Fortune telling fraud

Fortune telling fraud, also called the bujo or egg curse scam, is a type of confidence trick, based on a claim of secret or occult information.

[1][2] In this scam, a fortune teller uses cold reading to detect that a client is genuinely troubled rather than merely seeking entertainment; or is a gambler complaining of bad luck.

Sleight of hand tricks, such as removing a clump of hair from a newly broken egg, were used as evidence that a client was either possessed by an evil spirit or under the influence of a curse.

The victim may have been told that the money was the root of all evil, that it had to be tossed into the ocean or buried near a fresh grave in a graveyard, and credit cards were used on extravagant shopping sprees to purchase food, clothing, jewelry, and other merchandise for members of the Merino family's use and enjoyment.

[9]A Texas woman was sentenced to 2+1⁄2 years on federal charges for wire fraud and money laundering after she operated a scam involving a psychic telephone line.

[10] In 2002, two self-described California based psychics were indicted on Federal mail fraud charges after persuading people to pay them to be cleared of bad karma.

[13] In 2013, con artists running a classic bujo scam were reportedly targeting Asian immigrants in New York City, tailoring their tales of curses to fit the Chinese folk religion.

[14] In Florida, a tarot card reader was found guilty for fleecing romance writer Jude Deveraux out of more than 25 million dollars.

The UC also sells religious merchandise such as inkan, pottery, art and ginseng with extremely high price tags, all claimed to be able to bring good luck to the believers.

[31] Most current judicial opinions have held that fortune telling in itself is protected speech under the First Amendment,[32] though some judges have noted that "such devices are routinely, if not uniformly used to bilk or fleece gullible patrons.

The victim was charged for elaborate and unnecessary computer security services, including the claim that a member of the Indian military had been sent to Honduras to investigate the source of the virus.

The US television series Shut Eye features a number of fictional examples of fortune telling fraud in the first six minutes of the first episode (S01E01, Death).