Psychic Scams – When Psychic Ability Is Used For The Wrong Reasons

This was contributed by Hollywood Psychics, a group of psychics who are screened and only the most professional talent in the field. When speaking to a live psychic at Hollywood Psychics, you can rest assured that your spiritual advisor won’t trick you try to deceive you.

For everyone who may have the talent of clairvoyance, there are many more trying to manipulate people in times of need through their “gifts.” This, as you well know, has historically given many psychics a bad reputation. Though there have been many claims of people being scammed by psychics, the most well know scam in recent years was that of The Psychic Readers Network. Founded in 1991, they stayed mostly under the radar until they gained household name status with the famous face of their company, Miss Cleo.

Miss Cleo had a demanding presence. She was a sassy, exotic, loud woman with an almost off-putting personality. It wasn’t like any other infomercials happening at the time, and it seemed like she was the perfect fit for the customers  The Psychic Readers Network where trying to pull in. Lonely, confused middle class working Americans eating their popcorn in from of the TV at 2am would feel reassured by her demanding presence, like she knew a secret they didn’t, and like if they called she might let them in on it. She claimed to be from the Caribbean Islands, or like she said, “Trelawney, a little place called Duncan Falls, twenty minutes outside Falmouth.”

After making a midnight TV connection with Miss Cleo, clients would call the line being enticed in by the first 3 minutes being free. Some people would be surprised not to get Miss Cleo at all, but rather a ‘friend’ from the network. They would, after keeping you on the phone for the free three minutes by asking your address and other information for a free tarot card, proceed to ask ‘showing questions,’ then they would draw the tarot cards together from information given to them. The goal was to keep the client on for 19 minutes, or 80 dollars worth of empty predictions and assumptions. People would usually call about love or money, so it wasn’t hard to make set scripts for people to work with.

The scam was eventually up when they showed Miss Cleo’s United States birth certificate. Though she was not sued directly, the company suffered large losses, not only from lawsuit expenses, but also from a now untrusting clientele. For everyone they could have help by just giving them someone to listen to, they sideswiped just as many, causing them to second doubt themselves even more when the clients found out they had been used.

Miss Cleo is just a famous example; there are many fake psychics out there, namely street vendors, who instill fear and doubt into their clients when they’re at a low point in their lives; they use this control over them to pay exorbitant amounts of cash to remove curses, bring lovers back, win the lottery, etc. A real psychic’s goal is to make their client happy and feel positive about moving forward with their life; they don’t want to scare you into giving them money for mundane rituals or trick you into staying on the phone with nothing gained.

Though fake psychics have continued being ousted since Houdini, there are more victims than just the people getting scammed for their money; there are also the people who could possibly have a real clairvoyance, people who may be scared and confused by their gift, being constantly accused of being the next Miss Cleo.

So next time you feel intrigued by that glowing neon sign or alluring 1-800 number, make sure they’re an authentic professional not just in to prey on vulnerable people and take their cash.