You know about inflation, don't you? Even if you don't know about "inflation" specifically, most people of employment age would have at least heard of the concept of "prices going up". In that case I'm not sure what type of deception (ie. scam) is going on here.
2-3% is the rate of inflation that has been shown, historically, to allow the monetary authorities and those close to them to transfer the wealth of the nation's public to themselves without (much) turmoil.
Any more than 2-3%, and you'd begin to notice that your children are being systematically impoverished, and revolt. Keep it at 2-3%, and you'll die before you notice, apparently.
How is that not a scam?