Miss Cleo Update

[Niteshift]

First, we can't really call her "Miss Cleo." As everyone in the world now knows, the psychic Miss Cleo was a fake--a persona created by her employer, Steve Feder, a 52-year-old Florida businessman with a waterfront mansion and a Mercedes. And he owns the name and won't let her use it now that she and the business have been exposed as a fraud. But Miss Cleo, er...Youree Dell Harris (that's her real name) insists she IS a psychic and a real Jamaican shaman. Never mind the pesky details of her Los Angeles birth to American parents.

Florida's Assistant Attorney General Dave Aronberg met with Harris and her attorney in late June for a deposition in a civil suit filed by the state of Florida. Aronberg asked her questions about her birth certificate, and Miss Cleo said the same thing each time: She invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. The lawsuit accuses her of deceptive trade practices for her television ads pitching a psychic hot line that charged up to $4.95 a minute. Why the 5th? "I won't give the devil his due. I praise the father for every day that I have," she told The Associated Press. Meanwhile, she admitted to Savoy magazine that the Jamaican accent is a fake. (We're shocked!) It was invented by her employers who wanted people to think she had "just got here off the banana boat." As if the fake accent wasn't enough, Harris said a makeup artist darkened her complexion before each commercial.

[CinaC]

I must be psychic -- I knew she was a fake when I saw her first commercial!

[Piper]

Scams like that make me sick. It makes it bad for us true Tarot readers.

[Nittany Lion]

I see...I see a heavy set woman with a fake jamacian accent sitting in a room....the room has bars for a door....she is wearing an orange jumpsuit.

I also see another thousand people calling some other hotline..and they are getting put on hold at $2.00 a minute...and instead of wisely hanging up....they sit on the line...waiting for someone to tell general things about their life that could be true for anyone.

[ 07-03-2002: Message edited by: Nittany Lion ]

[Joseph]

For 1.00 a minute you can call me. I was born in America but I am Italian and my ancestors did get off the bananna boat. I can already see great things for all of you that want to call.

[ateamer]

I don't see what the big deal is. Anyone can tell that the whole thing is bogus. There's an old motto: "It's morally wrong to allow a sucker to keep his money." Seems appropriate here. How could anyone who called possibly believe for a millisecond that she is a real psychic? I know there are stupid people out there, but is anyone that sheltered to really believe her?

[kateykakes]

I agree, at. Well said.

[jellybean40]

I think there's alot of lonely people out there looking for a friend or someone to talk to. They're willing to pay $2.00/min. for it. If they called it the "Phone Friend" line, people would probably feel too desperate lol.

I used to work a second job calling people up with auto insurance quotes (they knew they'd get a call as they already filled out a form). Sometimes they wanted to talk forever...makes you feel sorry lonely people.

[Pigskin]

Yes, there are PLENTY of stupid people out there. Otherwise, a lot of us wouldn't have a job. Went to a conference once on Scams & Cons. An officer got up on stage & announced that, before the next speaker started, he had someone with a special request to address the audience. A well-dressed black man with a Jamaican accent got up on stage & told how he was visiting the area, had his rental car stolen along with all of his money & luggage, & he just needed some money to get him back to Houston to catch a plane back to Florida. He then dropped the accent & told how he used to use that scam & that he was actually from the Austin area & he was a con artist. After an hour-long presentation on how con artists train & work, he left the stage only to be approached by a group of seminar attendees who wanted to give him some money so he could get home!

Then there's the story about television announcing plans to cancel Gilligan's Island only to have a number of phone calls from people angry over the network leaving those poor people stranded on that island!

Yes, there are some stupid people out there.