>Someone selling you the actual product you are looking for is not a scam artist.

Except most salespeople aren't happy to just sell you what you are looking for. They will happily fool you into spending more than you desired to get extras or other products that you really don't want or need. They're marginally better in that they aren't outright stealing your money, but not by much. The incentives attract the worst kind of people, and there is no incentive for upper management to reel them in when they prey upon people vulnerable to their manipulation.