Psychic Scams - Privacy and Well Known Scam Sites

[vinekarma]

It pains me as a spiritual medium to see people who work in the psychic industry taking advantage of the vulnerable in society, because I care about the reputation of the spiritual and the metaphysical industry.

I love the work I do as a spiritual medium and I know there are other genuine clairvoyant mediums that do as well. It is an honour to be able to share Spirits guidance, to help people who are emotionally stuck because of the loss of a loved one or needing spiritual assistance to work through some of their life issues. Unfortunately, there are now a lot of unscrupulous people and businesses emerging in the market place which is now tainting the spiritual industry.

I have been guided by Spirit to get the message out there and for people who are seeking spiritual assistance to look out for the Psychic scams that are now operating on the internet and in the market place.

The first thing you need to know is that each day there is a new psychic emerging on the internet. Whether they are actually gifted with psychic ability is questionable. They are coming from Countries all around the world and creating websites to get you to use their service. Some of these organizations are set-up to deceive internet customers to get your personal information for identity fraud.

Do not book an internet reading before following these checks

Please ensure before making any bookings online that you check if the psychic or organization has a privacy policy at the bottom of their web page and the website looks professional to avoid identity fraud scams.

If the website is incomplete, looks amateurish or there are multiple websites and business names do your research before booking a reading.

Hint: Do a search of the telephone numbers they are using. Copy & paste the telephone details of the 1900, 1300, 1800 numbers in full and see if multiple websites come up in a search. If they do then you can be guaranteed this is an organization hiding behind many business identities.

You may find over 20 businesses for the same psychic line number. That means the organizations are using the same psychics either in your country of origin or globally for the one business. They would have bought multiple domain sites and pretending to be a different psychic organization. That means if you had a shoddy reading with one psychic organization and you innocently call another one that you could possibly have a reading with the same psychic. Shocking.

Yes, there are some dodgy anti-competitive organizations operating in Australia and overseas. You need to become more research savvy and then vote with your feet until they operate in an ethical manner.

Please refer to Vine's Guide-to-Finding-the-Right-Psychic to avoid Australian and international scam sites that are now operating in the marketplace.

We are going to direct you to the psychic scam sites we are aware of and please let us know if there are others operating in the market place.

There are currently no government regulations for the psychic and metaphysical industry in Australia and this has allowed some people in the industry to take advantage of their customers. There are a lot of anti-competitive behaviours occurring in the industry and until governments step in and establish some type of regulation this will continue to occur.

This is a list of the known psychic scam sites operating in Australia. Please refer to this list only as a guide; there still may be others that are not on the list.

Love and Light
Vine

Important - Vine's Privacy Announcement and advice, Please Read...

Vine offers customers a secure internet booking service and has stringent privacy policies in place to protect your anonymity. Please ensure before making any bookings online that you check if the psychic or organization has a privacy policy at the bottom of their web page and the website looks professional to avoid identity fraud scams. Also do your research and check if an organization has multiple websites.

If you want a psychic reading only and enter a site that claims to be a qualified counselor or life coach you may find they are claiming to be a psychic. This is now happening daily, you can test the waters by checking their sites and finding if they have a wide range of services. There is a new trend in the marketplace and that is called psychic counseling. A medium is not a counselor, they are a spiritual medium and should be providing you with evidence of the afterlife. If they are unable to do that, then you need to question why they are using the title of psychic, clairvoyant or medium. You, the consumer can take back control and demand higher standards within the psychic/metaphysical industry.

[aFaceInTheClouds]

Here's one to add to your many list. A business called Mystic Charms wanting people to buy a psychic line and use their psychics. It sure looks like a psychic scam? Interesting to see that the only advertising is from a company called LivePerson who specialises in psychic lines. Any connection do you think?

It could mean also they want people to get different psychic line numbers so they will not be traceable if they are doing shoddy business practices.

http://tinyurl.com/yc9jazu

[Bugalug Wizard]

Hiya! Why not let karma just take care of these rough shots? They will have to answer to themselves one day. I would concentrate on getting the right message out there if I were you.

Bugs

[Soireeblossom]

Originally Posted by vinekarma

It pains me as a spiritual medium to see people who work in the psychic industry taking advantage of the vulnerable in society, because I care about the reputation of the spiritual and the metaphysical industry.

I love the work I do as a spiritual medium and I know there are other genuine clairvoyant mediums that do as well. It is an honour to be able to share Spirits guidance, to help people who are emotionally stuck because of the loss of a loved one or needing spiritual assistance to work through some of their life issues. Unfortunately, there are now a lot of unscrupulous people and businesses emerging in the market place which is now tainting the spiritual industry.

I have been guided by Spirit to get the message out there and for people who are seeking spiritual assistance to look out for the Psychic scams that are now operating on the internet and in the market place.

The first thing you need to know is that each day there is a new psychic emerging on the internet. Whether they are actually gifted with psychic ability is questionable. They are coming from Countries all around the world and creating websites to get you to use their service. Some of these organizations are set-up to deceive internet customers to get your personal information for identity fraud.

Do not book an internet reading before following these checks

Please ensure before making any bookings online that you check if the psychic or organization has a privacy policy at the bottom of their web page and the website looks professional to avoid identity fraud scams.

If the website is incomplete, looks amateurish or there are multiple websites and business names do your research before booking a reading.

Hint: Do a search of the telephone numbers they are using. Copy & paste the telephone details of the 1900, 1300, 1800 numbers in full and see if multiple websites come up in a search. If they do then you can be guaranteed this is an organization hiding behind many business identities.

You may find over 20 businesses for the same psychic line number. That means the organizations are using the same psychics either in your country of origin or globally for the one business. They would have bought multiple domain sites and pretending to be a different psychic organization. That means if you had a shoddy reading with one psychic organization and you innocently call another one that you could possibly have a reading with the same psychic. Shocking.

Yes, there are some dodgy anti-competitive organizations operating in Australia and overseas. You need to become more research savvy and then vote with your feet until they operate in an ethical manner.

Please refer to Vine's Guide-to-Finding-the-Right-Psychic to avoid Australian and international scam sites that are now operating in the marketplace.

We are going to direct you to the psychic scam sites we are aware of and please let us know if there are others operating in the market place.

There are currently no government regulations for the psychic and metaphysical industry in Australia and this has allowed some people in the industry to take advantage of their customers. There are a lot of anti-competitive behaviours occurring in the industry and until governments step in and establish some type of regulation this will continue to occur.

This is a list of the known psychic scam sites operating in Australia. Please refer to this list only as a guide; there still may be others that are not on the list.

Love and Light
Vine

Important - Vine's Privacy Announcement and advice, Please Read...

Vine offers customers a secure internet booking service and has stringent privacy policies in place to protect your anonymity. Please ensure before making any bookings online that you check if the psychic or organization has a privacy policy at the bottom of their web page and the website looks professional to avoid identity fraud scams. Also do your research and check if an organization has multiple websites.

If you want a psychic reading only and enter a site that claims to be a qualified counselor or life coach you may find they are claiming to be a psychic. This is now happening daily, you can test the waters by checking their sites and finding if they have a wide range of services. There is a new trend in the marketplace and that is called psychic counseling. A medium is not a counselor, they are a spiritual medium and should be providing you with evidence of the afterlife. If they are unable to do that, then you need to question why they are using the title of psychic, clairvoyant or medium. You, the consumer can take back control and demand higher standards within the psychic/metaphysical industry.

SEC alleges Hermosa Beach stock market 'psychic' ran $6M scam
By Marcy Gordon The Associated Press
Posted: 03/04/2010 04:57:03 PM PST

A Hermosa Beach man calling himself "America's Prophet" and claiming the psychic ability to predict the stock market's highs and lows was accused by federal regulators Thursday of bilking $6 million from more than 100 investors.

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil lawsuit against Sean David Morton and three companies he is said to own under the name Delphi Associates Investment Group. The SEC says Morton lied to investors about his financial successes and the use of the investors' money.

The SEC is seeking an injunction against Morton, and unspecified fines and restitution.

[Soireeblossom]

This might be useful for people who are going into see face-to-face psychics who are saying they can cure illnesses. This is a psychic scam on tape that shows how the psychic stores con their clients out of a lot of money.

Soiree

[aFaceInTheClouds]

Originally Posted by vinekarma

It pains me as a spiritual medium to see people who work in the psychic industry taking advantage of the vulnerable in society, because I care about the reputation of the spiritual and the metaphysical industry.

I love the work I do as a spiritual medium and I know there are other genuine clairvoyant mediums that do as well. It is an honour to be able to share Spirits guidance, to help people who are emotionally stuck because of the loss of a loved one or needing spiritual assistance to work through some of their life issues. Unfortunately, there are now a lot of unscrupulous people and businesses emerging in the market place which is now tainting the spiritual industry.

I have been guided by Spirit to get the message out there and for people who are seeking spiritual assistance to look out for the Psychic scams that are now operating on the internet and in the market place.

The first thing you need to know is that each day there is a new psychic emerging on the internet. Whether they are actually gifted with psychic ability is questionable. They are coming from Countries all around the world and creating websites to get you to use their service. Some of these organizations are set-up to deceive internet customers to get your personal information for identity fraud.

Do not book an internet reading before following these checks

Please ensure before making any bookings online that you check if the psychic or organization has a privacy policy at the bottom of their web page and the website looks professional to avoid identity fraud scams.

If the website is incomplete, looks amateurish or there are multiple websites and business names do your research before booking a reading.

Hint: Do a search of the telephone numbers they are using. Copy & paste the telephone details of the 1900, 1300, 1800 numbers in full and see if multiple websites come up in a search. If they do then you can be guaranteed this is an organization hiding behind many business identities.

You may find over 20 businesses for the same psychic line number. That means the organizations are using the same psychics either in your country of origin or globally for the one business. They would have bought multiple domain sites and pretending to be a different psychic organization. That means if you had a shoddy reading with one psychic organization and you innocently call another one that you could possibly have a reading with the same psychic. Shocking.

Yes, there are some dodgy anti-competitive organizations operating in Australia and overseas. You need to become more research savvy and then vote with your feet until they operate in an ethical manner.

Please refer to Vine's Guide-to-Finding-the-Right-Psychic to avoid Australian and international scam sites that are now operating in the marketplace.

We are going to direct you to the psychic scam sites we are aware of and please let us know if there are others operating in the market place.

There are currently no government regulations for the psychic and metaphysical industry in Australia and this has allowed some people in the industry to take advantage of their customers. There are a lot of anti-competitive behaviours occurring in the industry and until governments step in and establish some type of regulation this will continue to occur.

This is a list of the known psychic scam sites operating in Australia. Please refer to this list only as a guide; there still may be others that are not on the list.

Love and Light
Vine

Important - Vine's Privacy Announcement and advice, Please Read...

Vine offers customers a secure internet booking service and has stringent privacy policies in place to protect your anonymity. Please ensure before making any bookings online that you check if the psychic or organization has a privacy policy at the bottom of their web page and the website looks professional to avoid identity fraud scams. Also do your research and check if an organization has multiple websites.

If you want a psychic reading only and enter a site that claims to be a qualified counselor or life coach you may find they are claiming to be a psychic. This is now happening daily, you can test the waters by checking their sites and finding if they have a wide range of services. There is a new trend in the marketplace and that is called psychic counseling. A medium is not a counselor, they are a spiritual medium and should be providing you with evidence of the afterlife. If they are unable to do that, then you need to question why they are using the title of psychic, clairvoyant or medium. You, the consumer can take back control and demand higher standards within the psychic/metaphysical industry.

Just spotted this today on the web. I thought it might be an informative news item.


Psychic Hot Line Secrets: Clairvoyance or Hoax?
'Psychic' Mark Edward Reveals Secrets of His Former Trade: Less About Predictions, More About Connections


By ERIC NOLL
May 9, 2010

When the economy tanks, psychics say their business soars.
Mark Edward, a former psychic hotline employee, tells all.

The psychic industry is a $2 billion a year business, with millions of people still dialing "900" numbers, even after two decades of lawsuits, bad press and bankruptcies. But when someone calls a psychic hot line, does the person on the other end have more insight than anyone else?

Former psychic hot line worker and author of "Psychic Blues," Mark Edward, says he's blowing the whistle on his former industry.

"The psychic business is built on lies. There is no supernatural power. You can't see the future," Edward says. "We're in the golden age of the con. There are people coming out of the woodwork that would love to separate you from your money. But people just want someone to talk to. That's the bottom line."

Edward says he was taught techniques to keep his conversations vague, flattering and drawn out. The goal was to make the callers feel good about themselves, and keep them talking. Edward once gave a two-and-a-half-hour reading. At $3.99 a minute, the caller paid more than $600.

In a statement to ABC News, Edward's former employer said: "All of our psychics are independent contractors, and as such, they worked for multiple psychic lines at the same time. So either he is lying or confusing us with a disreputable psychic line."

In a 2007 study, conducted by the University of Auckland in New Zealand, Dr. Robin-Marie Shepherd found most users called for advice on "personal relationships." Nearly all users describe their behavior as "addictive."

And, at an average of $100 per reading, many went in to debt because of it.

Ringing for a Reading: Mark Edward Calls Out Psychic Hot Lines

ABC News had an extensive interview with self-avowed non-psychic Mark Edward.
ABC News reporter Jeremy Hubbard asks former
ABC News reporter Jeremy Hubbard asks former telephone "psychic" Mark Edward, the secrets of the $2 billion a year hot line industry. "I think people are better served by going to a therapist," Edward says.
(ABC News)

ABC News: Are psychics real?

Mark Edward: No, they're not real. It's just a matter of intuition. If you're good with people, you learn how to read people. Do you want to be a real estate agent ... or clairvoyant? ... They're all a similar skill set. It's a skill you can learn. It's real, but it's nothing supernatural.

ABC News: Are you against anyone claiming to be a psychic?

Mark Edward: In general I'm against it. I think people are better served by going to a therapist.

ABC News: How did you begin your career as a hotline psychic?

Edward: I was working as a mentalist full time. Doing séances. I wanted to know how the hot line mediums did it. My friends were making money sitting at their homes. I wanted to sit at the top of the mountain and see what it looks like. I learned the tricks of the trade. Did it for nine years. I had a friend who did it, and they gave me a number. I did a few auditions. They liked me. ... There was no test, you just needed the gift of gab.

ABC News: What did they encourage you to do?

Edward: You have to keep people on as long as possible. Then you ask for their birthday, name and address. Then they start spamming people. They'd send callers letters telling them they're in danger, and they need to call your psychic friend immediately. The average call is 15 to 20 minutes. But they wanted one hour. The final straw was when I did an infomercial for them. They handed me a pile of info and told me who was asking the questions. It was a total fake. Five to seven psychics might be nice people, but everyone else are crooks.

ABC News: How much did you get paid?

Edward: Not much. We got paid a percentage of what they made depending on what. But it's many people's primary source of income. I'd do it for nine to 10 hours each day.

ABC News: What tricks of the trade would you use?

Edward: You have to gauge the tone of a person's voice. If they are aggressive or laid back, in a hurry or skeptical. The first four or five words are important. Then I ask for their name and birthday, and if they had a specific question. At $3.99 a minute, they want an answer quick. And then I answer as if I'm answering the question about myself. All these things about yourself are relatable. Nine out of 10 times you will hit a nerve with them. Then I'd pause and let them jump in. People love talking about themselves and here what you say about them. They like to imagine I'm in some far off convent but really I'm ironing at home. And I'd try to be compassionate and sound as new age as you can.

ABC News: Would you have pre-planned things to say?

Edward: Yes, I would have note cards by my phone for specific answers. Pink for love. Yellow for travel. Green for money. Then I'd talk about a childhood memory of mine. Less is more. Eventually you will find something relatable. Just one or two firm connections, and you'll run with the ball. Once you make that hit, it pours out. And then you mirror. Let the person talk and then you listen and say, "I hear what you're saying is this," "I feel what you're saying." I fed them hope.

ABC News: When and why did you leave?

Edward: I got sick of it and how much they were making off of innocent people. I left on my own though, they didn't kick me out.

ABC News: Did you feel bad about what you were doing?

Edward: I never took any legal or medical questions. ... I gave them 800 numbers instead. I helped a lot of people, but there was nothing psychic about it. Common sense is the same as intuition. In our society we've lost touch with that. Also, I was a skeptic the whole time, so I felt like I was doing a [public] service by infiltrating [The Psychic Network].

Story: ABC
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Weekend/ps...0590096&page=3


If you work in the spiritual or psychic field do you believe this man is telling the truth?

Jeff

[vinekarma]

PHP Code:

Just spotted this today on the web. I thought it might be an informative news item.


Psychic Hot Line Secrets: Clairvoyance or Hoax?
'Psychic' Mark Edward Reveals Secrets of His Former Trade: Less About Predictions, More About Connections


By ERIC NOLL
May 9, 2010

When the economy tanks, psychics say their business soars.
Mark Edward, a former psychic hotline employee, tells all.

The psychic industry is a $2 billion a year business, with millions of people still dialing "900" numbers, even after two decades of lawsuits, bad press and bankruptcies. But when someone calls a psychic hot line, does the person on the other end have more insight than anyone else?

Former psychic hot line worker and author of "Psychic Blues," Mark Edward, says he's blowing the whistle on his former industry. 

"The psychic business is built on lies. There is no supernatural power. You can't see the future," Edward says. "We're in the golden age of the con. There are people coming out of the woodwork that would love to separate you from your money. But people just want someone to talk to. That's the bottom line."

Edward says he was taught techniques to keep his conversations vague, flattering and drawn out. The goal was to make the callers feel good about themselves, and keep them talking. Edward once gave a two-and-a-half-hour reading. At $3.99 a minute, the caller paid more than $600.

In a statement to ABC News, Edward's former employer said: "All of our psychics are independent contractors, and as such, they worked for multiple psychic lines at the same time. So either he is lying or confusing us with a disreputable psychic line."

In a 2007 study, conducted by the University of Auckland in New Zealand, Dr. Robin-Marie Shepherd found most users called for advice on "personal relationships." Nearly all users describe their behavior as "addictive."

And, at an average of $100 per reading, many went in to debt because of it. 

 Ringing for a Reading: Mark Edward Calls Out Psychic Hot Lines

ABC News had an extensive interview with self-avowed non-psychic Mark Edward.
ABC News reporter Jeremy Hubbard asks former
ABC News reporter Jeremy Hubbard asks former telephone "psychic" Mark Edward, the secrets of the $2 billion a year hot line industry. "I think people are better served by going to a therapist," Edward says.
(ABC News)

ABC News: Are psychics real?

Mark Edward: No, they're not real. It's just a matter of intuition. If you're good with people, you learn how to read people. Do you want to be a real estate agent ... or clairvoyant? ... They're all a similar skill set. It's a skill you can learn. It's real, but it's nothing supernatural.

ABC News: Are you against anyone claiming to be a psychic?

Mark Edward: In general I'm against it. I think people are better served by going to a therapist.

ABC News: How did you begin your career as a hotline psychic? 

Edward: I was working as a mentalist full time. Doing séances. I wanted to know how the hot line mediums did it. My friends were making money sitting at their homes. I wanted to sit at the top of the mountain and see what it looks like. I learned the tricks of the trade. Did it for nine years. I had a friend who did it, and they gave me a number. I did a few auditions. They liked me. ... There was no test, you just needed the gift of gab.

ABC News: What did they encourage you to do?

Edward: You have to keep people on as long as possible. Then you ask for their birthday, name and address. Then they start spamming people. They'd send callers letters telling them they're in danger, and they need to call your psychic friend immediately. The average call is 15 to 20 minutes. But they wanted one hour. The final straw was when I did an infomercial for them. They handed me a pile of info and told me who was asking the questions. It was a total fake. Five to seven psychics might be nice people, but everyone else are crooks.

ABC News: How much did you get paid?

Edward: Not much. We got paid a percentage of what they made depending on what. But it's many people's primary source of income. I'd do it for nine to 10 hours each day. 

ABC News: What tricks of the trade would you use?

Edward: You have to gauge the tone of a person's voice. If they are aggressive or laid back, in a hurry or skeptical. The first four or five words are important. Then I ask for their name and birthday, and if they had a specific question. At $3.99 a minute, they want an answer quick. And then I answer as if I'm answering the question about myself. All these things about yourself are relatable. Nine out of 10 times you will hit a nerve with them. Then I'd pause and let them jump in. People love talking about themselves and here what you say about them. They like to imagine I'm in some far off convent but really I'm ironing at home. And I'd try to be compassionate and sound as new age as you can. 

ABC News:  Would you have pre-planned things to say?

Edward: Yes, I would have note cards by my phone for specific answers. Pink for love. Yellow for travel. Green for money. Then I'd talk about a childhood memory of mine. Less is more. Eventually you will find something relatable. Just one or two firm connections, and you'll run with the ball. Once you make that hit, it pours out. And then you mirror. Let the person talk and then you listen and say, "I hear what you're saying is this," "I feel what you're saying." I fed them hope.

ABC News: When and why did you leave?

Edward: I got sick of it and how much they were making off of innocent people. I left on my own though, they didn't kick me out.

ABC News: Did you feel bad about what you were doing?

Edward: I never took any legal or medical questions. ... I gave them 800 numbers instead. I helped a lot of people, but there was nothing psychic about it. Common sense is the same as intuition. In our society we've lost touch with that. Also, I was a skeptic the whole time, so I felt like I was doing a [public] service by infiltrating [The Psychic Network]. 

Story: ABC
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Weekend/ps...0590096&page=3


If you work in the spiritual or psychic field do you believe this man is telling the truth?

Jeff 


Hello Jeff,

Thank you for sharing this important psychic news with our readers and for allowing me to read the full transcript of Mr Mark Edwards television interview.

It is disappointing to read another psychic line scam is hitting the news. I haven’t had the opportunity of reading Mark Edwards book and I don’t intend to do so. I don’t intend buying Mr Edwards book and giving him another chance to profit from his previous psychic line scam and his inability to provide real spiritual help to his clients.

The fact that he is a good communicator, shouldn’t take away from the fact that he deliberately knew he was scamming clients who called on the understanding he was spiritually skilled and qualified to provide the service that was advertised. He states he was working in this industry for 9 years, that’s 9 years of providing guidance to people who paid for his services and expected that he had the qualifications to help them in their time of need. Now he wants to clear his conscience at a price, the price of you paying for his book.

I’m sure if you scratched beneath the surface you could find that his claims have an element of truth and businesses and companies in this industry has been able to treat its customers with contempt for such a long time.

There is no government regulation of the psychic line industry, but it is required by law to meet the fair-trading, anti-competitive measures that each country has in place. Unless there is some type of regulation which monitors the way people operate in this industry it will continue to function this way.

Now, how will Mark Edward's book influence real spiritual mediums and Empaths?
I truly don’t believe it will because people learn what a genuine medium or psychic reading is by measuring the quality of their readings.

If you have people talking to you on a psychic chat line as though you are having a normal conversation with a friend on the other end of the phone then that doesn’t fall into a real spiritual reading. If however, you have a spiritual reading in which you don’t share any information and the psychic is able to pinpoint information that you only know about then that is the real thing.

Spirit has been guiding me to help people understand what a real psychic spiritual reading is and how to find the right psychic or medium. I’ve been guided to help people become more discerning in finding the right psychic.

Not only are there people like Mr Edwards who profit from psychic line scams, you also have another element that is penetrating the market - fully qualified psychologists, psychological profilers, counselors and life coaches. They are now claiming to be the new psychics and mediums. No wonder people are confused when they have to wade their way through all the current classifications of psychics and spiritualists. It is my spiritual understanding that some counseling and psychological boards would be horrified to know that some people are using their professional qualifications in a way that was never originally intended and therefore misleading their clients.

Never doubt that there are people looking for a scam to make a quick buck.

I refer to Mr Mark Edwards interview where he claims there is no such thing as a real psychic. He obviously doesn't know what a genuine psychic is. He has classified all people in the spiritual field as being without psychic ability. There are a lot of people who have had real psychic readings who would disagree with his assessment. They have been given information from a real psychic that they and only they knew about. Try telling these people that their readings were not real. Remember Mr Mark Edwards is now profiting from his tell-all book and public appearances. I would have more respect if he had stepped forward 8 years ago.

Unfortunately while we have no real regulations in place the psychic scams will continue.

Love and Light
Vine

[aFaceInTheClouds]

Wow, that was spot on Vine! What do other members think about Mark Edwards spilling his guts at a price?

[aFaceInTheClouds]

THEY should have seen it coming. A text-message psychic is the first mobile subscription operator to be issued with a formal warning by the communications watchdog for failing to provide a customer helpline.

Crystal's Gifted Psychics, which advertises clairvoyant and medium services at 99 per cent accuracy, was investigated by the Australian Communications and Media Authority last October.

To determine whether the operator was supplying a psychic advice service, ACMA asked it: ''Will it rain on my wedding day?'' For $13.25 it received the reply: ''I do see that it will be OK it's hard to say but they do say it's good luck when it rains while you are having the ceremony.''

As part of the Mobile Premium Services Code introduced in 2009, all service providers must publish a helpline in their advertising for customers who want to unsubscribe or complain about a service.

The ACMA found Crystal's Gifted Psychics had also failed to register with the industry's self-regulatory body, Communications Alliance, another condition under the code.

The NSW owners were given a slap on the wrist on April 27 and threatened with a $250,000 fine. They have since complied with the formal direction.


Source: The Age
Author: LUCY BATTERSBY
http://www.theage.com.au/national/fa...0601-wvam.html

[aFaceInTheClouds]

Now you decide not only are you going to place your mug on the telly and tell people your not happy with your life (forget about your neighbors identifying you on Youtube etc) but you also share the reason why you're calling.

How are you going to know if you are talking to a genuine psychic if you reveal your reasons for calling. Surely, you could just break it down to say something like "I want to look at ......." What were you thinking woman?

For goodness sakes people think about what you are doing before you jump on the video phones. Check and see if they are going to use your reading as a promo video and that you gave them permission to do so. Why, why, why would you do such a thing? There are all the issues to do with privacy on Facebook and the like where people are finding companies, neighbors are having a bit of a gig at what's going on in your life and then you willingly jump on one of these tarot film sites, well you're asking for trouble.

This is a joke people. If this is what you think a real psychic reading is, think again. This is the novelty factor psychic reading, to keep people watching the telly and looking at how bad Josie's life is, then they don't have to think their life is lost (voyeurism at its best).

[Soireeblossom]

Originally Posted by vinekarma

It pains me as a spiritual medium to see people who work in the psychic industry taking advantage of the vulnerable in society, because I care about the reputation of the spiritual and the metaphysical industry.

I love the work I do as a spiritual medium and I know there are other genuine clairvoyant mediums that do as well. It is an honour to be able to share Spirits guidance, to help people who are emotionally stuck because of the loss of a loved one or needing spiritual assistance to work through some of their life issues. Unfortunately, there are now a lot of unscrupulous people and businesses emerging in the market place which is now tainting the spiritual industry.

I have been guided by Spirit to get the message out there and for people who are seeking spiritual assistance to look out for the Psychic scams that are now operating on the internet and in the market place.

The first thing you need to know is that each day there is a new psychic emerging on the internet. Whether they are actually gifted with psychic ability is questionable. They are coming from Countries all around the world and creating websites to get you to use their service. Some of these organizations are set-up to deceive internet customers to get your personal information for identity fraud.

Do not book an internet reading before following these checks

Please ensure before making any bookings online that you check if the psychic or organization has a privacy policy at the bottom of their web page and the website looks professional to avoid identity fraud scams.

If the website is incomplete, looks amateurish or there are multiple websites and business names do your research before booking a reading.

Hint: Do a search of the telephone numbers they are using. Copy & paste the telephone details of the 1900, 1300, 1800 numbers in full and see if multiple websites come up in a search. If they do then you can be guaranteed this is an organization hiding behind many business identities.

You may find over 20 businesses for the same psychic line number. That means the organizations are using the same psychics either in your country of origin or globally for the one business. They would have bought multiple domain sites and pretending to be a different psychic organization. That means if you had a shoddy reading with one psychic organization and you innocently call another one that you could possibly have a reading with the same psychic. Shocking.

Yes, there are some dodgy anti-competitive organizations operating in Australia and overseas. You need to become more research savvy and then vote with your feet until they operate in an ethical manner.

Please refer to Vine's Guide-to-Finding-the-Right-Psychic to avoid Australian and international scam sites that are now operating in the marketplace.

We are going to direct you to the psychic scam sites we are aware of and please let us know if there are others operating in the market place.

There are currently no government regulations for the psychic and metaphysical industry in Australia and this has allowed some people in the industry to take advantage of their customers. There are a lot of anti-competitive behaviours occurring in the industry and until governments step in and establish some type of regulation this will continue to occur.

This is a list of the known psychic scam sites operating in Australia. Please refer to this list only as a guide; there still may be others that are not on the list.

Love and Light
Vine

Important - Vine's Privacy Announcement and advice, Please Read...

Vine offers customers a secure internet booking service and has stringent privacy policies in place to protect your anonymity. Please ensure before making any bookings online that you check if the psychic or organization has a privacy policy at the bottom of their web page and the website looks professional to avoid identity fraud scams. Also do your research and check if an organization has multiple websites.

If you want a psychic reading only and enter a site that claims to be a qualified counselor or life coach you may find they are claiming to be a psychic. This is now happening daily, you can test the waters by checking their sites and finding if they have a wide range of services. There is a new trend in the marketplace and that is called psychic counseling. A medium is not a counselor, they are a spiritual medium and should be providing you with evidence of the afterlife. If they are unable to do that, then you need to question why they are using the title of psychic, clairvoyant or medium. You, the consumer can take back control and demand higher standards within the psychic/metaphysical industry.

Vine,

I couldn't believe my eyes. I was looking for a photo for my yoga business and stumbled across some photographs that showed old people, but then I saw the exact photos in a magazine and checked the website details to find this organisation has a mass of photo id's that are all coming from istock. These psychic photos are not even the people on the line. Why the goodness would a psychic organisation not want to give the correct information about their psychics? How dare a psychic organisation play games with people and not own their own psychic identities. This is exactly what you have been describing psychic organisations are doing. Here is the link sweetie. What do you think about this? http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-pho...t-fabulous.php
These people are also known as Lisa, Rosemary, etc. http://www.lisapsychics.com.au/index-s.html
They are nothing more than models photos profiles. How many organisations are doing this?

Thank you Vine for opening my eyes to this scandalous behavior.

Soiree

[vinekarma]

Hello Soiree,

Well that was a good spot on your part! I think that sharing this information with others is the only way people will begin to unravel some of the strange advertising tactics that some businesses engage in.

Would this be labeled misleading advertising? I'm not sure. It certainly is implying to the consumer that the woman in the photograph is involved in the psychic industry, and if someone is looking at the photograph and thinking they are calling the woman believing she is then answering the phone call, it would most likely fall more into the business ethics of the way the organization is branding their business and treating their customers. It is puzzling because there doesn't seem to be any service provision details on the advertisement - which is against the TISSC codes of practice in Australia. Do you know whether this company has any details on the print advertisement? Again, by Australian law they are meant to be identifying their correct service provider details so future clients can provide feedback or lodge a complaint about the organization. If they are not doing this, then they are breaking the Telecommunications Advertising Codes of Practice. You would need to follow this up with TISSC...

Are you implying that most of the photographs on the psychic site are not really the people on the phones and are from istock? If the business are placing a photograph next to a psychics name and that person is made up, then that maybe against the fair trade practices act of Australia and in other parts of the world.

The reason why spirit guides people to be aware of these type of practices is why I was guided to write about this in the first place. It is up to the individual concerned to identify if they believe an organization is blatantly abusing the trade practices act and to lodge a complaint with the government department within their state or territory.

Here are a couple of links to refer to and determine if this falls into that category. Misleading and deceptive conduct link:
http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.../itemId/815335
False advertising link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_advertising
Lodging a complaint TISSC link: http://www.tissc.com.au/enquiries.html

Thanks again Soiree for sharing this with our readers. If other people have any comments about whether this breaches the trade practices act please let us know.



Love and Light
Vine