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A copywriter swindled victims out of $200M by pretending to be a psychic

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Re: A copywriter swindled victims out of $200M by pretending to be a psychic

#11

Post by cosmotic »

ceejayoz wrote: post #8
WheatMillington wrote: post #7

Is this really a swindle if your "victims" are willing participants? Every purported psychic is "pretending" even if they don't realise. My sister in law makes good money giving readings over zoom. She genuinely believes in this nonsense, as do her customers. Is there a practical difference though, whether she believes it or not?

The victims paid for personal readings from a specific person, and got mass-produced ones from someone else instead. Psychics are bullshit, but that's an extra level of fraud on top, and far more actionable by law enforcement.

Sounds like shuffling a deck of cards and then selecting cards from the deck at random. It's redundant. Fraudulent fraud gets collapsed into just fraud, which is what the customer wanted from the start.

Re: A copywriter swindled victims out of $200M by pretending to be a psychic

#13

Post by jrflowers »

humanistbot wrote: post #6
gre wrote: post #2

> pretending to be a psychic This is redundant.

The moment I read the headline, I was expecting to find a bunch of low-effort comments that don't engage with the article, which actually speaks directly to this issue. Congrats. Yes, all psychics can be seen as committing a kind of fraud, but most stay in their unfalsifiable lane. This psychic used the mail to advertise health services. They didn't just claim to predict the future or sending good energy into the uni…

>The moment I read the headline, I was expecting to find a bunch of low-effort comments that don't engage with the article

When did you first realize that you have the Gift of premonition?

Re: A copywriter swindled victims out of $200M by pretending to be a psychic

#14

Post by hutzlibu »

cosmotic wrote: post #11
ceejayoz wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The victims paid for personal readings from a specific person, and got mass-produced ones from someone else instead. Psychics are bullshit, but that's an extra level of fraud on top, and far more actionable by law enforcement.

Sounds like shuffling a deck of cards and then selecting cards from the deck at random. It's redundant. Fraudulent fraud gets collapsed into just fraud, which is what the customer wanted from the start.

If both believe in it and fulfil their bargain, it is not fraud.

Fraud requires intention of missleading.

Also, what most customers want, is emotional comfort. And whatever we think of it, it seems to work for them. Even though personally, I'll go with south parks take on it:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sH0dZDnD_GI

Re: A copywriter swindled victims out of $200M by pretending to be a psychic

#15

Post by recursivecaveat »

ceejayoz wrote: post #8
WheatMillington wrote: post #7

Is this really a swindle if your "victims" are willing participants? Every purported psychic is "pretending" even if they don't realise. My sister in law makes good money giving readings over zoom. She genuinely believes in this nonsense, as do her customers. Is there a practical difference though, whether she believes it or not?

The victims paid for personal readings from a specific person, and got mass-produced ones from someone else instead. Psychics are bullshit, but that's an extra level of fraud on top, and far more actionable by law enforcement.

I'm reminded of Robert Tilton, who was exposed for depositing/trashing prayer requests/donations without actually praying over them. Sadly it seems like he largely escaped intact. I suspect being a grifter is a very strong risk factor for being too lazy to grift 'correctly', no matter how easy it would be.

Re: A copywriter swindled victims out of $200M by pretending to be a psychic

#16

Post by pessimizer »

cosmotic wrote: post #11
ceejayoz wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The victims paid for personal readings from a specific person, and got mass-produced ones from someone else instead. Psychics are bullshit, but that's an extra level of fraud on top, and far more actionable by law enforcement.

Sounds like shuffling a deck of cards and then selecting cards from the deck at random. It's redundant. Fraudulent fraud gets collapsed into just fraud, which is what the customer wanted from the start.

They paid for a psychic reading, and from someone who they thought was a psychic. They weren't paying for psychic powers to be real. If I buy a book on psychic readings, is it alright for them not to send it to me because psychic readings aren't real? Is it "redundant?"

Re: A copywriter swindled victims out of $200M by pretending to be a psychic

#19

Post by pessimizer »

gre wrote: post #2

> pretending to be a psychic This is redundant.

Plenty of people think that they are psychic. We all think, at least on some dumb lizard-brained level, that we can continue to steer the bowling ball after it's been released.

Re: A copywriter swindled victims out of $200M by pretending to be a psychic

#20

Post by WheatMillington »

hutzlibu wrote: post #14
cosmotic wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like shuffling a deck of cards and then selecting cards from the deck at random. It's redundant. Fraudulent fraud gets collapsed into just fraud, which is what the customer wanted from the start.

If both believe in it and fulfil their bargain, it is not fraud. Fraud requires intention of missleading. Also, what most customers want, is emotional comfort. And whatever we think of it, it seems to work for them. Even though personally, I'll go with south parks take on it: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sH0dZDnD_GI

Does it work for them "less" if the purported psychic doesn't believe?
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