The
Astro/Psychic Scamming Danger Zone
The following
are a few suggested “red flags” to watch for that serve as
warning signals that you may be entering the Astrologer/Psychic Scamming
Danger Zone:
Free!
Free! Free!
Those expensive Web Ads for astro/psychic services that jubilantly
proclaim free, free, free are
a giant red flag waving from the highest hill that you might
be entering
the Scamming Danger Zone.
In
the first place, your typical rank and file entrepreneurial Mom
n Pop astrology sites simply don't have the kind of big money it
takes
to run these cost prohibitive web advertisements.
Only a handful of reputable large astrology sites (normally
with
corporate backing)
selling mass-produced automated astrology reports can afford them.
A
bonafide astrologer working on his (or her) own simply doesn't have
enough hours in the day to produce enough personal readings
to then in turn pay for
the ads.
So take notice that the majority of these astro/psychic ads (that
are not sponsored by the huge corporate astrology sites) are scammers!
C'mon...
you know the ads: “I’ll
tell you your future for free!” “I’ll solve
all your problems for free!” “I’ll tell you
your luck for free!” "Your birthdate to tell your
future Free online prediction."
Sadly
enough, you'll quite often meet up with these expensive targeted
astro/psychic
web scam ads located at otherwise reputable astrology sites
that are willing to make a few extra bucks by allowing
3rd party
advertisements
on their site.
Back
in the days when I, for many years, ran one of the large
corporate backed astrology sites - it used to kill my soul that
blatant scammer
ads were running on my site. Alas, at the time, it didn't
kill my soul enough to stop running the site.
Don't kid yourself. These 3rd party advertisers are paying big, big, big
bucks for the opportunity to tempt you with clicking on one of their
targeted advertising offers for a free horoscope reading and/or
report. Assuming you weren’t
born yesterday, common sense should tell you that there’s
99.99999987% of the time a “catch” of some sort.
Problem
is that outright scammers know that many of us just can’t
seem to turn down the possibility of getting something for nothing.
Free...
free... free!
Bait
and Switch
At its most benign, at that handful of well-financed reputable sites,
you know you’re about to be offered
some sort of free limited computer generated astrological report
or horoscope
with the purpose
of then enticing you into buying a more complete version of the
report and/or another one of their more interesting reports.
No
problem there. While it's obviously a wee bit irritating,
this (by itself) is not a scam per se. We all know that
reputable businesses of all shapes, sizes, and stripes do this
sort of thing all the time.
It’s called “bait and switch.”
Unfortunately, with the typical astrology scammer, when you sign
up for the free email horoscopes, forecasts,
or readings offered – then
in future emails you'll discover that you now need to purchase
overly priced "magical" items
or further paid personal readings in order to avoid and/or ward
off a great peril that the scammer has supposedly seen
coming your way.
The
problem is, for folks such as us who do believe that these sorts of things
are within the realm of possibility; this is a great hook! It irresistibly
preys on all of our greatest hopes and fears.
Beating
The Odds - Not A Ghost of a Chance
It
can and does happen on very, very, very rare occasions that someone offering
you a free personal reading is not a scammer with a hidden agenda. The
question is are you feeling lucky and think you are the one person on
the planet that can beat the odds?
Or
is it more likely that you’re about to end up in the Scamming
Danger Zone and on the mailing list of a ruthless scammer that
will now be intermittently
hitting you up to buy increasingly more expensive personal readings
to improve your luck or to ward off unforeseen and looming evils.
If
you find that you just can't control yourself; then - before you
send
them your invaluable email address in order to get your free
personal reading - do an Internet search of the astro/psychic's name.
This is not foolproof... but if you do find
sites devoted to warning other folks about that individual's
business practices, then at least you've been forewarned.
back to Danger Scamming Zone list
If
It's Spam, It's Scam
The sad, but true news is that some of the highest profile, otherwise
reputable, astrology sites are more than willing to sell your valuable
email address to 3rd party businesses that maintain, market, and
resell
targeted
email
lists.
Astro/psychic
scammers then line up in droves to buy these targeted (sucker)
customer email lists.
So
before you blissfully sign up for that innocuous free daily horoscope
or free reading
at a reputable site, be sure to first check out that site's privacy
policy. Take special note if they have a policy of selling your
name and email
address to 3rd parties. (For example, see Dr Z's Privacy
Policy.)
Once
you actually start receiving unsolicited emails from astro/psychics with
whom you have not previously done business, then - the moment you begin
reading those emails - you may be entering the Astro/Psychic Scamming
Danger Zone.
Run,
Bambi, Run!
Often the astro/psychic explains in the spam that he/she was glancing
“at a list” when your name practically flew off the sheet
and now he/she has something very important to share with you. Ask yourself:
"What list? How in heck did she get access to my name and my email
address on a list?"
The
fact is that no reputable astrologer and/or psychic
has seen your name on a list and then - out of the goodness of their
heart
- decided
to do a free personal reading just for you. It doesn’t
happen.
Let me repeat that... it doesn't happen.
Remain calm at this point. Stand up... and now, ever so slowly, walk
away from the computer screen.
back
to Danger Scamming Zone list
Nifty
Fifty
Just the fact that you and I are 50+ years old places us squarely in the
Astro/Psychic Scamming Danger Zone.
Yep! Based solely on our age, unsolicited marketers of all varieties
are now zeroing in on us with “special offers.”
Get
this… folks in the US who are 65+ years old, and account for about
12% of the US population, are the victims of 33% or more of the blatant,
outright fraudulent scams perpetrated each year.
If
you’ve ever signed up for virtually anything at virtually anywhere
and in some manner shared the information that you’re 50+ years
old, then you now need to keep on your toes. You’re being targeted.
And
the older you get, the more you’re being targeted. It’s
a crying shame, ain’t it? back to Danger Scamming
Zone list
Beware Magical
Good Luck Items
Most folks tend to be a wee bit superstitious, and so a great many
of us actually carry around at least one item that amounts to being
a good luck
charm. Regardless, I tend to be highly doubtful when it comes
to many of the offers I see hawking good luck charms and the
like.
I don't know about you, but my best good luck charms have been items that
weren't originally good luck charms - a lucky hat, a lucky shirt, a lucky
medallion, a lucky stone, etc. Still... I have no real problem with the
selling of inexpensive good luck charms.
However,
the selling of magical good luck items really gets down and nasty - entering
the realm of being a full scale scam - when coupled with predictions of
dire circumstances that are coming your way.
The
astrologer/psychic suggests that you need to buy a particular magical
item in order to ward off an evil that they’ve seen coming
your way.
The
item always tends to be semi-expensive, but not expensive enough
to keep
you from buying it as an insurance policy. If they manage to
snag you once with the semi-expensive item… then they’ll
(sooner or later) attempt to snag you once again with an even more
expensive item to now ward
off an even more dire and noxious evil that’s coming your
way.
Astrological
Images and Talisman
The fact is that there are certain older traditions within astrology
that do support various techniques of making astrologically based
images
and/or
talisman for purposes
of good fortune, greater strength, health, love, etc.. The astrological
rules for creating these images are however quite complex, specific,
and
detailed.
I am personally aware of only one reputable individual on the Web
that is offering this sort of service based on traditional Renaissance
concepts. I’d guess that there might be only a handful
of other folks in the world that are even capable of offering
this as a reputable
service.
This
particular person offers a remarkable amount of information on his site
about the historical Renaissance practice of constructing an astrologically
based talisman. This particular individual doesn't have a practice of
hitting you up to buy more and more increasingly expensive astrological
images in order to ward off unforeseen and looming evils about to come
your way.
back
to Danger Scamming Zone list
Summing
up:
How do you protect yourself from potential astro/psychic scams?
Look
for these red flags and beware:
Use
a little common sense, and you'll likely be okay. And please remember
that opportunity knocks; but temptation knocks the door down!
Lists
of Astro/Psychic Scammers
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