Monday, January 26, 2009

Show Me the Magick

As you may have noticed, I recently sold out and put Google ads on the Saga. I guess it was inevitable that some peculiar advertisers would start showing up there, given the Saga’s content. I mean, it’s a natural consequence of articles about D&D and the like that I get ads for people selling spell-casting services, right?

When Decca saw an ad pop up for “Magicks of the World”, she couldn’t resist checking it out. Honest, Google guys – I did not click on that link myself.

Magicks of the World screencap
That said, I wouldn’t feel particularly guilty if I had clicked on that link: “Magicks of the World” doesn’t look like the gold standard of business ethics. For starters, they claim to have a 100% money-back guarantee, but there’s no link to the terms of that guarantee anywhere on the home page, and I’ve yet to find them anywhere else, either.

This site sells spell castings with prices ranging from about $40 to nearly $660 (and I daresay you could make a special request for something even more expensive). They also point out that multiple castings are likely to get better results.

WE RECOMMEND MULTIPLE PURCHASES IN ORDER TO TACKLE A PROBLEM FROM MULTIPLE ANGLES! PLEASE INQUIRE IF YOU NEED HELP SELECTED WHAT MIGHT WORK TOGETHER BEST, AS SOME SPELLS DO BETTER THAN OTHERS WHEN PURCHASED TOGETHER!

SOMETIMES IT IS BEST TO PURCHASE MULTIPLE COPIES OF THE SAME SPELL. THIS WILL UPGRADE THE POTENCY OF THE WORK, WITHOUT THE HASSLE OF TRYING TO SELECT A NEW ANGLE. WE WOULD ALSO BE HAPPY TO HELP SELECT THE ANGLES FOR YOU, IF YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE WITH US.
Wait a minute, aren’t these things 100% guaranteed? Why would you need multiple castings if a spell is guaranteed to work? Curious, that.

And if that’s not ethically dubious enough for you, let’s look at some of their spell offerings (I know I’m emphasizing the worst the site has to offer, but still).

SECRET AFFAIR SEDUCTION SPELL
If you have your eyes set on someone specific, and really want to have an affair (or a random affair/one night stand) This is DEFINITELY for you! This work will bring you your affair naturally, whether you know the desired sexual friend, or wish to have a random stranger.

SEDUCE A PROFESSIONAL OF CHOICE SEX SPELL
Do you have a student you really wish you could have an affair with? Is there a teacher or boss of yours out there, who REALLY would make a good here and there lover? Do you REALLY want to jump the bones of a co-worker, nurse, or doctor? This work is definitely for you and your fantasy!

BREAK THEM UP LOVE SPELL
Are there two people together who you KNOW are not right for one another? Do you feel that a couple is doing no good together and just meant to be apart? This spell will help right these universal errors of certain flings!

MAKE LOVE DIVORCE LOVE SPELL
Is your lover in a bad marriage? Do you want to be their one and only without the interference of their toxic relationship? Break it up!!

MARRIAGE ON MONEY LOVE SPELL
Do you often wish that you had a rich spouse that would take care of everything for you? Do you envy women with husbands that make a lot of money? Get your own now!

VEGAS VICTORY MONEY SPELL
Do you ALWAYS feel down on your luck? Do you gamble all the time, but NEVER seem to win ANYTHING? In fact, you lose FAR MORE than you can afford? Do you wish you could be the person to win win win? This spell can definitely change your luck!
Even if I thought these spells would actually do anything, I’d consider them unethical. Since I don’t think they’ll have any effect whatsoever, it’s more a matter of the site taking people’s money for nothing. I mean, the site owner may go through the motions of a spell casting for each purchase, but why bother? It’s not like they’re going to have any real effect. Heck, someone who would buy a spell to break up someone's marriage probably deserves to be ripped off.

The site has a heap of testimonials, of course, but we all know how little that means. Given all the promises being made, it shouldn’t take much effort to produce some genuine statistical evidence of how effective these spells really are. Here’s an easy idea; take 100 people who are going gambling in Las Vegas, randomly use the “Vegas Victory” spell on half of them (without telling which ones get the spell, of course), and see if the “spelled” ones statistically win more money than the “un-spelled” gamblers. Of course, running a test like that (under neutral observation) would actually require confidence that these spells really work.

Oh, and “Madaam Glass” has the gall to run her own “scamblog” to help you tell the real psychics from the fakers.

By the way, I took the liberty of doing a domain lookup on Magicks of the World. It's address is a post office box, and the email addresses are random strings: wlm7Xi@privacypost.com and 9tlR1e@privacypost.com. Why not "admin@magicksoftheworld.com" and "tech@magicksoftheworld.com". For a psychic with a 100% guarantee of her powers, she sure likes her anonymity.

EDIT: A little further Googling has discovered a number of articles that suggest that Magicks of the World is just the latest in a series of scam websites run by the same con artist(s).

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have more of an ethical argument with the spells themselves. One of the major tenets of witchcraft of ANY ilk is "an it harm NONE". Forcing the will of another, especially without that other's full informed consent, is harmful. It is morally despicable to force another to do your will, as in the case of the spells that cause a divorce or break-up of a relationship. It is wrong and reprehensible.

Lord Runolfr said...

WTF? Someone actually arrived at this article by Googling "i need a real spell that is guaranteed to break up a marriage 100 percent".

Anonymous said...

How do we nail her ass to the wall, put her in the slammer, and get our mney back?!

bellmom@aol.com

Lord Runolfr said...

If that's what you want to do, you probably need documentation of the transaction that shows exactly what she promised to do and evidence that she failed to do it.

Getting her arrested would require further evidence of a pattern of fraud. That would depend on multiple people who actually purchased her services retaining enough evidence to make the case.