same pattern is present not only all over this planet, but across the infinite dimensions of reality. Unless you're unflinchingly prudent, it will get you. Especially when your guard is down. 
However, there exists a certain precipice where you see through all the deception with complete clarity and fall in love with it head over heels. But we'll leave that for the spirituality subforum.  

Some Actualized.org videos directly pertinent to the matter at hand:
 - How To Avoid Getting Scammed, Cheated, Exploited, Conned, and Screwed In Life
 - How Corruption Works
 - The Social Matrix - How Society Is A Mass Hallucination (fun fact: this one is somehow shadowbanned even on the direct channel page search; by keywords 'social' and 'matrix', 'hallucination' works)

I'd also throw over a dozen others onto the list, but as already stated that won't be anywhere near enough. 

Now, let's get the ball rolling. Of particular interest is the theft you've personally committed or are committing. Sharing that publicly will do wonders for your shadow integration work. Who's up for that?
Though first consider that this could all be an elaborate honeypot disguised as philosophy designed to trick people into openly confessing to their crimes.