Recently in Financial Crime Category

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/05/business/05psychic.html?emc=eta1

Here is a New York Times article about a "highly reputable" psychic trained by Nepalese monks in the art of time travel, precognition, and remote viewing.  Claiming to be able to predict the stock market Sean David Morgan and his wife took in millions of dollars from investors, funneling the money through a number of religious and spiritual businesses owned by Morgan.

 

Where's the psychology?  First, why do people continue to buy into these things?  Even in the face of no evidence for anything the least bit psychic a vast majority of people still believe that these abilities are possible and that some people already do possess these skills.  Credulity?  Faith?  Ignorance? 

Second, isn't it amazing that even Morgan himself refuses to admit he's wrong?  I believe that he truly does believe that he can predict the future, and his inability to predict this lawsuit and the impending fines, jail-time, etc. are not viewed as counter-evidence, or failures in his mind.  Instead he explains these away as being malicious attacks on his person, such that he could not have predicted them, etc. etc.  This is a common tactic used by psychics, when they are right it's proof, when they are wrong (and this is frequent) it's because of other people or some flaw in the universe and not seen as a counterexample or possible evidence against their viewpoint.

Thirdly, what if he really is seeing into the future and he made a mistake in interpretation?  It does seem like purposefully manipulating people is a far worse crime than trying to help, and simply making a mistake.  Which is going on here?  And how do we know that?  Given the large number of people who believe in this type of thing why ought we assume he's a fraud?  Is he any different than any other investor who makes a mistake? 

Does this article call into question all psychics and their claims, or merely the claims of this one man?  Do claims regarding the success of one psychic demonstrate the existence of psychic phenomena in general, or are they merely a statistical oddity to be explained in light of other evidence?

The Movie takes place in Mexico City, it starts off with a rich man having to pay for his son's ransom, and that is what the whole movie is about, it is about money and kidnapping.  A Body Guard is hired and is being payed very low because of his alcohol problem.  He is hired to escort a daughter named Pita by a Wealthy man.  His wife took a liking to the Body Guard immediately all because he was an American.  The Body Guard had many related skills relating to being a Body Guard, however he had never protected children before.  At first the Body Guard does not want to develop a friendship with the little girl but later on he does anyway.  The Pita (the little girl/daughter of the rich guy) informs the Body Guard that there has been 24 kidnappings in the last six days, four each day.  He is some how psychologically damaged from his past, he dislikes his job so much, he tries to fit in God into his life and wonders if God would ever forgive him (because of his psychological damage I can see why he has a drinking problem). Later on both the Boday Guard and Pita take notice of a car behind them, they both write down the license plate number.  Pita is at her piano classes, the Boday Guard is waiting outside, a dog is let loose the Body Guard puts it back in the car from where it came from and all of a sudden he sees the familiar car pull up where Pita was coming out tries to kidnap her but the Body Guard pulls out his gun unfortunately cops get in the way, Boday Guard shoots and kills two, kidnappers kidnapped Pita.  Turns out the cops were not on duty and yet still had their uniform on and exactly at the scene of the crime so they were crooked cops.  A ransom was offered but no successful, later on turns out the head of the dapartment of anti-kidnapping stole half of the ransom money which was 5 million in total 10 million, but the head stole 5 million of paper not money, the other million went to the Pita's father's lawyer and the kidnappers and in a way he got some money back to help him out of debt but everything was placed on hold because the other half was fake. Of course the Body Guard discovered all of this by going back to the scene of the crimes going around asking questions to witnessess or suspects like a detective.  He builds an alliance with a newsreporter named Maria and his old partner during his lasts jobs.  The Father committed suicide and he made a deal with the kidnappers, "A life for a life."  In exchanged the main Kidnapper's brother and the BodyGuard for Pita, Pita returned safely.  Can you actually imagine going through all of that?  Of course the movie is a bit exagerated, you just wouldn't be blowing off anyone's head off out of anger.  Kidnapping happens every where in this world at any time and any place but rich people are the ultimate targets all because of the economic issues that a person faces that or because of greed.

http://www.ktvu.com/bartshooting/22640521/detail.html

In California, a woman was arrested because she confessed that she committed 38 counts of financial embezzelment from a 83 year old woman in her care. She confessed to the police that she did take the money and she is now in the county jail on a $1.2 million bond.

Financial elder abuse is one of the main forms of elder abuse and it happens way too often. This is when someone that the elder person trusts takes their money that they are supposed to live on, forces them to get rid of possessions, or steals their money. The person that does the financial fraud is usually someone that the elder person knows very well like a child or a grandchild. This is a website that talks about the signs of financial elder abuse and how to report it if you see it. Elder abuse is a crime and can be stopped if the person is caught and put in jail.

http://www.crimes-of-persuasion.com/Crimes/InPerson/MajorPerson/elder_abuse.htm

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/laworder/story/B8C51385D26FD1ED862576BF00131FFA?OpenDocument

Loren Ramsey was convicted of financial crimes when he pleaded guilty to a single count of structuring financial transactions to avoid reporting requirements. He deposited $843,547 into his account from 2005 to 2008. The money belonged to Michael R. Harper who was a major marijuana supplier and the financier of pot purchases by associates. Harper took a friend Bradley C. Clubb hostage and eventually shot him and killed himself then after setting fire to his own place. Loren who is 71 took the money from Harper and was eventually caught and had a few assets seized and they are currently going for a vehicle and some more money. More on the article can be found at the link above.

http://www.spring.org.uk/2010/01/the-7-psychological-principles-of-scams-protect-yourself-by-learning-the-techniques.php