In news that has resulted in anger from the psychic community, a woman has been revealed to have taken advantage of her clients, claiming their money was possessed by evil spirits and that she would take the money to be disposed of properly and “make it suffer.” Many of her clients were taken in by the fraud and gave Nancy Marks hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Altogether, Marks made off with over $290,000 when she told her clients to give their cursed cash to her. Marks’ business, named Psychic Readings has been shut down, and Nancy has been arrested for fraud. The incredible part is that her seemingly transparent scam would have continued for much longer, had it not been for one woman named Linda who notified authorities.
And that’s not the only case of cash being possessed and needing to be cleansed in the wallets and purses of the psychics. A mother and daughter team of psychic frauds named Laura Santini and Rosann are currently on the run from the law after stealing over $62,000 from one woman uding the same scam. Essentially the psychics told her the $62,000 the woman had in her savings account was cursed, and that the two needed to take the money to a shrine in Indiana to have it cleansed and remove the curse. It sounds ridiculous, and at first the woman resisted, but then the psychics mentioned the safety of her family. They said that the evil spirits would harm her family if she didn’t let them help her cleanse the money and return it to normal. Fearing for her family’s lives, she complied and wished them luck on their journey. Unfortunately for her, the criminals did seem to enjoy quite a bit of luck after the incident, and have not yet been found by authorities.
It’s a scam that has been around for quite some time. Frauds claiming to be psychic have for years taken advantage of their clients using fear. And the problem with it isn’t just the affect it has on the lives of those who are stolen from, but the field of psychics in general. There are plenty of psychics both genuine and false who use their own techniques in an effort to genuinely help those who seek guidance or to entertain and comfort the bereaved. Though some of them may be frauds as far as their abilities go, they may use the disclaimer that their services are intended for entertainment purposes only. And as a result, they provide a service similar to theatrical performers in return for money. Though this is certainly psychic it is also not criminal. Many people go to psychic performers who openly admit they have not developed their talents, but utilize the “medium” (so to speak) for nothing more than entertainment just as a stage magician does not actually make a rabbit spontaneously appear in his hat. On the other hand, these criminals who take advantage of their clients while posing as real psychics are dangerous to the profession. If psychics are seen as a menace to society, the gifts of genuine psychics could soon become curses. Fortunately, it seems the number of good psychics heavily balances out the bad.