How to Identify Psychic Scams
Knowing How They Work Will Prevent You From Becoming a Victim
Aug 26, 2008
To believe or not to believe. According to CBS news, “a majority of Americans – 57% – believe in psychic phenomena such as ESP, telepathy or experiences that can't be explained.” Just over a third, however, do not think such phenomena occur.
The believers are not without some impressive company. Dale Graf, a Department of Defense physicist for 30 years, worked on the Stargate program. Stargate looked at the phenomenon called remote viewing, which is the ability that some people have to describe a remote scene, even thousands of miles away. “I spent 30 years working on it,” Graf said on Larry King Live, March 6, 2001. “It exists. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. But it's there and it is real, and it cannot be shoveled away by skeptics.”
One of the biggest skeptics is The Amazing Randi, whose standing offer of $1,000,000 to anyone who can prove under laboratory conditions that they have psychic powers has yet to be claimed. Likewise, writer Leon Jaroff, who, in a Monday, Dec. 27, 2001 issue of Time magazine, called psychics “a motley collection of mystics, charlatans, hoaxers and smooth con artists who have successfully buffaloed a good portion of the public into believing that they have supernatural powers.”
Here is how psychic scams work.
Cold Reading
The client is asked a series of seemingly innocuous questions. This is nothing more than a parlor trick similar to 20 questions. The client is there for a reason, be it curiosity, emotional duress, or fear. They are searching for answers and they want to believe. For this reason they overlook the obvious and think the psychic is telling them things they could not possibly know, if not for psychic powers. The psychic is very skilled at this and so gains the victim's trust. The client has become the mark.
The Curse
Next, the con artist will introduce fear. Say goodbye. To play on the fears of people who are very often in a fragile emotional state is not professional and, in fact, criminal. They begin to see in their crystal ball that someone has placed a curse on the mark or that they see “a darkness”. This can also be the beginnings of a disease. The psychic can cure both of these, of course. They may say they need to meditate on this further and get the victim to come back the next day, or they may continue on the spot.
Curse Removal
The psychic sees that there are several curses. To remove these, or a disease, you must purchase special candles, prayer cards and/or crystals, at about $150.00 each.
The Egg Trick
The client may be asked to bring an egg to the next reading. With a little slight-of-hand, they switch the egg. When it's cracked open, it is bloody or has a slug writhing in it. A simple magicians trick, but disconcerting to the believer.
$100 Bills
The curse/disease is worse than thought. The mark is asked to carry an amount of $100 bills with them at all times. Eventually, the psychic will declare the money as “evil” and appear to tear it up, or promise to burn it during a late night ceremony. Neither of these is actually done.
Badgering
When the psychic con artists go for the really big money, they will badger the mark, yelling and threatening them if necessary, sometimes employing a 2nd party to “double team” the victim. This is usually their daughter or mother who is also “psychic”.
Don't become a victim. Only go to a psychic where the fee for the reading is clear. Never pay more and don't purchase candles, crystals or prayer cards. Never give a full name, address or phone number to the psychic. By understanding their tricks and modus operandi, the client can avoid becoming the mark of a psychic con artist.
For more information, including case scenarios and video evidence, please go here.
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