Legal, Fortunetelling, Jesus Morning Star
One woman alone gave more than half a million dollars in cash and luxury items to remove the "black magic" hindering her love and happiness, the authorities said.
"For nearly a year, prosecutors in Pennsylvania said, a man and woman selling their services as psychics had convinced one woman to keep paying them to lift a curse that kept her from being happy.
Using deceitful tactics, the authorities said, the two got the woman to give them about $596,000 in cash and property. They also took luxury items from her and another client, including concert tickets, Airbnb reservations, clothes, and gift cards. Their earnings totaled more than $600,000, the authorities said.
On Oct. 9, the two soothsayers, Steve Nicklas, 40, of Jenkintown, Pa., and Gina Marie Marks, 52, of Huntingdon Valley, Pa., were arrested on various charges, including corrupt organization, conspiracy, theft by taking, and fortunetelling, which is a crime in Pennsylvania, according to the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office.
It was unclear whether either had a lawyer, but both had posted bail, according to court records.
The two had persuaded clients that they had been cursed and that they could help them shed their jinxes if they paid, according to the authorities.
The main target of the scheme, the woman who was convinced that she was cursed, was a longtime customer of a shop offering psychic readings and other fortune readings, Jenkintown Psychic Visions, Detective Jonathan Kelcy, an investigator for the prosecutor's office, said in a criminal complaint filed in criminal court in Montgomery County, Pa.
When that client, who is not named in court records, called the business in September 2022, Ms. Marks answered the phone and identified herself as Naomi, stating that she had taken over the company from the previous owner and offering to give a phone reading, the investigator said. She used tarot cards and "various alleged ritual practices," the investigator said.
The investigator said that Ms. Marks had preyed on the caller's "love for another and desperate desire to remain married, to emotionally abuse her, to mentally weaken her, and to expertly steal her money."
Ms. Marks told the client that a former friend and employee was working with a spiritual adviser and others to prevent her love and happiness by the use of "black magic," the investigator said. She had been made to fear that the curse would destroy her marriage, business, and family."
Canberra Times: At 18, Liz was recruited by a cult while shopping at the Canberra Centre
She was 18 years old, browsing a bookshop at the Canberra Centre, when a woman approached her and asked her to fill out a survey.
It was about Christian faith, and Cameron happened to be a Christian.
She also happened to be lonely, depressed, and uncertain about her future - a perfect candidate for an insidious South Korean cult.
For the next two years, Cameron was drawn into a new "family", isolated from her own family and friends, and brainwashed almost past the point of no return.
It happened gradually—at first, she thought she was joining a friendly church community.
In fact, it was the secretive and predatory South Korean cult Providence, also known as JMS or Jesus Morning Star.
Providence now operates in more than 70 countries.
"I didn't even know who this group was, for months on end, I had no clue who they represented, who they really were, because they concealed it," she says.
"They lied to me in a very organised and intentional way. It wasn't just lying by omission - it was intentional lying."
Initially, her new friends "lovebombed" her, telling her she was special, beautiful, and gifted, and giving her a sense of purpose. There were gatherings, bible studies, and even a weird modelling pageant.
Gradually, the atmosphere became more stifling; she was told what to wear, ordered to keep her weight under control, and punished for being late or for speaking out.
She later found out that she was one of many young women chosen to be recruited into the cult because she was tall, beautiful, and white.
These were the physical attributes favoured by cult leader Jung Myung-seok, for whom she was to become a kind of "bride".
By the time she visited the leader and serial rapist in South Korea, he was already in jail for sexual assault.
After two years, Cameron became ill enough, through controlled eating, stress, and anxiety, that her own family was alarmed enough to seek outside help to rescue her from the cult's grip. That was back in 2013, and Cameron began a slow recovery.
She realised that what had happened to her had been systematic and calculated, and set out to understand how such a thing could have happened to her, and so many other people, in plain sight."
The selection of articles for CultNEWS101 does not imply that Patrick Ryan or Joseph Kelly endorse the content. We provide information from multiple perspectives to foster dialogue.
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