The scam, the psychic, and the sin of wanting more - CNN

This is a rather odd case that needs to be read, leaving me with mixed feelings as the reporters spent two years investigating. By the time the news agency was able to secure an interview with Duval, she appeared to have dementia and was unable to answer questions.  While the investigation was only 2-years in duration, resulting in the book A Deal with the Devil: The Dark and Twisted True Story of One of the Biggest Cons in History, the scam spans decades and is world-wide in scope with culpability by Duval.

The letters appeared to be handwritten and signed by the psychic. They contained personal details, like a recipient’s name, age or hometown. It seemed as if the psychic had intuited this information. It had actually been pieced together from “suckers lists” sold by companies known as data brokers and from information the victims themselves unknowingly provided in the past.

Seduced by Duval’s promises, US investigators say, people paid around $40 each time they corresponded with her in exchange for her guidance, lucky numbers and talismans. This seemingly simple scheme became one of the longest-running mail frauds in history — infiltrating more than a dozen countries, spanning more than 20 years and raking in more than $200 million in the United States and Canada alone. In America, it ensnared 60 times more victims than Bernie Madoff’s infamous Ponzi scheme…

Our initial investigation showed that Duval was not operating the business or mailing the letters — as so many victims had been led to believe. Instead, a complex network of international shell companies and front operations had been used to hide the letters’ true origins from investigators. Eventually we identified ringleaders on the beaches of Thailand and in the secrecy havens of Switzerland and Monaco — and determined that the operations had passed through an endless number of hands over the years.

The scam, the psychic, and the sin of wanting more - CNN

See also::  Chapter One: Who is behind one of the biggest scams in history?