Maria Duval’s Massive Scam

Maria Duval didn't have the name recognition of Sylvia Browne or John Edward, but she could con as well as any other con psychic and make a lot of money doing it. She deceived her victims for around $180 million, according to the Justice Department. Duval, whose true name was Maria Carolina Gamba, operated a mail fraud ring while posing as a psychic. She rose to prominence after falsely claiming to have used her psychic abilities to locate Bridget Bardot's missing dog. Bardot herself stated that her dog had died and that no psychic had recovered it.

The fraud involves mailing personalized letters to the elderly and sick. There were entire companies involved in mass producing them, creating them to look individualized and handwritten. Some were even alleged to have coffee stains on them to add realism. The personal information was obtained from data miners, but they made the letters appear as though the person writing genuinely knew who they were writing to. They clearly worked, based on the number of victims who fell for it and the amount of money they made. A person had to pay $40 for each round of correspondence. There were also extras like lucky talismans that would cost extra. Though the Justice Department shut the scam down, that was only in the United States. The company behind the letters is still going strong in other parts of the world.