Watch
Out For Astrology / Psychic Scams
Yep!
The scam often starts off with an innocent enough sounding email entitled:
Open
only if you wish to read a personal prediction about yourself
"ANTHONY,
if you're insecure about turning a year older, don't be. Everything
in your life will soon fit together, like a key in a lock of a door
that's about to be opened. Beginning on February 26th, an incredible
72 Days of Good Fortune is going to wash over you like what the Japanese
call a "Tsunami." (We call it a tidal wave.) You should start
to feel a surge of energy soon after this date... It's five o'clock
in the morning, and I'm sitting here on my bed typing away furiously,
too excited to sleep... I'm sure you know the feeling. Now please listen
to me carefully.
Money,
romance and (this is the best part) security are all coming back into
your life in a big way. And I mean in a really big way. I'm writing
as fast as I can because I don't want to leave anything out, so please
excuse any spelling errors. (Everyone knows how terrible I am at spelling.)
"
72 Days of Good Fortune
Imagine (what could have easily been) my excitement at receiving the
above email in my inbox. 72 days of good fortune that will sweep over
me like a tidal wave! Beyond belief, this “world famous”
astrologer\psychic had been up at 5 o’clock in the morning, too
excited to sleep, all because she was doing a personal reading on me,
on a total stranger.
According to the email, this psychic has previously predicted the fall
of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the end of the Gulf War in March 1991, the
death of Princess Caroline of Monaco's husband, and the wedding of Michael
Jackson!
The
psychic then goes on to explain that she was glancing “at a list”
when my name practically flew off the sheet? Better yet, as the letter
continues… we’re in this together… apparently, very
few people ever experience this special period of luck. She feels
my pain and wants to offer me free weekly personal forecasts to help
strengthen that tidal wave of good fortune.
5
O’clock in the Morning
It's time for a reality check! You see... the only reason why I hadn’t
automatically deleted this email, without reading it, is that the title
of email seemed to be more than a wee bit familiar. It appears this
psychic spends a quite a bit of time excitedly writing emails at 5 o’clock
in the morning.
You
see… a visitor to my site, Christine, had recently sent me a copy
of a similar email that she had received from this same psychic.
Christine's
email from the same scamming psychic had started out like this:
“I
see a quiet tree-lined street. The sun is breaking through a cloud-filled
sky on a beautifully, warm, autumn day. Fallen leaves shuffle across
the lawns, and the people I see are smiling. A magnificent Tudor style
house with a quaint English garden appears. In front of the house
is a beautiful, new, dark blue sedan parked next to a cracked sidewalk.
One of the car's windows is open, and I can smell the new leather.
It's wonderful. In the garden there are numerous varieties of roses,
daylilies, irises and zinnias with a sprinkling of newly fallen orange,
gold and rust-colored leaves. It's as if God painted the picture.
There's a backyard filled with a large group of people. There's laughing
and happy conversation. I smell thick steaks cooking on a charcoal
grill. The guests are all dressed in their Sunday best and children,
lots of children, are happily playing. In the center of all this is
a well dressed person holding up a small piece of paper as if it were
incredibly valuable. This is why I'm so happy for you. Trust me, this
was more than a daydream…”
The
Vision
Unfortunately this vision didn’t seem to realize that I don’t
much like Tudor style houses… instead of a sedan, I’d much
rather keep my beautiful, dark blue pickup truck… I hate dressing
up… and at my somewhat advanced age I have no desires of being
surrounded by any new and unexpected offspring.
Other
than that, (tongue in cheek) it all sounds rather lovely… and
it would be incredibly lovely if this psychic were, out of the goodness
of her heart, going to prepare a free personal weekly forecast just
for me, with no strings attached.
It
is, however, the never-ending strings attached that will part you from
your money.
What's
The Catch?
Wait a minute! If it truly is to be a miraculous life changing 72 days
of good fortune, sweeping over me like a tidal wave - then don’t
I already have all the information that I need to know?
Nope!
Unfortunately, in the typical scam, if you sign up for the free email
forecasts – but don’t order any of their overly priced "magical"
items or readings that will help accentuate your good fortune –
then in future emails your incredibly good fortune will suddenly take
a turn for the worse and become incredibly bad. Then you'll need to
purchase her overly priced "magical" items or readings to
avoid great peril.
The
problem is, for folks such as us who do believe that these sorts of
things are within the realm of possibility; this email is a great hook!
It preys on all of our greatest hopes and fears.
Scamming
Technique
Christine told me in her email: "What has really gotten to me most
recently is that a friend of mine - who has been told she has a short
time to live - received a scam email from a online astrologer/psychic
and ended up parting with $100 AUS in order to receive a lot of rubbish."
According
to Christine: "It appears that this particular psychic’s
scamming technique is – after getting you to sign up for free
horoscope emails - tell you (for free) that she “feels”
something really bad happened when you were 13.
Problem
is that this astro/psychic tells everyone in her first free email to
them that she “feels” something bad happened to them at
13."
Well… in Christine's friend’s case, this sadly struck home
because she had been first diagnosed with cancer at the age of 13. Her
friend subsequently recovered and is now in her 50s, but health problems
- stemming from the radiation way back then - have caused her massive
heart problems now. Christine's friend, fairly new to the internet,
had been immediately sucked in. After parting with $100 AUS - she was
then told that she would need to send even more money in order to hear
more very important information."
False
Hope Given
Christine finished: "As you say, Dr Z... there are countless scam
merchants out there. What a sad reflection of humanity. I suppose the
Net has become an easy vehicle for this garbage as so many people are
in desperate situations. More important to me than the money these unfortunate
people part with is the false hope that these scammers give their customers."
Desperate People In Desperate Situations
Yes, Christine, the false hope used as a hook for desperate people in
desperate situations is perhaps the worst part of these sorts of scams.
It's
difficult for most of us to understand these scammers and how they could
be so absolutely devoid of a conscience. It's hard to fathom that these
merciless scammers specifically choose to prey on and target the very
folks among us who are the most vulnerable - but these scammers do exist
and they are definitely out there and waiting.
Warning:
It appears that one of the most prevalent astrology advertising scammers
goes by several different pseudonyms, two of which are allegedly Sara
Freder and Pasqualina. Allegedly, this person is actually a male living
in France, Jean Christopher Maires.
Dr
Z's Must Read Red Flags that You're Entering the
Astro/Psychic Danger Scamming Zone.