This page is dedicated to identifying and recognizing the human con-artist.

Human Predators

It's not just the deviant hypnotist that preys on innocent women. There are many other notable professions that shamelessly exploit their fellow man.

This is the next level of predator in the human species. This is the human parasite, because they maintain their existence by living off of others.

People such as this have no shame or remorse about fleecing others, which tends to put them in the category of psychopaths, the most dangerous of all. They claim that they're helping people, but all they're really doing is helping themselves to other people's money. Even the Bible says to stay away.

Predators by Profession (In no particular order)
These Are the People to Look Out For, Who Prey on Others
  • Psychics
  • Astrologers
  • Energy Healers
  • Tarot Card Readers
  • Spirit Mediums
  • Fortune Tellers
  • Palm Readers
  • Numerology

Predators come in all forms and varieties and will shamelessly exploit people in many ways.

Adam Ruins Psychics  (YouTube)

Adam Ruins Everything turns its attention toward the world of the psychic. (You have to assume the psychics saw this one coming.)  

 

 

John Oliver Exposes Psychics  (YouTube)

Leave it to the comedian to put things into proper perspective, no matter how painful it might be for the target and butt of his jokes.

[Very funny stuff, and true.]

 

Psychic Predators

The Real Hustle: The Psychic Scam  YouTube

The Hollywood Medium Isn't Talking to the Dead  YouTube

Derren Brown: Psychic Readings Revealed  YouTube

Psychics Are Fake  YouTube

Skeptical About Psychics  YouTube

The Untold Truth of Theresa Caputo  YouTube

Derren Brown: Psychics and Mediums Are All Fake  YouTube

Nicki Swift: Proof That Hollywood Medium Is Totally Fake  (YouTube)

It may not come as a big surprise, but Hollywood Medium's Tyler Henry may not be  the clairvoyant, and medical intuitive that he says he is. On his reality TV show, Henry and his mom visit celebrities' homes, but it's hard to believe that he supposedly knows nothing about the celebrities that he meets.
 

Nicki Swift: 5 Reasons Why Long Island Medium Is Totally Fake  (YouTube)

Long Island Medium star Theresa Caputo claims that she can talk to dead people. She's not the first person to make this claim, but we don't need to talk to the spirits to know that she's a fake. Here's how we know...

 

Psychic Failures 1  YouTube

Psychic Failures 2  YouTube

Psychic Failures 3  YouTube

Psychic Failures 4  YouTube

The Secrets of Cold Reading (Pts I & II)  (YouTube)

Cold reading techniques explained. Cold reading is based on Forer statements, also known as the Barnum Effect. There are two parts to this video.

 

The Secrets of Hot Reading  (YouTube)

Hot reading techniques explained.

 

 

Psychic Scam  YouTube

Laboratory Test Shows Psychics Aren’t Psychic  Smithsonian

7 Tricks Psychics Bullshit People With That Everyone Should Know

The supernatural swindlers! Whistle-blower exposes how bogus mediums con believers out of thousands by pretending to have psychic powers

James Randi - Secrets of the Psychics Documentary  YouTube

How to Avoid Getting Conned and Understand How Psychic Scams Work

Confessions of a Fake Psychic: Aspiring Actress Reveals How She Played Part of Tarot Card Reader to Improve Her Fortune

Fake Psychics Scam Billions

A Brief Lesson on Cold Reading  (YouTube)

This is a skill that the unscrupulous hustler learns right from the start, how to read someone and then con that person into thinking the hustler is psychic.

Derren Brown - Cold Reading Tricks  (YouTube)

Derren Brown shows just how easy it is to be fooled by a so-called psychic.

 

Cold Reading

Barnum Effect Explained

What is the Barnum Effect?

Why Does the Media Trust Psychics?  YouTube

The Barnum Effect

Orson Welles on Cold Reading  YouTube

What Is the Barnum Effect (Forer Effect)?

“I See Dumb People” – Learn to Cold-Read Like a So-Called “Psychic.”

Read the NY Times article about a clever sting operation to catch psychic predators

Inside the Secret Sting Operations to Expose Celebrity Psychics
New York Times, by Jack Hitt, Feb. 26, 2019

Are some celebrity mediums fooling their audience members by reading social media pages in advance? A group of online vigilantes is out to prove it.

When you’re setting up fake Facebook pages, it’s the little details that can mess things up. On a group computer call last winter, Susan Gerbic was going through her checklist of tips for her team’s latest sting operation — this one focused on infiltrating the audience of a psychic. It all started with maintaining their Facebook sock puppets — those fake online profiles. “American spellings everyone!” she commanded her half-dozen international colleagues through the Skype crackle. (Read more...)

Read the the New York Times article on psychics admitting that it's all fake

Seeing Freedom in Their Future, Psychics Reveal All: ‘It’s a Scam, Sir’
New York Times, by Michael Wilson - Aug. 28, 2015

Is it real? Or a bunch of baloney? It’s a question New Yorkers and visitors to the city may ask themselves when they pass any of the seemingly countless storefront fortunetellers.

Celia Mitchell, 38, was pointedly asked that exact question last year: “What is the psychic business? Is it real, or a bunch of baloney?”

She answered, “It’s a scam, sir.”

“The whole thing is a scam?”

“Yes.”   (Read more...)

The oldest predator of all - the astrologer - giving people false hope, based on nothing.

The Barnum Effect - Why Do People Believe In Horoscopes?  (YouTube)

The InfoGraphics Show asks the question, what makes people believe in horoscopes? The gist of this is that horoscopes are based on Barnum Statements.

Barnum Effect - Why People Believe In Astrology & Psychics  (YouTube)

Millions of people around the world believe in astrology and horoscopes, fortune tellers and psychic mediums, but why would someone believe in such claims? One explanation is known as the Barnum effect, a psychological phenomenon which we have all likely fallen for at some point.
 

Astrology Predators

10 Reasons Why Astrology is Fake

Astrology and Psychic Scams and Fakes

How to Argue That Astrology is Fake

Astrology and Horoscopes Debunked

Astrology Is Fake and Wrong: St. Augustine

Why Astrology Isn't Real Science  (YouTube)

Astrology focuses on star charts and zodiac signs, supposedly to build a foundation for  one's life. Astrology is also very much a lot of asserted, unproven, untested mumbo jumbo. Here's an informed look at how and why astrology shouldn't be considered a real science.
 

Barnum Effect - Why People Believe In Astrology & Psychics  (YouTube)

Millions of people around the world believe in astrology and horoscopes, fortune tellers and psychic mediums. But why might someone believe in such claims? One explanation is known as the Barnum effect, a psychological phenomenon which we have all likely fallen for at some point.
 

Horoscopes Are Completely Fake. I Know, Because I Used to Write Them

The Forer Effect: Horoscopes Are False

Astrology: Is It Scientific?

Astrology Fails the Test of Science

Astrology Fails the Test of Scripture

10 Reasons Why Astrology is Stupid

Self-proclaimed 'energy healers' now also prey shamelessly upon society.

'John of God' Spiritual Healer on the Run (Brazil) - BBC News  (YouTube)

With hundreds of rape charges against him, this spiritual healer has gone on the run. What could he be running from? Find out about 'faith healers' gone wrong in this video.
     
See also: John of God Accused, Sex Abuse
  Teens Kept as Sex Slaves

 

John Stossel Reports on 'Healing Touch' (Energy Healers)  (YouTube)

A great example of using the scientific method to prove claims of quackery. A 4th grade science project by 9 year old Emily Rosa, the youngest to ever publish in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), disproves energy healers. The 'placebo effect' means the healers have no real powers of their own.

Energy Healer Predators

Who is "John of God?"  YouTube

Reiki Master Jailed for Abusing Patients

Healer Ran Sex Slave Ring, Sold Babies, Accused by Over 600 women

Fraudulent ‘Sexual Healer’ and Reiki Master Sentenced to 16 Years in Prison

Reiki Healer Who Took Advantage of Patients is Found Guilty of Sex Assaults

7 Women Say Plano Healer Committed Sexual Assault 

Reiki: Fraudulent Misrepresentation – Revisited 

Debunking Pseudoscience: Reiki  (YouTube)

The David Pakman Show takes a look at the topic of pseudoscience, specifically Reiki.

Skeptics Visit a Reiki Healer  (YouTube)

Two skeptics visit an energy healer with questions: Is reiki real or is reiki a hoax? These people put reiki to the test and in the end were left unconviced about the merits of reiki (energy healing).

Reiki Is Nonsense

Reiki Exposed  YouTube

Energy Healing: Busted  YouTube

Reiki: Neither Plausible, Nor Effective, Nor Harmless

As if it's any real surprise, numerology is another deception that is not as advertised.

Debunking Pseudoscience: Numerology  (YouTube)

The David Pakman Show takes a look at the topic of pseudoscience, with this particular episode dedicated to numerology.

Numerology – Legit or Bullshit?  (YouTube)

Is numerology really true or is it all just a bunch of bullshit? To find out, I decided to run numerology reports for myself, Adolf Hitler, Fred West, and Donald Trump. See the interesting results.
 

Numerology And Other Rubbish

Numerology

Criticism of  Numerology

Why Do People Believe Things that Aren’t True?

Palm reading and Tarot cards are also another form of cold reading.

How to Fake a Palm Reading  (YouTube)

Science writer Lynne Kelly has made a name for herself revealing the dubious practices of palmistry. Here, she demonstrates how to con eight people into thinking its real. From the Smithsonian Channel.

How To Manipulate A Tarot Card Reading  (YouTube)

This guide shows you how to manipulate a tarot card reading.
 

Palm Reading: Science or Pseudoscience? Tarot Cards Are Bullshit  YouTube