One thing I did to spot these dark patterns is have two credit cards. The first is used for re-occuring bills (Netflix, Phone, internet etc). The second is fo

One thing I did to spot these dark patterns is have two credit cards. The first is used for re-occuring bills (Netflix, Phone, internet etc). The second is for everyday spending (Amazon, groceries, sundries etc). The second has an extremely low threshhold for alerts and emails about pretty much every transaction. If something were to set itself to autopay, I'd notice very quickly since card 1 pings me, and card 2 only should have <10 merchants per month for easy auditing. (Paying in cash for entertainment expenses also makes auditing easier. Having every cup of coffee or burrito clogging your statement makes it hard to spot double charges and other small frauds)