These scams continue into the present day. A 1996 reported decision out of Hawaii described the scam as "a centuries old confidence game that victimized the elderly or those with emotional problems", describing its operation in this manner: A Texas woman was sentenced to years on federal charges for
wire fraud and
money laundering after she operated a scam involving a psychic telephone line. Not only did she receive fees of several hundred dollars for her psychic counselling, but she also convinced her clients to send her money and property to be cleansed of "evil". 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. In 2006, two Connecticut women told another woman that God was going to kill her unless she paid them to perform various rituals, including chicken
sacrifices, on her behalf. In Palmdale, California, a psychic reader was accused of inducing a 12-year-old girl to steal $10,000 worth of jewelry from her parents by threats of a curse. 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. In Florida, a
tarot card reader was found guilty for fleecing romance writer
Jude Deveraux out of more than 25 million dollars. In December 2018
Janet Lee, also known as the Greenwich psychic, was ordered by a judge in a civil lawsuit to pay one of her clients back $30,000. In 2015 Lee had convinced the client to hand over her entire life savings to Lee in cash for cleansing as there were
"dark forces" surrounding the money. She told the client that she would put the money in a safety box in
St. Patrick's Cathedral,
Manhattan for 6 months until the money was cleansed. At the end of the 6 months, Lee refused to give the money back forcing the client to file the lawsuit.
Bob Nygaard Beginning in 2008, Bob Nygaard, a retired New York City policeman became notable due to his work as a private detective investigating psychic fraud cases after he retired from the police force. Nygaard has claimed that the scope of this problem in the United States is very large. As an example, Nygaard discussed a case he personally worked where his client was defrauded of $900,000, and he was aware of another in which a woman was defrauded of $17 million by fortune-tellers. In 2018,
CBS aired an episode of its show
Pink Collar Crimes, titled "The Psychic Didn't See Him Coming" which told the story of Nygaard's investigation of "psychic"
Gina Marie Marks' crimes for 10 years. Nygaard played himself on the show. A
Skeptical Inquirer article reported that, as of February 2020, Nygaard had "helped to cause approximately forty self-proclaimed psychics to be arrested and successfully convicted" and had helped victims recover over $4 million. Regarding the recovery amount, Nygaard said that the $4 million reflects what his clients have recovered as a result of his efforts. The criminal restitution orders, he says, were for much more. However, victims are largely unable to collect on such orders given that self-proclaimed psychics rarely keep any assets in their names.
Unification Church The
Unification Church (UC) is a
new religion founded by
Sun Myung Moon in
Seoul in 1954, with its missionaries beginning activities in Japan in 1958. The UC is accused of engaging in what is locally termed "spiritual sales" (). The UC would tell their targets that they must donate to the church or they or their relatives, either living or deceased, would be damned to hell. The UC demands their targets to donate all of their savings, as well as sell their properties or apply for loans for the payments. 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. According to the
National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales, an anti-cult lawyers' group, the confirmed financial damages linked to the UC during the 35 years through 2021 surpassed 123.7 billion
yen (899.2 million
USD). According to the Japanese lawyer
Masaki Kito, who also represents the anti-cult lawyers' group, the UC specifically targets the Japanese people because of the
invasion of Korea by Japan. The UC would tell their target that "in order to atone that sin, you must make contributions to Korea". UC's practice of spiritual sales was widely reported by Japanese media as the primary cause which drove the prime suspect
Tetsuya Yamagami, whose mother went bankrupt due to her exorbitant donations to the church, to
assassinate former prime minister Shinzo Abe on 8 July 2022. The event led to a significant decrease in the approval rating of the
Kishida Cabinet. Just after incumbent prime minister
Fumio Kishida's cabinet reshuffle, the newly appointed Minister of Digital Affairs
Taro Kono announced on 12 August 2022 to quickly form a review committee in the
Consumer Affairs Agency to deal with the issues of spiritual sales. Urged by organizations of anti-cultism and cult victims, on 10 December 2022,
Japan's parliament passed new laws of "" which criminalizes corporations for acquiring donations against the claimant's free will or causing the claimant to apply for loans for donation. It grants legal rights for the claimant, as well as the claimant's spouse or children, to cancel the donation or demand restitution if the donation is proven illegal. ==Legal issues==