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Spam
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Summary
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scams
This page considers online 'spirit world' scams and the
fortune business.
It covers -
introduction
Acceptance of what has variously been described as the
paranormal, superstition or heterodox religious faith
means that there
is money to be made from the phenomena discussed in the
preceding page of this
note.
The magic of turning credulity into dollars takes a range
of forms, including -
- publication
of horoscopes in newspapers and magazines
- delivery
of astrological advice
(including personal compatibility information) by email
and SMS
- publication
of books, magazines and videos on astral travel, spirit
guides, dowsing, astrological interpretation and so
forth
- appearances
and face to face consultations with psychics (including
mediums and palm readers) and faith healers
- vending
of crystal balls, crystals, dowsing rods, 'spirit catchers'
and other paraphernalia
As
that list suggests, much commercial activity involves
major publishers, broadcasters and retailers rather than
the local loon who thinks that her cat is a channel to
Cleopatra or the person whose letter (or email) claims
to tell your fortune or remove a curse.
Those organisations typically rely on arguments that they
are providing entertainment rather than a definitive statement
of fact or are meeting demand from consumers in a pluralist
society. They have sought to distance themselves from
what are characterised as scams, although the more jaundiced
observers have on occasion sniped that offences are often
a matter of scale and style rather than fundamental difference.
That is significant because much regulation has come to
centre on statutory and common law prohibitions regarding
obtaining money under false pretences or with menaces.
business
Digital technology means that consumers wanting to touch
the infinite no longer have to rely on a book of prognostications
or the clammy paw of the local soothsayer. They can get
in touch with the afterlife via a personal computer or
a mobile phone.
For many consumers electronic access to the planets involves
starsign-by-SMS (subscribe to a premium
SMS service and receive astrological advice about personal
compatibility, whether you should stay in bed tomorrow
and so forth). As with many premium services consumers
have complained about overbilling, unavailable fine
print and difficulties in unsubscribing. The size
of the industry (number of businesses, number of subscribers
and staff, revenue, churn and profitability) is not known.
Other consumers have relied on 'psychic lines', aggressively
advertised on late night television and in print. Users
of those line typically pay, on a per minute and premium
rate basis, for a telephone consultation with a psychic.
The psychic may be located in another jurisdiction, with
some services hitting unwary users with the cost of overseas
calls.
Interaction on such lines tends to be highly structured,
with the caller initially being exposed to advertisements
- unsurprising, as the operator is aiming to prolong the
caller's time online - and then to questions that elicit
information for the supposed psychic. The content of advice
provided typically features a mix of encouragement, reassurance,
congratulation on disasters avoided and generic warnings
about future threats.
Uptake of the net has seen some operators go online, offering
subscription services (a periodic email will update you
about what is happening wit your horoscope), a one-off
response to a query emailed to the medium and even interactive
web-based consultation for those whose credit card is
working. Some offer SMS
services, with UK clairvoyant Sally Morgan ("I talk
to dead people" ... and supposedly they respond)
for example offering "psychic text for £1.50
a message.
One US site thus offers a
dynamic
on-line program where you will learn how to personally
contact your angels and get your own answers to life.
What would it be like if you could get a solution to
every problem you have in your personal, business or
social life?
An
Australian competitor boasts that it was established "with
the aim of providing a genuine service of credible and
accurate psychic readings to its customers" ("wherever
you are you always have access to professional psychic
guidance") and elsewhere that it is "a leading
provider of psychic consultations, offering live one-to-one
readings on the telephone, email readings and astrology
readings".
An offshore competitor claims
You
were guided to this site because the higher spiritual
forces know that you have a problem that I can help
you solve
Alas
the 'higher spiritual force' seems to be the mighty greenback,
operating via Google Adwords. The site operator offers
to "banish the evil eye", "reverse a curse"
or "break a hex" for a mere US$25.
The same sum will pay for the 'Stop Gossip Spell' or 'Wall
of Protection Spell' ...
Within a day or two of casting this spell, most people
begin to notice a growing feeling of safety and security
that actually seems to be emanating from them. They
feel it filling a space that extends to about ten feet
all around their body with a shimmering white protective
light that they can't quite see with their physical
eyes, but they are aware of it within their minds eye.
Each day they notice it growing stronger and more powerful,
keeping all negative influences at bay, no matter who
might be sending it!
Sceptics,
presumably hobbled by a negativity hex, can turn to the
fine print which indicates
All
offers for all products and services are void where
prohibited or restricted. Products and services are
based on the religion of Wicca and your rights to use
these products and services are protected under the
Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 and
the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998
(H.R.2431). Your usage of these products and services
constitutes a spiritual endeavor and no guarantees or
warranties are made, expressed, or implied as to the
results of these spiritual endeavors whether made by
you or us. Information about these spiritual endeavors
is laid out clearly on this website and each user is
directed to read this information before deciding upon
said spiritual endeavors.
scams
The number of offline and online 'magic' scams (and
their economic significance) is not known.
Some involve spam versions of traditional postal mailouts,
offering to bless, cure or predict. The Western Australian
government's consumer protection site for example notes
that
Angela
claims that she can pick your lottery numbers by performing
a very powerful magic ritual, which will enhance your
winning potential. "I will then travel telepathically
to a parallel universe and ask the Astral Powers to
give me precise information about future events",
she writes. All she asks in return is $67 to compensate
her for her time.
Others
are nastier, offering to remove (or even impose) curses
by email.
Many are worded to edge around legal constraints on payment.
One message for example asks
Are
you searching for an inner peace and an understanding
of your "purpose" in life? Are you seeking
a faith by which you can live your life? Or are you
hoping to renew a faith already possessed that's become
confused? Reverend XXX is available for consultation
via e-mail. [He] is is an ordained Spiritualist Minister
and licensed Medium. He may be contacted by e-mail ...
To learn more about [his] spiritual journey and the
services he offers through the internet, visit his website
... There is no charge for [his] gifts of Spirit. Should
you request mailing(s), a donation to defray costs would
be appreciated. [His] ministry is rooted in the conviction
that there is no death, "crossing over" being
simply a transition from this physical world to a different
dimension.
References to 'credible'. 'professional' and 'licenced'
are of course problematical, with licencing typically
being undertaken by the psychic or by an informal association
(thus worth even less than the medium's prognostications).
The federal government's Scamwatch site notes
that consumers
receive
an email or letter out of the blue from somebody claiming
to be a psychic or clairvoyant.
• This person claims to have some sort of special
insight into you.
• The person claims you have been cursed or jinxed
(they may offer to remove this curse or jinx themselves
or give you the name of someone else who can do so).
• You may be offered a good luck charm, the secret
to enormous wealth, magic potions or winning lottery
numbers.
• You might be asked to pay a small administration
fee to collect your charm, potion or lottery numbers.
• The person claims to have mystic connections.
The
advice is to think before you pay money for online eye
of newt, ear of toad or life secrets of a 6,000 year old
Venusian princess.
Critics have recurrently observed that the amazing 'truths'
in fortune telling and other 'cold reading' (including
much 'criminal profiling') are simply open ended answers.
Ian
Rowland, for example, provided a taxonomy of fortune-telling
tricks in The Full Facts Book of Cold Reading
(2001), including the -
- Rainbow
Ruse - a "statement which credits the client with
both a personality trait and its opposite" ("on
the whole you are rather a quiet, self effacing type,
but when the circumstances are right, you can be quite
the life and soul of the party")
- Jacques
Statement, named for the As You Like It character,
tailors the prediction to the subject's age
-
Barnum Statement - an assertion so general that everyone
would agree
-
Fuzzy Fact - a seemingly factual statement expressed
in a way that "leaves plenty of scope to be developed
into something more specific"
.
law
The discussion, elsewhere on this site, of blasphemy
highlights ongoing changes in Australian and overseas
law - often episodic and inconsistent - to reflect secularisation
and acceptance of different beliefs. That movement is
evident in law regarding online and offline activity such
as horoscopes, faith healing, witchcraft and purported
communication with the dead.
The Australian regime traces its origins to the law of
Reformation England, which both accepted the reality of
magic and sought to punish what were seen as false claims
to magical powers.
The 1530 Act concerning Egyptians (ie gypsies)
for example included punishment for 'fortune telling',
involving anyone using
great
subtle and crafty means to deceive the people ... that
they by Palmistry
could tell men and women's fortunes, and so many times
by craft and subtlety have deceived the people of their
money
A
1597 Act for Punishment of Rogues, Vagabonds &
Sturdy Beggars included provisions regarding psychics,
including
All
idle persons going about in any county either begging
or using any subtle craft, of feigning themselves to
have knowledge in physiognomy,
palmistry, or other like crafty science, or pretending
that they can tell destinies, fortunes, or such other
like fantastical imaginations
with punishments including flogging, branding and exile.
The 1735 Witchcraft Act more generously made
'pretending' to be a medium an offence punishable with
one year's imprisonment.
By 1824 the Elizabethan regime had been updated, with
legislation in that year featuring scope for prosecution
of
Every
Person pretending or professing to tell Fortunes, or
using any subtle Crafts, Means or Device, by Palmistry
or otherwise, to deceive and impose on any of His Majesty's
subjects
UK
legislation from that era provided the model for Australian
colonial and (until recently) state legislation.
Section 432 of the Queensland Criminal Code of
1899, regarding 'Pretending to Exercise Witchcraft or
Tell Fortunes', thus provided that -
Any
person who pretends to exercise or use any kind of witchcraft,
sorcery, enchantment, or conjuration, or undertakes
to tell fortunes, or pretends from his skill or knowledge
in any occult science to discover where or in what manner
anything supposed to have been stolen or lost may be
found, is guilty of a misdemeanour, and is liable to
imprisonment with hard labour for one year.
Fourtune-telling
provisions in the NSW Vagrancy Act 1902 (replaced
by the Summary Offences Act 1970 s 39) was used
in the 1957 prosecution of Harcourt Garden and his father
Jock Garden,
the forger and colourful Left politician, for fortune-telling
through publication of the Review astrology magazine.
Section 40 of the South Australian Summary Offences
Act 1953 regarding 'Acting as a spiritualist, medium
etc with intent to defraud' stated that -
A
person who, with intent to defraud, purports to act
as a spiritualist or medium, or to exercise powers of
telepathy or clairvoyance or other similar powers, is
guilty of an offence.
Maximum penalty: $10 000 or imprisonment for 2
years.
Restrictions
on psychics and particularly on fortune-telling in public
places were embodied in summary
offences and vagrancy legislation, with the Victorian
Vagrancy Act 1966 for example providing that
-
Any person who pretends or professes to tell fortunes
or uses any subtle craft means or device by palmistry
or otherwise to defraud or impose on any other person
or pretends to exercise or use any kind of witchcraft,
sorcery, enchantment or conjuration or pretends from
his skill or knowledge in any occult or crafty science
to discover where or in what manner any goods or chattels
stolen or lost may be found shall be guilty of an offence.
The
Queensland Vagrants, Gaming and Other Offences Act
1931, repealed by the Summary Offences Act
2005, indicated that anyone "who pretends or professes
to tell fortunes for gain or payment of any kind shall
be deemed to be a vagrant and shall be liable to a penalty
of $100 or to imprisonment for six months".
Such provisions were found elsewhere. Section 365 of the
Canadian Criminal Code for example specified
that -
Everyone
who fraudulently -
a) pretends to exercise or to use any kind of witchcraft,
sorcery, enchantment or conjuration
b) undertakes, for a consideration, to tell fortunes,
or
c) pretends from his skill in knowledge of an occult
or crafty science to discover where or in what manner
anything is supposed to have been stolen or lost may
be found
is
guilty of an offense punishable on summary conviction.
The
English Fraudulent Mediums Act 1951, superseded
in 2008 by Consumer Protection Regulations implementing
the EU Unfair Commercial Practices Directive,
provided that it was an offence -
for
any person who, acting for reward:
i) with intent to deceive purports to act as a spiritualistic
medium or to exercise any powers of telepathy, clairvoyance
or other similar powers;
ii) in purporting to act as a spiritualistic medium
or to execute such powers as aforesaid uses any fraudulent
device.
As a consequence of the EU directive fortune-tellers,
astrologers and their ilk are required to alert customers
that what is offered is "for entertainment only"
and not "experimentally proven" (the latter
requirement bizarrely outraging some true believers).
As a consequence a fortune-teller who sets up a tent at
a funfair will have to put up a disclaimer on a board
outside. Disclaimers will need to feature on the websites
of faith healers and spiritualists, on invoices and in
any printed terms and conditions.
New York prohibits "claimed occult powers ... to
answer questions or to give advice on personal matters
or to exorcise, influence or affect evil spirits or curses"
in return for a fee.
Although specific 'paranormal fraud' provisions featured
in Australian legislation as late as the the 1990s, the
tendency during the past two decades has been to repeal
'magic' law as part of broader streamlining of public
order and consumer protection legislation. The South Australian
Summary Offences Act 1991 thus indicated that
A
person who, with intent to defraud purports to act as
a spiritualist or medium or to exercise powers of telepathy
or clairvoyance or other similar powers, is guilty of
an offence.
In
New South Wales the Imperial Acts Application Act
1969 ended recognition of the 1735 Witchcraft
Act, with Taylor J in Loukas v Young [1968]
3 NSWR 549 having held that the imputation someone was
a "witch" and "practised witchcraft' was
now incapable of being defamatory
on the basis that the community no longer recognised withches,
with or without a broomstick and snarly black cat.
The Tasmanian Police Offences Amendment Act 2001,
repealing the Police Offences Act 1935, removed
offences such as pretending to have the ability to tell
fortunes and male crossdressing in public places during
daylight. Queensland advanced into the new century with
the Justice and Other Legislation (Miscellaneous Provisions)
Act 2000, which removed the offence of 'pretending
to use witchcraft, sorcery, fortune-telling or other occult
science' from the state's Criminal Code.
Legislation in the Australian states and territories instead
emphasised intention, with the Western Australian Crimes
Act for example addressing psychic scams on the basis
that they involve "obtaining money by false or misleading
statements which are known to be false or misleading".
Practitioners have accordingly used the strategies highlighted
above -
- indicating
that their service/activity is entertainment, rather
an exact statement of truth
- indicating
that their statements are a matter of belief (one that
might be considered to be implausible but is sincerely
held) rather than known by the author to be false
- claiming
that prosecution is an attack on a religious faith
- seeking
a 'donation' rather than directly charging for the service.
Do
not, therefore, expect to gain satisfaction if the horoscope
in your local newspaper is less accurate than the weather
forecast.
There appear to have been few prosecutions of individual
practitioners and government action has centred on 'scamwatch'
campaigns, such as the Western Australian Scamnet
listing mailouts from overseas psychics here, and interdiction
of mail. Reticence
by government reflects priorities, embarrassment and uncertainty
about the efficacy of prosecution.
What of litigation by psychics whose pretentions have
been questioned. Most simply ignore criticism. Some however
have threatened critics with defamation
action or breach of copyright, apparently in the expectation
that the critic will back down in the face of a threat
from someone whose litigation will ultimately be funded
by the desperate and deluded.
studies
Sceptical views of online and offline hocus pocus include
An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the
Occult and Supernatural: James Randi's Decidedly Skeptical
Definitions of Alternate Realities (New York: St
Martin's Press 1997) by James Randi, The Encyclopedia
of the Paranormal (New York: Prometheus 1996) edited
by Gordon Stein, Performing Dark Arts: A Cultural
History of Conjuring (Bristol: Intellect Press 2007)
by Michael Mangan and How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the
World (London: Fourth Estate 2004) by Francis Wheen.
Shawn Peters offers a spirited analysis in When Prayer
Fails: Faith Healing, Children, and the Law (Oxford:
Oxford Uni Press 2007).
Among online resources we recommend Christine Corcos's
sparkling Law
& Magic blog.
A variety of sites have sought to expose scams or merely
highlight the problematical nature of all claims to psychic
powers and communication. They include badpsychics.com,
Australian Skeptics
and the US Skeptical Inquirer.
Accounts of historic scams include The Sorcerer's
Tale: Faith and Fraud in Tudor England (Oxford: Oxford
Uni Press 2008) by Alec Ryrie
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