For more than 20 years, numerous Americans found themselves the recipients of handwritten letters from a self-proclaimed European psychic. These letters, penned in cursive, contained vague predictions and sets of lucky numbers. In 2014, one particular letter promised that the recipient’s life was on the cusp of improvement, but this vision came at a price — an initial fee of $37.50 for a detailed “astral-clairvoyant forecast.” However, the costs didn’t stop there, as investigators discovered. Court records reveal that recipients of these letters were incessantly encouraged to make further payments. Instead of the promised happiness, health, and financial success, some individuals fell victim to an elaborate international scheme that operated between 1994 and 2014, defrauding them of over $175 million.
Last week, the trial of Patrice Runner, a Canadian and French citizen accused by federal authorities of masterminding the entire scheme, concluded with a verdict. Runner, facing 18 charges of mail and wire fraud, was found guilty on 14 counts, each carrying a maximum prison sentence of 20 years. The Department of Justice has announced that Runner’s sentencing will take place at a later date. Chris Nielsen, from the Postal Inspection Service’s Philadelphia division, stated in a news release, “For over 20 years, Patrice Runner managed a predatory scheme that targeted older [Americans] by mailing personalized letters to millions of victims purporting to be from a world-renowned psychic. [The] verdict should have come as no surprise to Mr. Runner.” The Washington Post reached out to Runner’s attorneys for comment, but they did not respond.
Investigators discovered that this long-running scheme specifically targeted individuals in dire circumstances. Some of the victims were afflicted with dementia, while others were struggling to recover from financial hardships. They were all promised that guidance, talismans, and crystals from psychic Maria Duval would turn their lives around, one payment at a time, according to court records. However, behind the roughly 56 million letters sent from Canada to the United States lay a convoluted network of shell companies and a Montreal-based marketing firm with a long history of involvement in dubious schemes.
Marie Duval is indeed a real person, but authorities found no evidence of her involvement in sending the letters after searching her home in 2018. Instead, the return address belonged to a New York-based company where employees, following Runner’s instructions, discarded the majority of responses from victims in the trash. Consequently, Duval’s name became associated with psychic mail fraud schemes, now referred to by authorities as “Maria Duval scams.”
Although this scheme targeted individuals in at least a dozen countries, Runner directed its North American branch, operating from Canada, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Costa Rica, France, and Spain while attempting to conceal his involvement. Investigating prosecutors revealed that money from the scam often ended up in Runner’s overseas bank accounts. According to court documents, Infogest Direct Marketing, a company founded by Runner, profited from the letters promising good fortune. Investigators established that the materials were printed in Canada and transported by truck to Albany, New York, from where they were sent out in batches, sometimes numbering up to 50,000 at a time.
Despite efforts to personalize the letters, including coffee stains and handwritten annotations, they were essentially mass-produced messages with minimal variations. Certain elements of personal information, such as recipients’ dates and places of birth, were purchased from data brokers to lend credibility to the psychic’s clairvoyance.
The letters enticed recipients to continue making payments and advised them on financial decisions like investing in lottery tickets. One letter compiled by investigators detailed how Duval and another psychic had a shared vision of the recipient winning over $40,000 in the Powerball using a specific set of numbers. “All you have to do to see your life change is grasp the hand of friendship we are holding out to you,” read a portion of the letter, which requested $50 for an “Invaluable Guide to a New Life.” In addition to monetary requests, the letters solicited personal items such as locks of hair, palm prints, and photos, supposedly for use in personalized rituals and astrological services. However, victims who responded were bombarded with as many as 100 more letters demanding additional payments and offering further services.
When recipients ceased responding, the letters could become threatening. One woman, interviewed by Scotland’s Sunday Mail in 1997, stated, “When I wrote to say I didn’t have that kind of cash, the letters got even more frightening. I was so scared I couldn’t eat or sleep, constantly worrying about more bad luck.”
Although the letters bore Duval’s signature and photograph, the psychic herself remained an enigma for a significant period. At one point, investigators theorized that Duval was a fabrication created by the scammers. However, a CNN investigation in 2016 located Duval in France. Her family informed CNN that she had lost control of her name and image, which unscrupulous individuals had exploited for substantial profit.
In 2016, the Justice Department shuttered the scheme operating in the United States and Canada by prohibiting Infogest Direct Marketing and its employees from using the U.S. Postal Service to send materials on behalf of psychics, clairvoyants, or astrologers. Subsequently, four other defendants involved in the fraudulent activities pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud. Runner was apprehended by Spanish authorities on the island of Ibiza in 2019 and extradited to the United States a year later, where he faces the prospect of a lengthy prison sentence.
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