Case Study: The Love Potion Scam

Living in Los Angeles, a town where psychics are only outnumbered by yoga studios, I know that a lot of people believe that the occult can help solve relationship problems. I’ve been there; after a particularly bad breakup I was one of those people Googling ‘Voodoo Curses To Bring Your Ex Back Tonight’ at 4am. I’m not questioning whether it’s a rational idea to believe that ordering a raccoon penis bone online will balance your relationship (that’s another post), but I do want to protect emotionally vulnerable people from sending money into a vacuum. Because lately I’ve been noticing more and more ‘fake psychics’ using the comment section of legitimate love advice sites to troll for victims. Many people who send money and can’t get it back never come forward because they don’t want to admit that they got dumped, then duped. So how can we spot scammers? And is there any way to find a legitimate psychic? Read more

Love Scams

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Today at Detective School the lesson of the day was Con Games. From the basic Ponzi scheme (the precursor to the Bernie Madoffs of the world) to old-school cons like the the Jamaican Money Box, The Pig in the Poke and my personal favorite, the Love Potion Scam to super-high tech scams like smishing, skimming and Internet cons, the basic rules of stay the same: Read more

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