Gypsy Psychic Scams
Gypsy Psychic Scams
#1Gypsy Psychic Scams
Posted: 11/2/09 at 1:01pm
A friend of mine found this website and sent it to me. I found the whole thing interesting and it reminded me of an encounter I'd had in NYC last summer.
A friend and I were walking through a street fair where everyone had their tents set up and were selling all sorts of stuff when we were approached by two women. They were offering us "free" readings. We kept trying to walk away but they kept stopping us, grabbing our hands, and reading our palms. Kept trying to guide us to their table for our "free" reading. And we kept refusing and trying to get away. They were telling us how many kids were going to have and how I should be married already. They were going to give me a special stone (that cost $65) and wanted our phone numbers so they could help us with our spiritual issues. We did eventually get away but reading this website showed me how widespread this sort of stuff is.
Every time we pass one of those "Psychic Reading" shops my friends and I would joke about going in but never did. I have to imagine a good amount of them if not all fall into this category.
Gypsy Psychic Scams
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
#2re: Gypsy Psychic Scams
Posted: 11/2/09 at 1:09pmI don't really believe in this stuff, but I used to think it was fun to get a tarot reading or whatever once in a while. I'd never had anyone try to upsell me or scam me (any more than the whole thing is a scam in the first place, of course) until the last time I had one. The woman started pulling the whole "you have a curse on you, I need to do your chart, etc, etc, $$$" and I've never gone to one again.
Bluemoon
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/28/04
#2re: Gypsy Psychic Scams
Posted: 11/2/09 at 1:13pmYou would have thought they'd have seen that coming.
#3re: Gypsy Psychic Scams
Posted: 11/2/09 at 1:40pmI thought "Gypsy psychic scam" referred to the fraudulent attempt on Louise's part to get Tulsa to do her in the stage-door alley by claiming she could read his palm.
#4re: Gypsy Psychic Scams
Posted: 11/2/09 at 1:48pm
PJ, I don't think Tulsa does "readings" with girls. 
Or maybe that's why Louise's attempt is fraudulent?
P
#5re: Gypsy Psychic Scams
Posted: 11/2/09 at 2:09pm
No psychic will ever stack up to this one.
Best. Psychic. Ever.
nmartin
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/3/05
#7re: Gypsy Psychic Scams
Posted: 11/2/09 at 5:29pmYou mean Maria Ouspenkaya was a fraud in The Wolf Man?
#8re: Gypsy Psychic Scams
Posted: 11/2/09 at 5:35pm
Why do they go after these little fish when TBN is still on the air?
What's the difference in some backroom psychic convincing people to buy thousands of dollars worth of gewgaws to undo some phony curse and a bunch of weeping millionaires like Jan Crouch and Jesse Duplantis demanding little old ladies send them their grocery money as "love gifts" so they can spread the gospel (from their private planes) with the promise that the wealth will return to them?
Updated On: 11/2/09 at 05:35 PM
#9re: Gypsy Psychic Scams
Posted: 11/2/09 at 6:41pm
As someone who truly believes in psychics and has had readings done since I was a kid by some of the most amazing people I've ever met, these scammers and the gypsies on the street really piss me off. $5 for them to tell you that you think about money and that you have worries in your life that will all work out but not for a while. The true psychics can give names, dates, descriptions and leave you with something to work with and it's a shame they are constantly made fun of due to these types of people.
I've actually been on the hunt for a good reader here in the city for years now but haven't come across one yet. Anyone have any recommendations? (Real recommendations, not just mocking me for asking?)
#10re: Gypsy Psychic Scams
Posted: 11/2/09 at 6:42pm
What's the difference in some backroom psychic convincing people to buy thousands of dollars worth of gewgaws to undo some phony curse and a bunch of weeping millionaires like Jan Crouch and Jesse Duplantis demanding little old ladies send them their grocery money as "love gifts" so they can spread the gospel (from their private planes) with the promise that the wealth will return to them?
Jan and Jesse owe the IRS more money?
#11re: Gypsy Psychic Scams
Posted: 11/2/09 at 9:38pm
Before I was born, my foster-mother/great-aunt rented out a flat to some people who called themselves "gypsies" and claimed to be some sort of fortune-tellers. She didn't pry too much into their exact business - which they didn't practice out of the flat - but they must have had quite a few paying believers as they always had large sums of cash on rent day. Eventually, they moved out...apparently they were wanted by the police or something like that.
They also gave their clients some sort of specially "blessed" water in exchange for donations. It was apparently just tap water...when they moved, my aunt found scores of jugs stored in the cellar.
People must have really believed in them. For the next five or six years, my aunt continued to get calls or visits from people looking for "the gypsies" for help. When I was little, I remember a woman stopping her outside the apartment to ask if the gypsies were still there because her mother was sick and needed some of the water.
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