Cathy

...there is apparently a thing going on on Tiktok where people are posting about how you can just buy ebooks and then return them for full refund, so you get to read it for free!

problem is, in a lot of cases, the refund comes not out of the bank balance of The Big A, but from the self-published author of the ebook. The Big A is already sticking it to this author in some way, guaranteed, and now they're having their pockets picked by people they thought were 'customers'. (most authors are not wealthy. most authors are not making a living as authors. if you find someone whose only job is 'author' they are either one of the luckiest humans on earth and/or have some other form of financial support or both. John Scalzi and Stephen King are outliers who should not be counted.)

if you want free/inexpensive ebooks/audiobooks, there are options:
- see if your library offers ebooks or audiobooks for checkout or participates in overdrive (especially if you're unlikely to reread!)
- Tor has a book-of-the-month club if you're into scifi/fantasy, usually older titles from authors with a new book coming out
- also in SF/F, the Baen Free Library is still a thing
- like the classics? Project Gutenberg has public domain books in all kinds of formats
- humble bundle (and other sites) have 'pay what you want' book bundles for charity
- if you like posting book reviews you can try to get ARCS through a number of sites
- idk there are a lot of other free and legal ways if you're willing to read now what you can get now and/or wait for the specific book you want

and honestly torrenting is a more honest form of theft than buy/read/return.

(if you see someone advocating buy/read/return, could you gently educate them/their followers? thanks.)