24 January 2005
Scam
We have a friend who lives in Carcassonne. She is a bright, independent woman of 75 years old. She lives alone. She isn't a gullible person but somebody thinks she might be.
And she is on that somebody's database.
Do you know what? Our friend could resemble either of these two ladies, Lise and Rose. They advertise themselves – or the somebody with the database advertises them – as 'Soeurs lumière de la voyance'. That's leading lights of clairvoyance.
Lise and Rose claim multiple skills – telepathy, remote vision, prescience, healing powers, a kind of remote feng shui (both diagnosis and correction). And all of this for a modest outlay …
But well before they get to the sordid question of money, Lise and Rose want to impress you - then frighten you.
So how do they go about it? After all, many people send junk mail. All kinds of offers routinely fall onto your doormat, in Carcassonne and elsewhere.
Lise and Rose have a trick – and I use the word trick advisedly.
Take a look at this row of six playing cards. They are printed on the first page of Lise and Rose's letter. And they ask you to memorise one of the cards carefully, conscientiously. And then, no less conscientiously, you are to burn the piece of paper in your sink and collect the ashes in a saucer. This – you understand – is for protection.
Do you think you could take the time to do the same? Could you please memorise a card from the set in the image in front of your eyes? Maybe make a note of it in your writer's notebook.
In Lise and Rose's letter, we are told that only after you have memorised the card and burnt the page on which it was printed are you allowed to open a second envelope. In that second envelope is a text of well over 2000 words, telling a story of great good fortune due to come your way, but hindered by a 'zone of bad energy waves' in your home.
Your good fortune is at risk! If only you took advantage of Lise and Rose's remote powers – available in two easy payments of twelve euros fifty – you might get back together with that long-lost love, win that lottery rollover … and so on …
And why should we be convinced of these so-called remote powers, our friend wondered?
The unsolicited letter asked her to look carefully at the image of five playing cards on the inner letter - the one she wasn't allowed to open until the first page was burnt – and she would be astonished to discover that the card she chose – and conscientiously memorised – has disappeared.
Did you try it? Did you memorise a card from the set in the image further up this web page? And is your card missing from the set of five alongside this paragraph?
I can guarantee that the card you memorised is missing.
Because all the cards in the initial set of six are missing from the second set of five! Every one!
That's how the scam works.
I suppose that, even in the Labyrinth, we should be wary of story tellers.
