Inside the World of Psychic Scams and Fortune Tellers
They can give you all the answers you seek…for $100,000
Facts:
Psychic scams are far more common than most people realize.
Not only do these scams prey on their clientele’s finances, they also deprive clients of their emotional well-being.
The goal is to extract as much money as possible by telling the client exactly what they want to hear, using a variety of techniques discussed below.
Individuals who fall for these scams end up on an emotional roller-coaster ride that requires more and more money to reach the desired outcome, which never materializes.
A Cautionary Tale
My friend was having a bad day. Her car had broken down on the side of the road, during LA rush hour, and she was running late for an audition. As she sat there waiting for the tow truck to arrive, a Tesla Model S pulled up alongside her and the woman inside signaled my friend to roll down her window.
“Can I help you?”
“I just wanted to let you know that your grandmother has a message for you,” said the woman. “She says that your career in acting has the potential to really take off in the next year, so long as you don’t let anyone or anything distract you.”
“My grandmother passed away almost ten years ago.”
“I know. She told me from the other side. I’m clairvoyant, so I get these kinds of messages all the time,” the woman responded. “Here, take my card. Get in touch if you want to talk more,” she added and then drove off.
My friend sat there for a moment, tearing up over the fact that her late grandmother was still looking out for her. She knew that her career had begun to lull the past few months and she had always been a big believer in signs from the universe. So, naturally, my friend wanted to learn what else this clairvoyant knew and decided to give her a call.
For a “nominal” fee of $250, the woman agreed to spend 45 minutes telling my friend everything she wanted to hear.
…How much grandma loved and missed her.
…What she needed to do in order to become a famous Hollywood A-lister.
…How the source of most of her problems at present were the result of chasing love instead of growing her career.
...And a variety of other generalized statements.
The clairvoyant ended the session by saying that she would like to work with my friend on an ongoing basis, in order to help her achieve her goals faster. This would, of course, be an investment, but she should think of it as “an investment in the future.”
Convinced, my friend agreed to the deal. And that began her ongoing addiction to the world of psychics and clairvoyants. An addiction that costs her no less than $5,000 every month.
So far, she has paid out over $100,000 for these readings, with no tangible return on her investment other than the comfort it gives her. What’s worse is that she still believes she’s receiving messages from deceased family members and that she can communicate with them through this woman.
All of this begs the question: why can’t she see the scam at play here?
What’s the Real Story?
Elaborate systems of divination and fortune-telling date back to ancient times.
In the early days of fortune-telling, practitioners used astrology to give them insight into people's lives and even predict their future circumstances. Some fortune-tellers were said to be able to make predictions without the use of these elaborate systems, through direct apprehension or vision of the future. These people were known as seers or prophets, and in later times, as clairvoyants (a French word meaning "clear sight") and psychics.
These days, many individuals decide to enter into this profession because it can be quite lucrative. It also doesn’t require much training. A wannabe fortune-teller can teach herself the tricks of the trade or skip the learning curve altogether by enrolling in a psychic class.
For those who wish to get additional practice — or build up their reputation before launching a full-fledged business — there are plenty of spiritualist churches seeking “volunteer clairvoyants.” Simply describe the symbolism of a nearby object, or throw out a few vague phrases, and you’ll be well on your way to landing more clients than you can handle.
Source: Wyron A on Unsplash
As for the individuals who seek out psychics and clairvoyants, they often consist of those in search of someone to talk to about their troubles in life. Perhaps they are down on their luck romantically, experiencing a significant amount of stress at work, or trying to muster up the courage for a much-needed life change.
Intelligence and education do not protect against superstition.
As one retired psychic reported to The Guardian, many of her customers were stockbrokers, advertising executives, and politicians who consistently dealt with issues where the outcomes couldn’t be controlled.
In other words, it’s uncertainty that drives people into the esoteric world, not stupidity. And uncertainty affects people of all ages and backgrounds.
All of this is to say that, because people walk in looking for hope, it’s easy for the psychic to fill that need by assuming the role of a confidante or best friend. From that position, they are able to quickly size the client up, make them feel at ease, and then get their target to give them more money to discover the root of the problem.
Once the psychic has the client in the right state of mind, she pulls the old bait and switch, often swindling large amounts of money in a very short period of time. And while there are many variations of how this can all play out, it helps to become familiar with the basic techniques first. From there, the twists on this scam can quickly turn into a rabbit hole of bizarre reading.
How It All Works
Cold reading n.: a set of techniques used by mentalists, psychics, fortune-tellers, and mediums. Without prior knowledge, a practiced cold-reader can quickly obtain a great deal of information by analyzing the person's body language, age, clothing, hairstyle, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, level of education, manner of speech, place of origin, etc. Cold readings commonly employ high-probability guesses, during which the reader picks up on whether her guesses are in the right direction or not. Chance connections are emphasized and reinforced, while missed guesses are quickly dismissed. Psychologists believe that this works because of the Forer Effect and confirmation biases within people.
The “In”
Psychic and clairvoyant scammers often approach individuals by post, email, telephone, or even face-to-face. They introduce themselves by foreshadowing some kind of positive future event or claiming that there is trouble looming ahead before offering a solution.
This solution could be anything from knowing tonight’s winning lottery numbers, removing a curse or jinx, or offering ongoing protection and guidance. These services are, of course, offered in exchange for a fee.
In order to convince the target of their authenticity, the psychic or clairvoyant will tell this person something personal. This information might be something that they gathered from an online source, such as personal details posted on social media.
In my friend’s case, the clairvoyant was one of her many Instagram followers and had seen a recent post that she had written about missing her grandmother. The woman recognized my friend while sitting in traffic and saw her window of opportunity.
Basic Procedure: The Cold Reading
Before the reading, the psychic will try to elicit cooperation from the client, saying things along the lines of, "I often see images that are a bit unclear and which may sometimes mean more to you than me. If you can help me when this happens, we can uncover new things about you much faster.”
Once the client agrees to cooperate, the psychic will go through a series of probing statements and questions, often using variations of the techniques described below. The client will then reveal further information by replying, either verbally or nonverbally. Subtle cues — such as changes in facial expression or body language —can indicate whether a particular line of questioning is effective or not. These cues make it easier for the cold reader to navigate the session by pursuing promising lines of inquiry and quickly abandoning unproductive ones.
One of the most crucial elements of a convincing cold reading is a client eager to make connections or reinterpret vague statements in any way that will help the psychic appear to make specific predictions or intuitions. While the psychic is the one doing most of the talking, it is the client who creates meaning out of these words.
Therefore, even though it appears that a series of revelations are coming from the psychic herself, most of the statements and facts are actually coming from the client. This information is simply restated and elegantly reworded by the psychic, in order to reinforce the idea that she has a talent for divining secret knowledge from unseen worlds and entities.
In general, the majority of any cold reading session is spent dwelling on the "hits" the psychic obtains. Meanwhile, the time spent recognizing "misses" is minimized. This effect gives an impression that the cold reader knows far more about the client than an ordinary stranger could.
Specific Techniques Employed by Psychics
Shotgunning
Shotgunning is a commonly used cold reading technique, during which the psychic will slowly offer a huge quantity of very general information, often to an entire audience. Only some of this information is likely to be correct, near correct, or provocative to someone present in the room. Afterwards, the psychic observes her subjects' reactions, particularly their body language, then narrows the scope. This means acknowledging specific individuals or concepts and refining the original statements according to those reactions, in an effort to elicit an emotional response.
Shotgunning can include a series of vague statements such as: "I see a heart problem with a father-figure in your family." This is a promising point of entry for the psychic, as there are a variety of medical problems in which chest pain is a symptom. Furthermore, heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. Stating that the problem is associated with a father-figure is also worth noting because men have a higher incidence of heart disease than women.
The Forer Effect and Barnum Statements
The Forer Effect relies on the eagerness of individuals to fill in the blanks and make connections between what is said by the psychic and some aspect of their own lives. More often than not, this means searching their entire life history to find that connection, or reinterpreting statements in a such a way so as to make it applicable to themselves.
Barnum Statements are statements that seem personal, yet apply to many people. Horoscopes are a perfect example of this. While seemingly specific, such statements are often open-ended and vague, giving the psychic lots of "wiggle room" to work with during a reading. Barnum statements are designed to elicit identifying responses from people. They can then be developed into longer and more sophisticated paragraphs that appear to reveal various details about a person. A talented and charismatic reader can sometimes even bully the client, or subject, into admitting a non-existent connection by repeatedly demanding that they acknowledge a particular statement as having some relevance.
Examples might include:
"I sense that you are sometimes insecure, especially with people you don't know very well."
"You're having problems with a friend or relative."
"Your father passed away due to problems in his chest or abdomen."
Hot Reading
In hot readings, the psychic uses information about the subject that she has obtained ahead of time via background research or simply overhearing a conversation. This technique is commonly used in conjunction with cold reading — where no previously gathered information is used — and can explain how a psychic can get a specific claimed "hit" of accurate information.
This technique is used by some television psychics. The psychic may have clients schedule their appearance ahead of time and then collect information using collaborators who pose as religious missionaries, magazine sales people, or similar roles. Such visitors can gain a wide understanding of a person by examining their home. The psychic may then be briefed on the information and told where the person will be seated during the show.
Warm Reading
Warm reading is a performance tool used by professional mentalists and psychic scam artists. While hot reading is the use of foreknowledge, and cold reading works by reacting to the client’s responses, warm reading refers to the strategic use of Barnum Effect statements.
When used properly, the statements give the impression that the psychic is intuitively perceptive and psychically gifted. In reality, however, the statements fit nearly all of humanity, regardless of gender, personal opinions, age, or culture.
An example of this might be jewelry worn by those in mourning. Most people in this situation will be wearing a piece of jewelry that has some connection to the person they have lost. When asked if they have such an item on their person during a psychic reading, the client may be shocked and assume that the psychic learned the information directly from the deceased loved one. This can also be considered confirmation bias, in which the tendency to search for, interpret, and recall information affirms one's prior beliefs or assumptions.
The Rainbow Ruse
The Rainbow Ruse is a crafted statement which gives the subject both a specific personality trait as well as the opposite of that trait. Doing so allows the cold reader to cover all possibilities and appear to have made an accurate deduction in the eyes of the client. These statements are often vague and contradictory. This technique is often employed because personality traits are not quantifiable and nearly everyone has experienced both sides of a particular emotion at some time in their lives.
Statements of this type include:
"Most of the time you are positive and cheerful, but there has been a time in the past when you were very upset."
"You are a very kind and considerate person, but when somebody does something to break your trust, you feel deep-seated anger."
"I would say that you are mostly shy and quiet, but when the mood strikes you, you can easily become the center of attention."
A psychic can choose from a variety of personality traits, recall its opposite, and then bind the two together in a phrase, vaguely linked by factors such as mood, time, or potential.
Source: Jen Theodore on Unsplash
Take Steps to Protect Yourself
While the above techniques may seem harmless on their own, they are often nefariously employed by psychics to trick innocent people into giving out sensitive financial information or handing over tens of thousands of dollars. Furthermore, these techniques are quite successful in convincing individuals that they are close to getting the answers they seek, so that they keep coming back for more. It’s a slippery slope, but there are measures you can take to avoid falling victim to it:
Watch out for promises with fees. Be on the lookout for psychics who guarantee you good health, wealth, or fortune. These promises are commonly used scams which usually have a fee attached to them.
Never give out financial information. It goes without saying that giving money or credit card or bank account information to anyone you do not know or trust is not a good idea.
Do your research. Know who you’re dealing with beforehand. If you want to engage the services of a psychic, be sure you know the total cost of anything you order and exactly what you will receive.
Ask if there are any conditions and ongoing or hidden costs. What starts out as a 45-minute session for $250 could snowball into a psychic demanding $30,000 to lift a curse that caused you to lose your job.
Check with a trusted friend or loved one before engaging the services of a psychic or similar. You can never be too safe.
Final Notes and Updates
Often times, victims of psychic scams are individuals who feel isolated or disconnected from family and friends. These folks might be down on their luck or undergoing some form of loss or hardship, and what they are seeking is some form of guidance or answers to their problems.
That’s the unfortunate part about psychic scams: they frequently prey on people who’ve fallen on hard times. They use social engineering to give these individuals hope and encouragement when they need it most. And while it may seem like psychics have their clientele’s best interest at heart, the only thing most of them are truly after is the money. As the saying goes, if it seems like something is too good to be true, it probably is.
Of course, as is true with any industry, not all psychics are con artists, but there are a lot of them out there. And what draws so many scammers to this line of work is that it’s a way of getting money out of people without much effort. All they have to do is play on a person’s heart strings and take advantage of the trust in that situation.
As for the future of this industry, the sheer amount of venture capital pouring into astrology apps shows just how lucrative — and invasive — fortune-telling can be. In fact, it’s a lot like gambling in that it can become excessive and harmful if left unchecked. Therefore, it is up to those who choose to engage in clairvoyant consulting to proceed with caution and keep an open dialogue with family and friends.
Useful Resources
A Psychic’s Take on Her Own Industry:
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/nov/06/i-was-an-astrologer-how-it-works-psychics
'Addiction' to Fortune Telling:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/in-excess/201601/addiction-fortune-telling
Editor’s Note: Have you been affected by fraud? Most people have, in some form or another. If you have a story you would like to share, we’re sure our readers would benefit from hearing it. Please send an email to editor@theconartist.pub detailing your experience, and we will be in touch. Your privacy and any wishes of anonymity will be respected.
Thanks for reading! If you haven’t already, consider joining our community to receive in-depth exposés on the latest scams, hoaxes, and other forms of fraud.