Why all the references to Ms. Cleo??

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 28 Apr 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Celtic_Dragon	28 Apr 2003
I want to know because I see many references to her and I remember her commercials but....I'm at a loss. From what I can measure in different cases she is either believed to be a fraud or was found a fraud and is no longer in business. Was there some kind of big trial-thing I missed? or did it just tank like a steal chest of faux gold?? and if this is in the wrong catagory, moderators, feel free to toss this around a bit.

HudsonGray	28 Apr 2003
Oh, she got yanked off the air for bad billing practices. People were getting bills for calls they never made, for instance--one lady had a bill come with her dead mother's name on saying she had called & talked for 20 minutes. The mother had been dead for a while... Enough complaints poured in that Ms. Cleo was investigated & she owes restitution to a lot of people, it was just in the news that judgement was found against her. She's big name, well known, so I'm not surprised a lot of people mention her. Her calls appear to have been scripted for the tv infomercials. She claimed to be a shaman & Jamaican, but she was never born there, and nobody could find that she ever did any shaman healing type of work. She didn't even have a Jamaican accent when interviewed on tv after charges were filed against her. The FTC filed charges - http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2002/02/accessresource.htm -- after the Missouri Attorney General filed two lawsuits against a her for false advertising, fraud and other unlawful business practices. Guess she's sort of the Martha Stewart of tarot....(geez, what a thought!)

jakyle	29 Apr 2003
I just wanna know..... What WAS that Smoke Behind her.........

allibee	29 Apr 2003
..... and who's Martha Stewart? .....

Celtic_Dragon	29 Apr 2003
ok, so I did miss a lot, thanks HudsonGray!!

Khatruman	29 Apr 2003
Quote: Originally posted by HudsonGray Guess she's sort of the Martha Stewart of tarot....(geez, what a thought!) Ahhh, noooo.. equating her with the Nazi homemaker??? :P Well, maybe Miss Cleo would be if she made her own tarot cards from ordinary household waste products, and constructed her own tarot table, sewed her own reading cloth, and baked cookies as she did your reading. Ohh, and behind that smoke??? Mirrors...*s*

Str4Berryan9eL	29 Apr 2003
I always knew she was a fake and that Jamican acent pffft.. fake too! I tell ya people these days... HudsonGray, thanks for that information I didn't know all of that! And for the site where files were charged against her - Thanks !

The Why all the references to Ms. Cleo?? thread was originally posted on 28 Apr 2003 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.