Miss Cleo now being sued by the Feds

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 15 Feb 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

AquarianGoddess	15 Feb 2002
The Federal Trade Commission is suing Miss Cleo for fraud. The company is owned by Steven Feder and Peter Slotz. I'm assuming the "Miss Cleo" in the commerical is only a spokeswoman, although authorities are targeting her to prove she's from Jamacia. AG

Liliana	15 Feb 2002
Yep they are trying to put a ban on her psychic line, no commercials using her until the trial, I hear she called the cops when someone tried to issue a summons, once she found out what it was she acted happy.

Thirteen	15 Feb 2002
Quote: AquarianGoddess (16 Feb, 2002 10:33): The Federal Trade Commission is suing Miss Cleo for fraud. The company is owned by Steven Feder and Peter Slotz. Oh, yeah. Don't know about Miss Cleo herself, but dee company dat Miss Cleo she work for, dey in BIG trouble! See, they lied about giving people that "free" 3 minute reading they keep advertizing. Folk have been calling up for the free reading, but those first three minutes vanish in a question and answer period (when's your birthday, what's you're phone number, etc). To keep people on the phone, "psychics" *lied* about when the free minutes started, so callers *thought* they weren't being charged when they were. Calls ran $4.99 a minute. Average calls ran upwards of $60 for the unsuspecting caller. Even worse, "psychics" apparently called people back, upward of 10 times a day, leaving messages that "Miss Cleo had had an important dream about them! Call back now!" When callers asked the "psychics" not to be phone at home anymore, the psychics got belligerant. Nasty stuff.

january	15 Feb 2002
Quote: Even worse, "psychics" apparently called people back, upward of 10 times a day, leaving messages that "Miss Cleo had had an important dream about them! Call back now!" When callers asked the "psychics" not to be phone at home anymore, the psychics got belligerant. This part really got me, Thirteen. I keep getting spammed by Miss Cleo about an "urgent message about my future". To quote an email - "I had such a vision about you I nearly dropped my cup of tea! The feeling was so overwhelming I knew I had to urgently contact you about your future. I know you don't get the love you deserve, but I can see that you have a wonderful opportunity and it saddens me to think that you may miss it". The sad part is wondering how many poor souls and desparate, lonely people take solicitation like this seriously and call for their FREE reading. Now, don't be lyin' to Miss January, Miss Cleo! I bin seein' da 7 of Swords here, And over dere, baby, da Justice card, it reversed! You know what I'm talkin' 'bout! ~ january

Thirteen	15 Feb 2002
January, you've actually been spammed by Miss Cleo? I've never met anyone who's actually been on Miss Cleo's hit list ;) [quote]january (16 Feb, 2002 11:51): Quote: Now, don't be lyin' to Miss January, Miss Cleo! I bin seein' da 7 of Swords here, And over dere, baby, da Justice card, it reversed! You know what I'm talkin' 'bout! Now you stop that! :-D You gonna have me laughin' all over again.

Pollux	16 Feb 2002
It's fun!!! The same thing as happened here in Italy, almost. A very wel-known TV figure - Wanna Marchi, I wonder if you ever heard of her - has been arrested and then thrown into JAIL for fraud too. Her organization was made up by herself and her *detestable* daughter. They were together with a Psychis, whose name was Maestro di Vita ("teacher/master of life") Don Najisimiento, looking more like a model than a occultist; he was a fake, in my opinion - I'm no psychic, or at least I don't have definite powers, but I know I'm an anty-psychic certainly, I do uinderstand when there's one around :) ; and I've heard he is claimed to be the former Wanna Marchi's waiter!!! It was made thanks to a very well known programme - Striscia la Notizia (it means "The News are crawling") - because of the complaints of people who called them for "revenge". They made it with the help of a lady that was their guinea pig - she was one of the cheated too - and played her role majestically!!! These people would do the same: call saying people had "fatture", a type of popular curses -especially in Naples, were I live - saying the Maestro wanted to help them, butthey had to pay millions and so on. They made "Happiness Trees" - I don't know how to translate - with IVY stems they had in the gardens behind the agency! And their test for "fatture" was throwing 0,5 Kg of salt in a Glass of Water: if the salt didn't melt, there was the curse!!! Anyone possessing the basics of Chemistry (or even the basics of common sense) knows that hardly a spoonful of salt melt in a glass of water, for scientific reasons (i.E. saturation) and a half kilo would never melt!!! All the same, tons of people bought that. That Wanna Marchi in the past had a lot of others frauds and she was even sentenced twice... She used to sell Weight-shedding creams, oils, stuff... There's a saying in Italian that is: "Il Lupo perde il pelo ma non il vizio" "The Wolf will lose his fur (i.e. his life) but not his vice" Really appropriate. P.S. I've no experience of this Goddamn Miss Cleo, all the same I detest her. Her name's got disgusting vibes to me. :)

tarotbear	16 Feb 2002
My grandfather used to say: "Money sticks in the hands of Saints, and there are no saints here!" As soon as Miss Cleo becomes a fading memory, there will be yet another one just like her, taking up the slack.

Scorpion	16 Feb 2002
Sounds about time! Mind you, as I mentioned in an earlier post, I was waiting with eager anticipation for her to co-host a show with Jerry Springer (which we do get over here) - so it look as if I'm going to be disappointed, after all. The only thing I've come across here was an unsolicited mailing purportedly from an elderly French lady (I think it was meant to be), who felt she just "had" to draw some cards for me because it was "important". Apparently, my lover was being unfaithful (shown by the hanged man - believe me, he would be!!!)but I was due to win a six-figure sum (is that meant to be some sort of compensation?!). I could only find out more by signing up for a full £20 reading. It was all obviously computerised and very badly done - mine went straight in the bin. However, it made me very angry that there are people out there prepared to do this sort of thing for a quick buck - many insecure people would find it deeply distressing and a lot of people would be hooked by the promise of large winnings. It gives all of us trying to give sincere honest readings such a bad name. Let's hope the Miss Cleo fiasco sends a message to the rest of them.

Thirteen	16 Feb 2002
Much as Miss Cleo's company deserves everything they get, I will miss her commercials. Psychic call lines come and go here; as Tarotbear wisely surmises, the void will be filled within six months. And it'll be the same scam ("Call for a free reading!") But Miss Cleo in her turban, bangles and fax Jamacian accent was something special. She was so well know she ended up being made fun of in a nation-wide comic strip. I know, sometime in the near future, I'll see a new, psychic hot-line commercial, sigh and say: "You ain't no Miss Cleo!"

Liliana	16 Feb 2002
Hey, there's an aeclectic fundraiser, after Miss Cleo bites the big one lets print out shirts that say "You aint no Miss Cleo!" hehehe Liliana

Scorpion	16 Feb 2002
Quote: Liliana (17 Feb, 2002 04:01): Hey, there's an aeclectic fundraiser, after Miss Cleo bites the big one lets print out shirts that say "You aint no Miss Cleo!" hehehe Liliana But wasn't January the winner of the competition - I think she should get a special one: something along the lines of "I can out-Cleo Miss Cleo" or "Miss Cleo - you ain't seen nuttin yet"!

jade	16 Feb 2002
"miss cleo is an expensive figment of your imagination" ROLFMAO jade

Thirteen	17 Feb 2002
If I was going to have a "Free Miss Cleo" tee-shirt, it would have to include that famous Miss Cleo line, "Now don't you be lyin' to Miss Cleo...."

Geenius at Wrok	17 Feb 2002
Quote: Thirteen (17 Feb, 2002 16:34): If I was going to have a "Free Miss Cleo" tee-shirt, It would have to have the footnote: [1]* For the first three minutes.[/1]

Thirteen	17 Feb 2002
Quote: Geenius at Wrok (18 Feb, 2002 01:22): It would have to have the footnote: [1] * For the first three minutes. [/1] :-D Oh, yes PLEASE! Make up those shirts. If they've got a pic of Miss Cleo and that footnote, I'm buyin' three.

jade	17 Feb 2002
ROFLMAO free miss cleo hahahahahahaha jade

Madonna	18 Feb 2002
Why I am surprised she never saw it coming. LOL. There was a search among their Tarot readers for someone photogenic & with good showmanship. She is that. The Network really hassles their readers .Yes they really do send you email, snail mail with one Tarot card in it, claiming visons you must respond to for your own good. To protect their comapny they demanded all their readers sign documents saying they were genuine psychics. I have no pity for leechs but I do sympathize with those who needed hope so desperately that they were taken in. One can only hope they nail the problem .

Pollux	18 Feb 2002
THAT'S TRUE!!! They claimed to be psychics, and didn't foresee this! AH AH AH AH AHA!!! :D

tarotbear	18 Feb 2002
Now Don't Laugh----- For years in my old hometown was a house on the main strip with neon signs that read "Psychic Reader" and "Handwriting Analysis". This woman has been in business since the mid 1970s, even though such things were frowned upon (See old postings about the CT Fortune Telling Law). In the late 1980s the house burned to the ground, and was quickly rebuilt and the person has been in business again ever since. We all laughed our butts off wondering if she saw it coming " I see a bedroom- all in red & orange!". EVERY TIME I drive past the house I loudly think- "Did you know your house was going to burn down?" I can see her in her parlor saying to herself "There goes that pesty guy again!"

GeminiLady	21 Feb 2002
Last year, I tried working for that company. (very briefly) It bothered me that it was so extrememly easy to get hired--the "sub company" that actually hired me made it clear that if you had no experience at all, you could learn tarot within a few days and start taking calls...(hmmm...red flag) But still, I figured I'd give it a chance, and just offer the best readings I was able to. I would get a phone call about every 20minutes or so..(btw, you don't get paid for logged in time, only time that you are on the phone) and honestly --I know that there is a big focus on keeping people on the phone (made by the company) but it wasn't an issue for me. I figured that it would all even out, so I never worried about trying to keep someone on the phone. If it made the limit, fine, if not, well that's fine, too...I made sure to keep myself in check on that and as long as I took calls for a long stretch of time, they would average out on their own. I just gave them a good reading, and I actually had a hard time getting some of them off the phone. They were happy with their readings and just kept asking more questions. --If it got to the point where I knew they weren't going to get anything new or helpful, I thanked them for calling, and asked them to use my extension if they ever called back. Still, I felt so bad after logging in that I would log out and give free tarot readings in chat rooms... What really bothered me is that when I emailed the company I was "working for" to ask them exactly how much this was costing the people that called in...I got a response saying that "most of our callers are paying .99 a minute" hmmm....my heart and my gut did NOT believe this and it kept me awake on the few nights I took calls. I found out from a close friend who took the calls at the 1-800 number that told me there were several different per minute rates up to 5.99 per minute!!! It was her job to encourage them to call one of the numbers. -she was not a happy camper... When my friend told me that, and I took the email into account, that I just knew didn't feel right, I never signed in again. It was a learning experience, and a test for my ethics. But I feel good about not working for that particular group. Just thought I'd share that experience with you guys cause I know that there are people who wonder what it's like. That's just what happened for me, not to say that someone else couldn't have a positive experience. Love and Light, Gem

GeminiLady	21 Feb 2002
sorry--it double posted please delete this for me, thanks :)

The Miss Cleo now being sued by the Feds thread was originally posted on 15 Feb 2002 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.