The clairvoyance scandal

Scams galore   In France, clairvoyance can pay off big. Hundreds of scammers have understood this and act with complete peace of mind.  It’s a crisis! When feeding yourself becomes a real financial headache, everyone is ready to do anything to find an opportunity. Any solution, even the most incongruous, not necessarily honest or advisable turns into a sleight of hand. The main thing is to fill your pockets.  

What can I do to improve my parents’ lousy retirement? What can I do to overcome the unemployment that is eating away at my husband? What should I do about internships that don’t feed my kids? Apart from getting into politics, not much. Although, let’s see… See, yes, maybe that’s the solution. See, good people! There is no question here of following the precepts of these extremely wealthy preachers who see God everywhere, and especially in their stock portfolio. I’m talking to you about clairvoyance, my good lady. And again, not true clairvoyance, the one that comes to you by chance, on a day of great dedication, the one that opens the doors of the collective unconscious to allow you to visit a tiny parcel of space-time. I’m talking to you about spectacle clairvoyance, the one that pays off. That of the smart guys who have no more gifts than a leg’s ass has toes.   To practice this type of clairvoyance, you need to know, much more than a politician, how to listen to human distress, understand expectations, to finally promise everyone what they want to hear: “happiness is for tomorrow… Or the day after tomorrow”. To be a clairvoyant thug, you have to be armed of course, but with intellectual qualities more than lead: patience, intelligence and narcissistic psychology. Everything being devoted to the achievement of a single goal, personal enrichment. Since the dawn of humanity, evil spirits have understood all the benefits that could be gained from the wanderings of the human soul and in particular from the fear of tomorrow. Power, glory and fortune have always accompanied those who know how to fathom this unknown that we call the future. At least, those who know how to make people believe that they know… A whole psychological machination is implemented with a venal goal. In contempt of morality and all self-esteem, the crook will free himself from norms and work with complete impunity.   For a long time, clairvoyance fraud was the work of small-time crooks, who were content to rob the unfortunate people in their sector. With the arrival of modern means of communication, small neighborhood crooks have given way to real mass scam businesses. Remember Divinitel, this company specializing in clairvoyance by telephone and Minitel which, in the early 90s, reduced the bank accounts of thousands of too-naive French people. The director of this company had reaped large profits before being brought to justice. The big media sweep that followed this scandal had only cleaned up the French Audiovisual Landscape, removing from the airwaves for a while Patrick Sabatier and his mage, Danielle Gilbert and her Ré ring. But over time, scammers became computerized and ended up investing in digital technology as a business. Dematerialized, they quickly weaved their web on social networks: YouTube, Facebook, Tiktok,Instagram… Without neglecting canvassing by telephone and SMS.   Today, clairvoyance fraud and the emotional return of a loved one are practiced on a very large scale, virtually for sums which are nevertheless very real. And the boss of Divinitel comes across as a poor amateur given the incredible sums taken from poor people in need of comfort. Because the clairvoyant crook in 2022 is not a small player. He thinks big. What’s the point of being bored listening to the hopes and despairs of poor people if it’s to collect coins? Let’s leave that to the psychologist, the seer must enjoy life. So we listen, we mystify and we always demand more! Sell, borrow and pay, the future will perhaps reward you… This is the recurring watchword of clairvoyance scammers (marabout, clairvoyant, junk mage, pure medium…). And it works! 500 euros to win the lottery, 3,000 € to find an easy and well-paid job, 1,000 to 150,000 € to see a fickle husband return, 15,000 € for a karmic marriage or an imaginary disenchantment, 10,000 € to find a soul mate or separate a man from his wife… Better yet, pretend to be an expert and blabber to your clients for hours at 5 euros a day minute. It’s discreet, virtual, chic, that’s what the average French person asks for. Exorbitant prices which should put off more than one person. Unfortunately, just as the French continue to drive despite diesel costing more than 1.70 euros, more and more of them are going into debt to believe in a better future. Of course, right-thinking people will claim that one must be an idiot to spend such sums in exchange for a few promises of a bright future. At first glance, we would be tempted to agree with them, but by taking the time to listen to the victims’ stories, we quickly realize that it is enough to be unhappy. No, not even unhappy, alone in fact. Alone, everyone becomes alone by believing, or pretending to believe, that we have hundreds of friends and followers on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram…. We show ourselves, we exhibit ourselves in the smallest corners of our privacy, we enjoy the little setbacks or the great misfortunes of others. We are shocked by a news item or a major disaster, but only long enough for a hastily submitted post in 120 characters and 57 mistakes.     Only, when we ourselves are affected by bad luck, we realize that others are the same: superficial, interested in themselves, as exhibitionist as they are egocentric. From that moment on, Facebook and Twitter appear in their true light: a virtual world, populated by virtual friends, where even emotion is virtual. Illness, unemployment, loneliness are words that resonate in the emptiness of the Internet. This suffering does not pass the barrier of the firewall. Difficult return to the real world where you no longer even know your neighbors. So, when neighbors, family and friends won’t hear or understand, we turn to the only thing that has guided the human soul since the dawn of humanity: the irrational. From the beginning of the modern era, the seer replaced the shaman, and consultations moved from collective interest to personal destiny. In the virtual age, anonymous web companies have sent Madame Irma back to the museum.   As happens in any commercial sector, smart people quickly understood that there was a strong demand for clairvoyance. At least they understood that thousands of people were ready to pay to belistened to, heard, understood and finally reassured. The field of divinatory arts is so vast and so irrational that any individual wishing to make a career is spoiled for choice as to which specialty to pursue: astrology, cartomancy, geomancy, maraboutism… And as in any other field, fraud has become a matter for multinational companies. Everything happens remotely, online or by telephone. Clairvoyance is like insurance. On TV, on the radio, on the internet, you are lured into believing that an entire company is mobilized to take care of your future. There are even some who have found a way to associate themselves with a radio or television program, just to gain legitimacy. The “as seen on TV” story is still relevant today. More subtle. This kind of advertising, sorry, partnership, costs a lot of money. And brings in a thousand times more. Associating your image with a television or radio program is like receiving the blessing of the Pope. It opens the doors to… financial paradise. And we can fleece customers with complete peace of mind, while exploiting a few students or unemployed people in need of a salary, however small it may be. In the end, as in more conventional companies, the only winners in history are the shareholders. What do the means matter as long as we have the dividends.   And when a victim, customer or employee, rebels, the steamroller sets into motion. With the help of their well-paid lawyers, these companies attack shamelessly and are firing on all cylinders. What can a humble person do in the face of denigration specialists who know how to put pressure on an individual in the most legal way possible? Moral and legal harassment, destruction of the image, nothing escapes the vindictiveness of the scam companies. The Inad has often witnessed it, even the target. When we serve as a shield for vulnerable, deprived, ruined people against the ogres of consumption, we inevitably take the blows.  

Recognizing the existence of these professions means giving them a legal framework, and therefore making it possible to severely punish these scams which destroy the lives of thousands of people and spoil the reputation of honest professionals.

Bertrand CAILAC

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