|  Watch
Out For Astrology / Psychic Scams
Yep! The
scam often starts off with a supposedly 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
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:
"Open
only if you wish to read a personal prediction about yourself
Christine,
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 December 30th, 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.) "
Incredible
Luck
Did that sound a wee bit familiar to you, too? Apparently… my new
friend Christine, that lives in Australia, and I, living in the USA, are
a couple of the luckiest people on the planet. Even more fascinating is
that this psychic had the same exact vision for both of us.
“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 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.
Lists
of Astro/Psychic Scammers
According
to my friend Christine, one of the most prevalent advertising scammers
goes by several different pseudonyms, two of which are allegedly the pseudonyms
of Sara
Freder and Pasqualina. Allegedly, acccording to Christine, this person
is actually a male living in France.
Dr Z's Red
Flags that You're Entering the Astro/Psychic
Danger Scamming Zone. |
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