Mediums and Psychics beware!

In 1951 The Fraudulent Mediums Act replaced The Witchcraft Act in British Law. Since then only seven people are known to have been presecuted under the FMA, despite glaring frauds and fakery being exposed.

Responding to a petition on the 10 Downing Street website, requesting that the FMA be revised in order to make more prosecutions possible, the Government has issued this response:

The Fraudulent Mediums Act 1951 will be repealed from April 2008 by the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2007 (CPRs) which implement the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD).

The CPRs include rules prohibiting conduct which misleads the average consumer and thereby causes, or is likely to cause him to take a transactional decision he would not have taken otherwise.

Although the average consumer would arguably not be misled by a person who claims he is able to contact the dead, such conduct would still be unfair under the CPRs if it deceives the average member of (i) the group to which it is directed, or (ii) a clearly identifiable group of consumers who are particularly vulnerable to this type of practice.

Unlike the Act, there is no requirement in the CPRs to prove an "intent to deceive". This means that where practices are aimed at vulnerable consumers or average members of particular groups, it should be easier to take action against fraudulent mediums than under the Act.

The CPRs will be enforced by both civil (injunctive) action and criminal sanctions.

From April 2008, mediums, psychics, tarot-readers, etc., who charge for their services, will all be liable under The Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD). Regulations implementing the Directive in the UK will come into force by April 2008.

Will we see some of our most notorious fakers retiring in March 2008? I hope not, as they have made a very handsome living out of conning the public, and I would like to see them get their just reward for their years of lying and cheating.