Scam Types dot Com

Do you think all psychics are scam artists?

My personal opinion is that all psychics, mediums, etc are a fraud because I simply do not believe in such things.

In the same vein, if you want to demonstrate telepathy to a crowd with a friend, there is a simple illusion that you can master without even practicing together.

Ask the “audience” to provide your friend with a number while you are out of earshot (preferably 1-10 or some other low range)

you put your fingers on his/her temple

your friend clenches his/her teeth and releases the number of times that would represent the number given.

I.E. The number was 5, they clench their teeth 5 times

When you clench your teeth you send a slight movement to your temple (very easily felt by the fingers on the temple)

Your showmanship will sell it the rest of the way!

If you can convince the audience that this friend was a randomly selected member of the audience even better.

misdirection is everything, so throw in a little shock/disgust at “something else” you “saw” while peering into his/her mind, that you will “spare” them from sharing with the crowd.

If you want this to go from harmless fun to scam, simply place a wager with everyone in the group including your friend… when he pony’s up the (say $5) payout, perhaps everyone else will too. You can split the earnings later.*

*I have never tried this aspect of it, so don’t come crying to me (or scam) if you get your @$$ kicked for suckering people’s money - most people don’t enjoy parting with their cash in the first place.

What’s your view Jon - are all psychics frauds or is there some truth to it?

Rubbish. Bunkum. Deceitful. Frauds. Psychics. Get. It?

I think all the ones that we see are frauds. There is a lot of ability whithin psychology and psychologic study to be able to interpret someones facial and body language. For instance a lot of lie detecting relies on the dilation of the eyes, body temp, heart rate, etc. I think even to the extent where a good interogator can tell if someone is lying without the actual apparatus. So if someone with keen observation and the right questions can determine something about you that you are TRYING TO HIDE, how much easier for a similarly trained person to determine something about you that you are TRYING TO BROADCAST to them with your thoughts (or whatever they have you do)?

As they run through the beginning, most start with vague subjects that can easily be true for most people while “reading” you face to see what you react to the MOST. Then they focus on that (still staying vague) to narrow down the possibilities until they “discover magically” that you were abused as a child and that your dog died in a woodchipper (or whatever)

It is (in my opinion) a highly refined skill that doesn’t just come to you overnight - it is hard work. But nonetheless, it is a fake.

From wikipedia - “The existence of extra sensory psychic abilities is disputed by skeptics who contend that there is no scientific evidence supporting such abilities and apparent psychic phenomena are nothing more than intentional trickery or self delusion.[5] Debunker James Randi has has offered a $1 million prize to any individual who can, under controlled circumstances, demonstrate any paranormal or supernatural ability. As of yet no one has passed the preliminary challenge.[6]” - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic

That, I think, is what the majority of everyday people like you and me see.

On the other hand, I believe that there is a spiritual side to life. Based on the fact that I have concluded there has to be a God. (The idea of everything on earth, from complex ecosystems to the complexity of human anatomy, happening by accident, in a world where things naturally progress from order to chaos seems absurd.) So, there must have been something/someone with a great deal of inteligence that put it all together. An all powerful deity seems likely (I wont get into all the sides of this viewpoint now as it is quite off topic)

However, it is important to establish that because this also lends itself to the concept of there being an unseen element at work in the world. If there is a “good” unseen element, it stands to reason that, like everything else humans have gotten their hands on, it can be corrupted.

All that to say that if someone is claiming to be psychic and being loud and public about it, it is probably fake (esp. if they are coaxing greenbacks out of peoples pockets). However, that does not rule out the possibility of a real ability to tap into an unseen power and make some substantial use of it.

Finally, your question is interesting because you ask “is there truth to it?”

You yourself often say that TRUTH is debatable/subject to opinion/relative and all that. So in this case, if I told you that you were sitting at your desk, using a laptop, and sipping tea while reading this (and you just so happened to be doing all that), and you believed that I assertained that because of my psychic connection with the fake plant on my desk…. wouldn’t that make it TRUE (for you)?

Thats my take!

thanks

jb

I’d call you a FRAUD!!

I’m sitting here sipping coffee, I have a work surface not a desk and I don’t own a laptop

I’m og the opinion that all so-called psychics are frauds yet I believe that humans do have the capacity to use our minds in ways which we currently don’t - I seem to remember reading something once that said we only utilise around 3% of our brain power!

I won’t get into religion too much as that is not the focus of this blog but I did have to chuckle when I visited your site - you had Google serving up a religious picture ad at the same time as one for “pictures of scantily clad sexy females” - gotta love ‘em for that!

I’ve written about the James Randi challenge before - Sylvia Browne accepted but has never actually come forward to take the test.. I wonder why?

well, you know… i am a beginner at this, and at first, i had a picture of coffee in my mind, a work surface, and a desktop computer, but because of my inexperience, i allowed my mind to convince me that since you are from europe somewhere it would be tea, since you do this a lot you probably work out of the home sometimes, thus having a laptop, and the desk…. lets see, the desk…. hmmm, well here in the states, we call them desks?!

ok, you are right, i am a fraud, i guess i will have to take my psychic fake plant back to the magic shop for a tune-up.

you are wise not to get into religion on a site that exposes scams because as we both agree, truth is in the eye of the beholder and truth really starts to get blurred there. I only brought it into play because to fully answer the question “are ALL psychics frauds?” one needs to consider ALL possible sources of said magical power.

by the way which page were the entertainingly different ads on? that is such beautiful irony!

jb

It was on your home page - right hand side.

It’s not doing it now, but yesterday I saw it - I guess “pictures of scantily clad sexy females” has a better pay rate than the religious ones (the higher paying ads go nearer the top of the page)

Recently, there was a tv show i saw wherein a psychiatrist openly challenged a popular(out here)psychic/black magician to do black magic on him. The magician said he would fall ill or have an accident in a week’s time( i know that sounds too vague) but after one week in the same show the psychiatrist appeared, safe and healthy. There was a time when I wanted to believe in these things but now i guess i have grown out of it.

I watch a lot of Derren Brown, he is a very clever man.