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Maria Duval

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Maria Duval scam is a pseudonym of Carolina Maria Gambia (Milan, 1938). She was the owner of Astroforce until it was sold in 1997 to Health Tips Ltd in Hongkong (now Harmonie Ltd). Then she became President of the Institute for Parapsychological Research in Callas, a small town near Nice.

Astroforce has since then been acting as Maria Duval, a psychic who uses her telepathic gifts to help people solve their problems or fulfill their wishes. They use her name for a well known worldwide scam. Astroforce also sells its mailing list to direct marketing companies.

Method of operation

The company places advertisements in newspapers or magazines. People who reply will receive several letters in the next months and years. These letters are mass produced but address the recipient personally.

Each letter pretends to be sent by Maria Duval and offers some sort of help in return for money. The letter makes claims like:

  • She has been making accurate & verifiable predictions for the past 23 years in at least 2,400 TV shows and 8,400 radio broadcasts
  • Her achievements have been featured in over 700 newspaper articles
  • She has been able to predict:
    • the rate of the dollar and the Stock Market Index
    • major newspaper headlines
  • She regularly works with doctors and the police
  • She has been able to telepathically locate at least 19 missing persons
  • International celebrities come from all over the world to consult her

Complaints about these claims were upheld in the UK.

The letter then continues for about 8 to 10 pages. Duval claims she has telepathically received an important and urgent message, specially for the recipient of the letter. A special constellation of the stars (or something like that) means that an important time period has begun in the life of the recipient. The most important wishes of the recipient can become reality now, but only with the assistance of Maria Duval.

This assistance amounts to an item which Duval will sent to the recipient and rituals she will perform, specially for the recipient. The item could be a 'Vibrating Crystal' which is supposed to function as a telepathic connection, a pentagram to put under the pillow of the recipient, a mascot, an amulet or talisman, a book with occult secrets or a secret manual to charge up the spirit with magnetic vibrations. Often the recipient has to perform some rituals as well, at the same moment when Duval performs her rituals. These services usually costs about 100 USD, but in this special case the recipient gets a discount and only has to pay about half the normal price.

These letters seem to be written by professional marketeers using several well know marketing methods.

Complaints

Complaints about the letters of Astroforce were upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority in the UK in December 1999. Complaints about its advertisements were upheld in the UK in March 2000. In 2005 Astroforce stopped its New Zealand advertising after a complaint by the Consumers' Institute of New Zealand.

References

  1. Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Paul Van Buitenen
  2. Consumer NZ, Maria Duval scam
  3. ^ Advertising Standards Authority, Astroforce Ltd t/a Maria Duval, (t/a = trading as)
  4. The Maria Duval Business
  5. Advertising Standards Authority, Astroforce Ltd t/a Maria Duval
  6. Consumers' Institute of New Zealand, Not clairvoyant enough?

Sources

Approval

Criticism

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