Beyond the Surface

In a previous post about psychic frauds, I mentioned briefly one fraud in which the psychic asks a bunch of questions. I got a phone call from a lady last week complaining about a reader here at the shop and one of her complaints was that the reader asked a bunch of questions. In talking about it later, I really don’t think that some people realize how subtle that can be sometimes.

From the moment you meet someone for the very first time, you are both collecting information about each other. It’s what we do as humans. We take in things with our senses and we process it. So when you walk into the shop and the psychic asks how you are doing and you respond, there is already a little bit of information exchanged. Now, of course, unless you are extraordinarily talkative, probably not A LOT of information was given away BUT… even those tiny things tell the people around you SOMETHING.

A psychic should never ask you anything above and beyond ‘how are you today’. If they are reading you, they should not ask questions such as ‘do you have a dog?’ or ‘who is dark haired with a bad attitude?’. Ever. These questions can seem innocuous to someone not looking for them and can seem a part of the reading… but they shouldn’t be. What the ‘psychic’ is doing is getting information from you which then changes ‘the reading’. It goes like this.

Wanna be Psychic : “Do you have a dog?”
You : “No… ”
Wanna be psychic : “Oh, you don’t have a dog? I don’t know what that was then. I’ll just skip that.”

Had you answered differently, it would have gone like this :

Wanna be Psychic : “Do you have a dog?”
You : “No… ” (you are fervently scanning your memory for anyone around you who has a dog that could apply) “… but my mom has a dog that comes over all the time.”
Wanna be psychic : “Oh… ok… that’s the dog connection then.”

There is a range of intent in this scam. At one end, there is the ‘psychic’ who doesn’t realize they are a fraud. This ‘psychic’ often thinks that they just aren’t very confident or are growing their skills or are just seeing something very fuzzy and have probably had poor, if any, training. They don’t realize that they are not psychic and that the random thoughts that float through everyone’s head does not a psychic make. This non-psychic doesn’t MEAN to be a scammer, really… and for that reason, they probably won’t set off your ‘beware’ alarms when you meet them.

At the other end of the spectrum, there is the fraudulent psychic that knows they are a fraud. This person knows that they are not psychic and are more likely to set off your ‘beware alarm’. But these types suck people in all the time. I know of a few right here in this community who KNOW they aren’t psychic and don’t think twice about giving readings for money.

Get referrals to psychics from people you trust. But just in case your friends are suckers, use common sense and obey your gut instinct about someone.