Fortune telling fraud

While the fortune teller entertains him, he is robbed from behind. "The Fortune Teller" by Simon Vouet.

Fortune telling fraud, also called the bujo or egg curse scam, is a type of confidence trick, based on a claim of secret or occult information. The basic feature of the scam involves diagnosing the victim (the "mark") with some sort of secret problem that only the grifter can detect or diagnose, and then charging the mark for ineffectual treatments. The archetypical grifter working the scam is a fortune teller who announces that the mark is suffering from a curse that their magic can relieve, while threatening dire consequences if the curse is not lifted.^[1][2]

Method

In this scam, a fortune teller uses cold reading to detect that a client is genuinely troubled rather than merely seeking entertainment; or is a gambler complaining of bad luck. The fortune teller informs the mark that they are the victim of a curse, but that for a fee a spell can be cast to remove the curse. In Romani, this trick is called bujo, originally meaning simply "bag", but now meaning "a swindle involving a large amount of money from a gullible fortune-telling customer."^[3]

This name comes from a traditional form: the mark is told that the curse is in their money; they bring money in a bag to have the spell cast over it, and leave with a bag of worthless paper;^[4] or money or property are given to the fortune teller to be destroyed as bearing the curse, and an item of lesser value is swapped and conspicuously destroyed instead.^[5] In some cases the curse is "verified" by a sleight of hand trick, often involving an egg. The grifter tells the mark to bring an egg to a reading,^[6] which when cracked open reveals disgusting matter or symbols of evil. This discovery confirms the curse.^[7][8]

Incidents

These scams continue into the present day. A 1996 reported decision out of Hawaii described the scam as "a centuries old confidence game that victimized the elderly or those with emotional problems", describing its operation in this manner:

In the Bujo, one of the female members of the Merino clan would tell the client that the future holds evil. Sleight of hand tricks, such as removing a clump of hair from a newly broken egg, were used as evidence that a client was either possessed by an evil spirit or under the influence of a curse. The female member of the Merino clan devised methods of extracting the victim's money. The victim may have been told that the money was the root of all evil, that it had to be tossed into the ocean or buried near a fresh grave in a graveyard, and credit cards were used on extravagant shopping sprees to purchase food, clothing, jewelry, and other merchandise for members of the Merino family's use and enjoyment.^[9]

A Texas woman was sentenced to 2+1⁄2 years on federal charges for wire fraud and money laundering after she operated a scam involving a psychic telephone line. Not only did she receive fees of several hundred dollars for her psychic counselling, but she also convinced her clients to send her money and property to be cleansed of "evil".^[10] In 2002, two self-described California based psychics were indicted on Federal mail fraud charges after persuading people to pay them to be cleared of bad karma.^[11] In 2006, two Connecticut women told another woman that God was going to kill her unless she paid them to perform various rituals, including chicken sacrifices, on her behalf.^[12] In Palmdale, California, a psychic reader was accused of inducing a 12-year-old girl to steal $10,000 worth of jewelry from her parents by threats of a curse.^[13] In 2013, con artists running a classic bujo scam were reportedly targeting Asian immigrants in New York City, tailoring their tales of curses to fit the Chinese folk religion.^[14] In Florida, a tarot card reader was found guilty for fleecing romance writer Jude Deveraux out of more than 25 million dollars.^[15]

In December 2018 Janet Lee, also known as the Greenwich psychic, was ordered by a judge in a civil lawsuit to pay one of her clients back $30,000.^[16] In 2015 Lee had convinced the client to hand over her entire life savings to Lee in cash for cleansing as there were "dark forces" surrounding the money. She told the client that she would put the money in a safety box in St. Patrick's Cathedral, Manhattan for 6 months until the money was cleansed. At the end of the 6 months, Lee refused to give the money back forcing the client to file the lawsuit.^[17]

Bob Nygaard

Main article: Bob Nygaard

Beginning in 2008, Bob Nygaard, a retired New York City policeman became notable due to his work as a private detective investigating psychic fraud cases after he retired from the police force. Nygaard has claimed that the scope of this problem in the United States is very large. As an example, Nygaard discussed a case he personally worked where his client was defrauded of $900,000,^[18] and he was aware of another in which a woman was defrauded of $17 million by fortune-tellers.^[19]

In 2018, CBS aired an episode of its show Pink Collar Crimes, titled "The Psychic Didn't See Him Coming" which told the story of Nygaard's investigation of "psychic" Gina Marie Marks' crimes for 10 years. Nygaard played himself on the show.^[20][21]

A Skeptical Inquirer article reported that, as of February 2020, Nygaard had "helped to cause approximately forty self-proclaimed psychics to be arrested and successfully convicted" and had helped victims recover over $4 million. Regarding the recovery amount, Nygaard said that the $4 million reflects what his clients have recovered as a result of his efforts. The criminal restitution orders, he says, were for much more. However, victims are largely unable to collect on such orders given that self-proclaimed psychics rarely keep any assets in their names.^[22]

Unification Church

Main article: Unification Church § Missionary work in Japan

The Unification Church (UC) is a new religion founded by Sun Myung Moon in Seoul in 1954, with its missionaries beginning activities in Japan in 1958. The UC is accused of engaging in what is locally termed "spiritual sales" (Japanese: 霊感商法, romanized: reikan shōhō). The UC would tell their targets that they must donate to the church or they or their relatives, either living or deceased, would be damned to hell.^[23] The UC demands their targets to donate all of their savings, as well as sell their properties or apply for loans for the payments. The UC also sells religious merchandise such as inkan, pottery, art and ginseng with extremely high price tags, all claimed to be able to bring good luck to the believers.^[24] According to the National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales, an anti-cult lawyers' group, the confirmed financial damages linked to the UC during the 35 years through 2021 surpassed 123.7 billion yen (899.2 million USD).^[25]

According to the Japanese lawyer Masaki Kito, who also represents the anti-cult lawyers' group, the UC specifically targets the Japanese people because of the invasion of Korea by Japan. The UC would tell their target that "in order to atone that sin, you must make contributions to Korea".^[26]

UC's practice of spiritual sales was widely reported by Japanese media as the primary cause which drove the prime suspect Tetsuya Yamagami, whose mother went bankrupt due to her exorbitant donations to the church, to assassinate former prime minister Shinzo Abe on 8 July 2022. The event led to a significant decrease in the approval rating of the Kishida Cabinet. Just after incumbent prime minister Fumio Kishida's cabinet reshuffle, the newly appointed Minister of Digital Affairs Taro Kono announced on 12 August 2022 to quickly form a review committee in the Consumer Affairs Agency to deal with the issues of spiritual sales.^[27] Urged by organizations of anti-cultism and cult victims, on 10 December 2022, Japan's parliament passed new laws of "Prevention of Unfair Solicitation of Donations by Corporations Act [ja]" which criminalizes corporations for acquiring donations against the claimant's free will or causing the claimant to apply for loans for donation. It grants legal rights for the claimant, as well as the claimant's spouse or children, to cancel the donation or demand restitution if the donation is proven illegal.^[28][29]

Legal issues

A desire to protect people from this scam has been one argument made to justify legislation that makes fortune telling a crime.^[30] A New York State statute condemns a person who "claims or pretends" to "influence or affect evil spirits or curses" in its prohibition of fortune telling, while letting a person "who engages in the aforedescribed conduct as part of a show or exhibition solely for the purpose of entertainment or amusement" off the hook.^[31] Most current judicial opinions have held that fortune telling in itself is protected speech under the First Amendment,^[32] though some judges have noted that "such devices are routinely, if not uniformly used to bilk or fleece gullible patrons."^[33]

High tech variants

In the Datalink Computer Services incident, a mark was fleeced of several million dollars by a firm that claimed that his computer was infected with viruses, and that the infection indicated an elaborate conspiracy against him on the Internet, involving the Central Intelligence Agency and Opus Dei. The victim was charged for elaborate and unnecessary computer security services, including the claim that a member of the Indian military had been sent to Honduras to investigate the source of the virus.^[34][35][36] The alleged scam lasted from August 2004 through October 2010 and is estimated to have cost the victim between 6 and US$20 million.^[34][37] The victim later stated that he had been defrauded by "grifters of the highest order".^[38]

See Telemarketing fraud for information about a common scam in which fraud artists install malware on victims' computers.

In popular culture

The US television series Shut Eye features a number of fictional examples of fortune telling fraud in the first six minutes of the first episode (S01E01, Death). The egg curse scam is shown being perpetrated by a fraudulent fortune teller. At the end of the ritual, as the client's money is supposedly being burned, the client strikes the fortune teller from her chair. The client searches the fortune teller's garments and finds the client's original egg and money. He then warns the fortune teller: “You don’t work bujo. Ever. Bujo is ours.” Later in the episode, it is revealed that the client represents Romani fortune tellers.^[39]

See also

• Advance fee fraud
• Ann O'Delia Diss Debar
• Blessing scam
• Bob Nygaard (psychic fraud investigator)
• Chain letter
• Charlatan
• Confidence trick
• Con artist
• Curse
• Flim-Flam!
• Houdini's debunking of psychics
• List of con artists
• List of confidence tricks
• Oxford Capacity Analysis
• Televangelist Peter Popoff
• Psychic Blues: Confessions of a Conflicted Medium
• Quackery
• Rogue security software
• Romance scam
• Rose Mackenberg (historic psychic medium investigator)
• Virus hoax

References

1. Illinois State Police, Common Citizen Scams Archived 18 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine, accessed Nov. 17, 2010
2. People v. Bertsche, 265 Ill. 272, 106 N.E. 823 (Ill. 1914)
3. Anne Sutherland, in Gypsies, Tinkers, and Other Travellers (Academic Press, 1975)
4. See, e.g., Marks v. State, 144 Tex.Crim. 509, 164 S.W.2d 690 (Tex.Crim.App. 1942)
5. W. W. Zellner, William M. Kephart, Extraordinary groups: an examination of unconventional lifestyles (Macmillan, 2000; ISBN 1-57259-953-7), pp. 121–122
6. Sylvia Browne, Lindsay Harrison, The Truth About Psychics: What's Real, What's Not, and How to Tell the Difference (Simon and Schuster, 2009; ISBN 1-4391-4972-0), pp. 230-321
7. Illinois State Police, above
8. Skip Hollandsworth, "The Curse of Romeo and Juliet", Texas Monthly, June 1997
9. State v. Merino, 81 Hawai'i 198, 915 P.2d 672, 681 (Hawai'i 1996)
10. M. Anderson, "Woodway woman sentenced to 21/2 years prison in psychic scam", Waco Tribune-Herald, Dec 5, 2001
11. David Rosenzweig, "'Psychics' Bilked and Badgered Clients, Indictment Says" Los Angeles Times, Mar. 30, 2002
12. "Women accused of satanic ritual scam", Connecticut Post, August 20, 2006
13. Los Angeles Times, "Psychic said stealing jewelry would remove curse, sheriff says", Oct. 7, 2011
14. Long, Colleen (5 July 2013). "'Evil spirit' scam plagues Asian immigrants in NYC". Yahoo! News / AP. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
15. Kim, Susamma (28 August 2013). "Trial Begins for Fla. Fortune Teller Accused of $25 Million Fraud". Yahoo. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
16. Marchant, Rob (8 December 2018). "'Greenwich psychic' sues P.I. after grand larceny arrest". Greenwich Time. Archived from the original on 8 December 2018. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
17. Wilson, Michael (5 August 2017). "Psychic Saw a New Home in Her Future, Before Crossing Paths With Police". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 5 August 2017. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
18. Uliano, Dick (3 October 2015). "Police: Psychic cheats local woman of $77,000, fails to foresee arrest". wtop.com. Archived from the original on 25 July 2016. Retrieved 24 February 2018.
19. Powell, Robert Andrew (18 February 2014). "The Psychic, The Novelist, and the $17 Million Scam". Reader's Digest. Archived from the original on 25 February 2018. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
20. "The Psychic Didn't See Him Coming". TV Guide. Retrieved 11 August 2018.
21. "Pink Collar Crimes – The Tip Of The Iceberg". MSN.com. MSN. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
22. Palmer, Rob (17 February 2020). "A Psychic Fraud Investigator Weighs In On The Goop Lab". skepticalinquirer.org. CFI. Archived from the original on 18 February 2020. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
23. "Japan lawyers accuse Unification Church of entrapping many families following Abe killing", Japan Times, 30 July 2022, retrieved 2 August 2022
24. "旧統一教会の元信者の衝撃告白 私が見た「山上容疑者」と母親の「法外な献金」", Asahi Shimbun (in Japanese), 16 July 2022, retrieved 2 August 2022
25. "EDITORIAL: Politicians' ties to Unification Church should be made public". Asahi Shimbun. 22 July 2022. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
26. "紀藤弁護士、旧統一教会への献金に日韓格差指摘 戦前の「罪」理由に". daily.co.jp (in Japanese). 15 July 2022. Retrieved 2 August 2022.
27. "Shake-up fails to lift support for Japan's cabinet amid questions over church -surveys", Reuters, 12 August 2022, retrieved 12 August 2022
28. "Japan enacts law to help victims of religious donations", Kyodo News, 10 December 2022, retrieved 3 February 2023
29. 法人等による寄附の不当な勧誘の防止等に関する法律案（概要） (PDF) (in Japanese). Consumer Affairs Agency. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
30. Spiritual Psychic Science Church v. City of Azusa (1985) 39 Cal.3d 501 , 217 Cal.Rptr. 225; 703 P.2d 1119
31. Laws of New York, 165.35
32. Spiritual Psychic Science Church, 39 Cal.3d at 513–515
33. Spiritual Psychic Science Church, 39 Cal.3d at 521 (Justice Lucas, dissenting); see also In re Bartha (1976) 63 Cal.App.3d 584, 591; 134 Cal.Rptr. 39
34. "Heir to schlumberger OILfield services fortune fleeced of at least six million dollars". Press Release. Westchester County District Attorney. 8 November 2010. Archived from the original on 12 November 2010. Retrieved 10 November 2010.
35. El-Ghobashy, Tamer (9 November 2010). "Virus Leads to $20 Million Scam WSJ.com". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 10 November 2010.
36. Fernandez, Manny (9 November 2010). "Man Held in Defrauding Roger Davidson, Musician". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 November 2010.
37. Zetter, Kim (9 November 2010). "Computer Virus Leads to $20 Million Scam Targeting Pianist Composer | Threat Level | Wired.com". Wired News. Retrieved 10 November 2010.
38. Shawn Cohen, "Oil heir Roger Davidson says he was a victim of 'grifters'" (Nov. 10, 2010), lohud.com, accessed Nov. 28, 2010.
39. "Shut Eye". Hulu.com. Retrieved 25 November 2017.