Psychic Doesn't Foresee Her Fraud Arrest
Reporting Shaun Boyd LAFAYETTE, Colo. (CBS4)
May 12, 2010 5:52 pm US/Mountain
Police said Nancy Marks, 54, who went by several aliases, threatened her victims, saying that if they told anyone, bad things would happen to them.
Marks ran a psychic business out of Lafayette. Police said she convinced clients that certain numbers were bad and they needed to give her their credit card and bank account numbers. Investigators say she also convinced customers to give her large amounts of money so she could cleanse it of evil spirits.
Linda Bermudez-Hafer said she caught on to the con right away.
"She wanted to know how much money I had in my checking account, how much I had in my savings account," Bermudez-Hafer said. "She was going to 'worry the money to scare the evils spirits away.'"
One woman said she lost $240,000. Others claimed to have lost their life savings to Marks.
"She told me, 'Don't tell anybody about me. If you tell anybody bad things will happen to you,'" Bermudez-Hafer said.
District Attorney Stan Garnett offered advice to those who visit psychics.
"Don't start giving psychics large amounts of money based on some understanding of magic that's going to happen," Garnett said.
In addition to Lafayette, police say Marks also worked out of Loveland for a while. There are two warrants out for her arrest in Arkansas on similar charges.
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