“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.
List
of Astro/Psychic Scammers
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. Update: As of March 3,
2009, "Sarah Freder" still
appears to be in business and is continuing to benefit from
and utilize Google Ads.
Dr
Z's Must Read Red Flags that You're Entering the Astro/Psychic
Danger Scamming Zone.
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