[Steven Stahlberg]

I'm just wondering how can they be permitted to operate? Isn't there some government agency that should test them to see if they're lying? And also, if there's anyone out there who knows how they pull their scams off?

I mean I have my own theories - Madame Cleo must be a whole group of ladies schooled to talk with a Jamaican accent, because charging less than a dollar a minute calling ONE woman is NOT paying for those tv commercials - and John must be using people that have been briefed. But are they actors or ordinary people? How come no one's spilled the beans yet? How long can it last?

I guess it's no big deal to some people, but seeing it every day I'm getting more and more bugged by it - they're making money from pure fraud.

(if you don't know them - John Edwards is a man who claims to communicate with the dead on tv, and Cleo is this loud overbearing woman seemingly from Jamaica who advertises tarot readings, using recorded phone calls where she allegedly tells the unknown caller his woman has a baby with another man, or the caller's sister is doing her husband, etc, etc, etc...)

[Paranoid]

This make me think of something similar that happened were i live.A woman named Jojo Savard was doing the same thing,she also had her group of person anwsering the phone on her behalf.They were giving anwser based on statistics.After a while they discover she was a fraud (everybody already knew it tough)and well you know what happened.So i guess i can also read Miss Cleo's future...Hmmm let's see...OH yeah...BANKRUPTCY

[Ben Barker]

That Cleo woman's agency is being sued in some state like Montana because they called people after they had been asked to be put on a no-call list. There is a new law about it there that they caught her on.

John Edwards is really good at cold reading people, that is deducing things about their life based on their appearance or feedback. But then again, how hard is it?

"OK, I'm getting something with a 'D'. You know someone who's name starts with 'D', they are telling me. And something to do with cancer."

"Oh My GOD! My uncle's name is Dave! He had a best friend who died of cancer!"

It's all a sham. But hey, I consider it a stupid tax, kind of like the lottery.

[exo13]

Nobody can shut them down because on the bottom of the screen on those commercials, it says "for entertainment purposes only" If she could actually promise that she'd be right all the time, they wouldn't need to say that.

Essentially, these people don't know anything more that what the other person admits to. "Miss Cleo" speak in very broad terms that could apply to anyone at first and then the caller says, "yes, you nailed on the head" followed by more intimate details. The majority of people who call psychics are having trouble with money, boyfriends and common stuff like that... and they're usually complete idiots who are very enthusiastic and wouldn't notice any slip-ups. She's the psychic Jerry Springer. she can pick from almost any subject and be right. Essentially she just puts on a little show and gives advice that any regular brained person could give. The other thing is that commercials only show her when she's right, maybe even lucky. I don't think that she's a collective of people with fake Jamacan accents, that would be identity fraud and then you could shut them down.

John Edward however... well, I just can't believe that he's still on the air! He does roughly the same thing but adds a little more acting. That eats up a little more time on his show so he doesn't have to spend it by "communicating with the dead." And of course, unlike a phone-call, it's his stage, his studio and the show is on his terms. He may, say something like "hmm, I'm sensing that someone over here has a relative that was killed in a car accident." Who doesn't have a relative who's been killed in a car accident? It has to be a common cause of death though, cancer, heart attack, stroke, drug abuse, old age or even murder. It's never something like, "I'm sensing someone who slipped on a banana peel and fell down a manhole and then drowned in the sewer." Same expected response of course, giving up details about who when and the nature of the death. Then he'll say something a little more specific but a little more risky like mentioning a charished personal item. It is usually jewelry, and let's face it a lot of people own jewelry. Then he just does his little routine , "they're ok, they say hi from the otherside, at piece and so one. how's the family?" and all that. Then, again, more acting. "They say you need to move on and they're watching over you." All he does is tell them what they want to hear and then you have a satisfied audience member. You wouldn't even need to run a background check.

They're all scams. Whenever the police use psychics to find a dead body, missing person or piece of evidense, they're wrong about 99% of the time. Like I said earlier, "for entertainment purposes only."

[burn0ut]

yo, they had some big thing with madame cleo i guess shes getting sued by someone who used to work for her.
so like anyways, you will probabbly never talk to cleo herself, (they had it on some tv program a few days ago) if you ask em for cleo they will tell you a diffrent number and blah blah you still wont reach her, all they want is for you to stay on the line.
also thing cost 4bucks a minute! (that part i dont understand how they say one thing on tv then its not really what they say)

anyways thats what i caught from that show... i forget what it was. hmp

[burn0ut]

Das nawt the right mon for you okey hunny! listen to cleo alright! you get away from hem!
eek i hated the commercials long ago!

[Ysg]

Agh, does anyone remember that guy who had a show on Fox (or some channel like that). He said he could levitate and read minds and other wacky stuff. He froze himself in a block of ice in times square for a little while (haven't heard anything about him since that). I hate that kind of crap, he's pulling off slight of hand tricks and pretending he can read minds and saying it's all real magic. I had an argument with a friend about it and he keeps saying, "I saw him do it on his show!" damn! Anybody who believes in that stuff has got a screw loose and I'm glad I don't live in their fantasy world of mind readers and spoon benders.

"Hey, that guy over there gave me a funny look!!! He must be trying to read my mind or stop my heart with pure thought!! nooooo!"

[ambient-whisper]

k,...i dont watch tv..( err.maybe once or twice a month ) so im comletely clueless as to what john and cleo are....so umm..can someone tell me exactly what they do .?.

[Jabberwocky]

Cleo called my house the other day. The phone rang and I picked it up and the other end said something like "This is Madame Cleo and I have got this feeling..." And I was like "Yeah of me hanging up on your ass."

As for John Edwards they had a thing on TV about him the other day. I didn't watch the whole thing, but what I caught was as said by someone before... he takes basic things and then you relate it to something important and then tell him and he guesses from there trying to get more detailed and when he's wrong he quickly brushes it off.

Much like taking a month... Say April...
Okay that's the month my Father was born in. He can go off on my father (being as he's dead). But April was also the month of my Brother's Birthday. So I just related. And if you watched the show he would say like "I'm getting a month of April..." and the person is always ready to volenteer the info "well that's the month of my father's birthday..." So mainly he's just comunicating what you already know.