Sara Freder FAQ

Over the years, dozens of readers have written to me asking whether they should give their money to Sara Freder.

Here's the short version of my answer: No. Absolutely not. She's a bunko artist. Spend your money on just about anything else.

Here's the long version. Imagine that you had legitimate psychic powers. Would you:

A) Use your gifts to help friends, relatives, and the charities of your choice while becoming fabulously wealthy or

B) Sell your secrets for $29.95 to strangers on the Internet?

There's another reason that you should never trust psychics — Internet or otherwise. James Randi, a professional skeptic and debunker of psychics, offers a million-dollar prize to anyone who can demonstrate paranormal powers under laboratory conditions.

No one has ever claimed the prize.

It can be a lot of fun to believe in the paranormal. And Hollywood, scam artists, and Internet fraudsters have taken advantage of our natural curiosity about the "world beyond" and the power of mind over matter, whipping superstition and good story writing together into an appealing confection.

A word to the wise: If you spend your money on this junk, just keep in mind that you're getting carefully calibrated entertainment, not real answers to real problems.

Many of you have also written to me about getting ripped off by Sara Freder, and asked whether I know how to contact her, or how to get your money back. I can't help you on either front. You may want to contact the Better Business Bureau, who can sometimes be helpful to people victimized by scams. If you give them a shot, please let me know how it works out.

Good luck, and God bless.

— James Norton (jrnorton@flakmag.com)