logo
episode-header-image
Aug 2024
4m 18s

The Psychic Scam - Exposing the Mastermi...

Sony Music Entertainment
About this episode

What would you do if one handwritten letter from a psychic promised to change your life forever?


This is the story of 1 million hopeful Americans, the global scam that took $200m from them, and the mastermind who managed it all by sending out thousands of letters a week.


Investigative journalist Rachel Browne exposes the shocking details of this massive scam on this season of Smoke Screen: The Greatest Scam Ever Written - available now wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribers to The Binge can listen to all episodes right now, completely ad-free.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Up next
Oct 9
Where Is Daniel Morcombe? The Disappearance That Haunts Australia
He was just waiting for the bus. Then he vanished. When 13-year-old Daniel Morcombe disappeared in broad daylight on the Sunshine Coast, it sparked Australia’s biggest missing persons cases, his face over milk cartons across the continent. But as police efforts faltered, Daniel’s ... Show More
9m 19s
Jun 2024
Introducing Cover Up: The Conspiracy Tapes
In the mid-1970s, a man burst onto the evangelical scene with a shocking tale: claiming to be a former witch involved in human sacrifices among elite circles. After converting to Christianity, he toured the nation warning of hidden Satanists and spoke about a secret organization ... Show More
2m 33s
Jun 2024
The Conspiracy Tapes | 6. Unmasked
Becoming something of a conspiracy theory himself, no one is fully sure what ever happened to John Todd after his fall from grace. There are many theories, but little proof. Until now. Find out what really happened to John Todd, as well as some shocking details about his life. Un ... Show More
49m 19s
Recommended Episodes
Aug 2024
The Greatest Scam Ever Written | 3. One Man's Trash
The Maria Duval letter scam began in Europe—so how did it make its way to America? U.S. Postal Inspector Clayton Gerber begins to unravel the threads of the scam when he discovers an address on Long Island, where victims are sending their replies to Duval. They also send intimate ... Show More
42m 3s
Sep 2024
The Greatest Scam Ever Written | 6. DNA of a Scammer
The mastermind behind the Maria Duval scam is revealed. Who is he and how did he operate one of the biggest scams in U.S. history? Investigative reporter Rachel Browne discovers this wasn’t his first mail-order operation and that Terry Polevoy, an amateur scam-buster, had helped ... Show More
29m 57s
Aug 2024
The Greatest Scam Ever Written | 1. Your Devoted Friend
What would you do if you got a mysterious letter promising to restore your health and vitality? Doreen Robinson wrote back and sent money to the French psychic named Maria Duval who’d written to her. As their relationship deepened, Doreen had no idea that she wasn’t the only one. ... Show More
40m 25s
Sep 2024
The Greatest Scam Ever Written | 8. The Last Letter
The defense attorneys for the man behind the scam argue the Duval scheme is no more deceptive than a magic show. But prosecutors make a strong case for fraud. In a last ditch effort to save himself, the mastermind submits a 17 page letter to the judge trying to explain what happe ... Show More
43m 12s
Aug 2024
The Greatest Scam Ever Written | 2. Psychic to the Stars
Who was Maria Duval? Her son says she had a gift, an ability to see people’s futures. She helped locate missing people and worked with the French elite, befriending Jacques Chirac and Brigitte Bardot. In the late 80s, when two businessmen approached Maria Duval with a life-changi ... Show More
40m 33s
Mar 2025
Scam Factory, with Denise Chan
It's a harrowing story, often untold in the West: while everyone's tired of scam calls and texts, we rarely ask about the lives of people on the other side of the call. While it's devilishly easy to make light of the scammers and the con artists, the harsh reality is that thousan ... Show More
1h 1m