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… and 'psychic' fraud is also big earner
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UNITED STATES. Detective Jack M. Makler, 64, and self-proclaimed psychic and fortune-teller Linda Marks, 57, are both serving prison sentences after pleading guilty to fraud. They are said to have fleeced their victims of over US $2 million (£1.36m) between 1994 and 2002.
Sentencing was announced on 10 May in West Palm Beach, Florida. Marks, who also operated under the names Gypsy Chawna and Reverend Jackson, was sentenced to eight months in prison, plus three years of home supervision after her release. She was also ordered to return $2 million to her victims. Makler, who worked as a detective in Marks' hometown of Delray Beach, was sentenced to five years behind bars followed by three years of supervised release. He was ordered to pay restitution of $235,700.
Marks’ targets were the elderly and individuals suffering from fatal diseases, claiming that she could cure them by praying over their money. She pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud – which means using inter-state wire (electronic) communications in carrying out a scheme to defraud.
Makler was assigned to investigate her activities but instead helped Marks and her husband Jimmy with the fraud and money laundering. The police detective admitted lying to federal investigators on three occasions about his relationship with Marks and using his position with Delray Beach Police Department to help the fake psychic to avoid criminal penalties. He pleaded guilty to a charge of honest services fraud.
“This office and our law enforcement partners will not tolerate those who attempt to benefit at the expense of the sick and elderly, nor will we tolerate public corruption of any kind,” US Attorney R. Alexander Acosta said in a release after the couple made their first appearance in court in November 2005, adding:
“We will continue to aggressively investigate and prosecute cases which involve the betrayal of the public trust. This indictment reflects our commitment to those cases.”
“Psychic” fraud is far from being an isolated case – though the involvement of a police officer is highly unusual.
Meanwhile, In Indiana, “Miss Elizabeth, Psychic” is sending letters guaranteeing her services with these words:
“Every prophecy I reveal shall be100 per cent accurate. You will experience instant miracles. I will solve any problem in 36 hours. Your every prayer will be answered, your every wish granted, your every problem solved.”
Miss Elizabeth guarantees a 100 per cent refund if not satisfied and claims to be “the world’s most powerful spiritual and psychic adviser.”
Not surprisingly, she is top of the Northeastern Indiana Better Business Bureau’s “Scambusters” list.
UNITED KINGDOM. In the same month that the Florida pair were found guilty of their crimes, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) in the UK warned that an estimated five million British citizens were losing up to £1 billion a year to a variety of online and offline mass-marketing scams involving claims of lottery wins, “miracle” cures and the so-called 419 con favoured by Nigerian fraudsters.
But OFT also warned that clairvoyant and psychic mailings are a growing fraud. These involve letters from an alleged clairvoyant promising good luck (such as winning lottery numbers) or predicting bad omens. Money is requested for an “intervention” that will bring about good luck or prevent bad luck.
“Do not think that you can’t be taken in by a scam,” warned OFT chief executive John Fingleton. “We may believe we are too savvy or streetwise to fall for these cons, but they target different people in different ways to exploit our weaknesses and take our money.”
And on 12 April, Paul Williams, who claimed to be a clairvoyant with celebrities among his clients, was jailed in the Midlands for conning a widow out of £6,500 by making her believe that her dead husband had left money to him in his will.
He mocked up the will in the name of Charles Sutton and hid it behind the Suttons' grandfather clock. He then claimed that the dead man was telling his wife, Joyce, to look for something behind the clock. The will was honoured and Williams received the money - half of the dead man's estate - but handwriting experts later showed that it was written by the clairvoyant.
Williams, whose stage name is Paul De-Aaran, had been friendly with the Suttons since 1997 when they paid him to exorcise a ghost. Passing sentence, Peter Cooke, Recorder of Wolverhampton, told him: "I'm sure you have foreseen that you are going to prison, you don't have to be clairvoyant when you have done what you did to see that."
Williams, who drives a Rolls Royce with a personalised number plate, admitted seven offences including forgery, obtaining property by deception and theft. They included stealing £2,900 from another victim, Gerald Rowley, 82, who is blind, and fraudulently using his cheque book to steal £3,591.
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Posted on Monday, September 04, 2006
Category: Future
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