astrological-coach.com Astrology/psychic scam Unknown Internet
I found an e-mail in my junk folder this morning. It seemed personal, so I took a closer look, just in case it was a missed "real" message. The e-mail contained an "invitation" to purchase an astrological reading from a website called astrological-coach.com. This website claims to provide services from a "Psychic astrologer" called Diana Rose. I took a look at the website. Several red flags were instantly set off for me. The website looks very professional. It looks like it could be selling any type of product or services. It is illustrated with a few images of good-looking, elderly woman, who is presumably the owner of the website and provider of the services. These pictures look like they came from an image bank, and have the typical look and feel of generic model shots created for commercial purposes rather than private or business portraits of a specific person.
Ander the "About me" menu at the top of the site is an extensive description of the merits of "Diana Rose". It seems this person has an impressive curriculum vitae. Not only is she a "certified astrologer since 1982", she is also a professor (!).
A quick and easy way to test whether a person is real or not, is to simply google their name. Of course, if you come up with nothing, it doesn't necessarily mean that this person doesn't exist, but in this case, the results were at least not convincing. Only two images of the "Diana Rose" from this website came up. The same pictures. The third one was a completely different person with the same name, who happens to be an actual professor of a real science at a real university. I assume the name and professional title of this person has been used by the people behind astrological-coach.com to create a "smoke and mirrors" effect to cover up the fact that the "astrologer" is a fictious person.
I have not taken the time to verify or disprove the "credentials" of "Diana Rose". I just want to say that many snake oil sellers with a website fronted by an obviously fictious person, seem to follow a certain recipe in presentation. It's personal, even private, information, yet cloudy about facts. She shares a personal story about her mother teaching her astrology when she was little, and a amall picture of a dog with the caption: "Tommy, probably my best friend". Personal and presumably meant to generate trust, but on the whole, the background story seems vague and shady. She doesn't say where she's from or lives. She claims to have a degree from an astrology school in London, then mentions teaching "Metaphysical bible Interpretation classes" in Colorado, then being a member of an association in California. Bits and pieces of "information", but it seems contrived. Oh, and no mentioning of any type of academic studies or the faculty where she is now a professor. Supposedly.
Next, I looked up the domain, and it belongs to a company called "Astro Consultant" located in Valbonne, France, and owned by a person called Sébastien Bernard SAMOUILHAN. I tried to find out if HE was indeed a real person and, if so, if his business is any kind of real. I found out he owns a site with identical content called star-request.com. There seems to be a person with this name living in Paris, France, born in 1972. This could be a case of stolen identity, but it could aslo be that this person is operating the business at these websites, claiming to be "Diana". If so, is it a crime? I don't know. Does it matter, if you buy and astrological report, if the person crunching it out has created an alias for themselves? Does it matter if they lie about credentials and work experience in order to get you to buy their product? Well, it matters to me, and I call that a scam. I'm not going to purchase anything from "Diana", but if I did, I bet I would get a computer generated report, sold again and again and made to look like something made "just for me".
4 Updates & Rebuttals
Diana
Alabama,French Polynesia
NOT a SCAM
#5REBUTTAL Owner of company
Thu, September 07, 2017
Because of the nature of what I do, I accepted that moving to an online service would result in abuse and aggresion and hostility which I never encountered in my face to face work...
I accepted that and pushed on. I am up against an enormous moutain of other websites and yes, some fraudulent ones, who promise things and mislead and who are run by teams of people, who know nothing about this work, all over the world that I simply can't compete with. These huge companies damage the reputation of those among us who really believe in what we do, dear John, and I am constantly having to get my I.T man to help deal with glitches and internet phishing probems and bugs and lord knows what else.
All this can result in traffic problems between my clients, subscribers, and the client lists of other sites similar to mine.
I have launched an enquiry into why and HOW recently a site, not mine had a bug which sent my work to a client address that was confidential and I promise you, if I told you half the things the I.T man told me people were trying to do to my website every day it would turn your hair white!
I only just got used to using a mobile phone four years ago and the speed of technology is shocking! I am always trying to reassure my clients my work is authentic and my care genuine but the bugs and viruses and the online scams seem never ending, and no matter what I do, these issues pop up! But I can only try.
I will never be able to convince the skeptics of what they do not want to hear or believe but allow me to reassure YOU right now, today, that bugs happen thousands of times a day between various astrology websites and through Google and I try and fix them all if they impact my clients.
None of this makes me a scam or a fraud. I respect your opinions and feelings but I care enough to do this all day long if I have to because these comments are damaging to my life's work and my only wish is to reach more clients and help those who need it. These makes me neither a charlatan nor a con artist. It makes me human.
Blessings to you. Love and Light.
John
Largs,Alabama,
Automated mail
#5Consumer Comment
Wed, August 02, 2017
I too received this email. After a bit of research it seems that there are 2 identical sites involved . Starrequest and astrological office. I filled in my details and was sent my so called reading which contained a revelation that something big was about to occur in my life. Knowing there are so many scams out there I was reluctant to take things further, even though I wasn't sure if the site was legitimate or not. When I read the previous comments on this page I actually felt sorry for the so called astrologer as their return comment seemed quite passionate. Unfortunately after several not so well placed marketing e mails staristaring that I have to act now before it's too late I decided to get another free reading using a different email account. This time I was sent the exact same reading saying the same thing about big changes that are going to happen. These are obviously automated emails made to look like a personal reply. And to think that someone actually took time to reply to the initial complaint on here just shows the lengths people will go to for greed. Most people that want their reading some do so for hope as most of them aren't happy with the way things are currently in their life. To pray on people's feelings like this is disgraceful.
It's alive!
#5Author of original report
Wed, April 12, 2017
Wow, I didn't think my little scam report would generate such honorable mention from the actual web site owner. Thank you for noticing that I put in some hard work investigating your site. Unfortunately I don't have all day today, so, a few quick questions for you, "Diana":
1. What are you a professor of?
2. Where did you publish the 3000 articles on astrology that you claim to have written?
3. Your rebuttal appears to be posted in French Polynesia. Do you actually live there (just curious)?
Look what I got when I image googled your portrait:
"Download royalty-free Attractive elderly blue-eyed woman stock photo 45316901 from Depositphotos collection of millions of premium high-resolution stock .."
Kind Regards,
Still-not-a-believer
Diana
Alabama,French Polynesia
Misleading and dishonest
#5REBUTTAL Individual responds
Tue, April 11, 2017
Allow me to express my disappointment at the individual who took the time and energy to investigate me so thoroughly when had they come to me directly I would have been as happy to help them as I am the thousands of other decent people I work with ever year from all over the world.
I am not a robot, or an automated machine, I am not a scam or a fraudster and it upsets me to see my life's work reduced to that by someone who neither knows me or understands my work.
Let me be clear on a few facts here - I am not some man, French or otherwise. I am an older woman and I need specialist computer I.T help because I work on the internet and of course these computer experts can be located anywhere, it is of no consequence to my work.
If my website looks professional, it is because I paid alot of hard earned money to have it done so I could reach more people than I was ever able just doing face to face readings.
If my pictures look generic let me be clear, I am 100% the person, the voice, the face to whom many people direct their communication but I also have to protect myself online and I do not put hundreds of personal photographs online because it attracts some negative, and yes, possibly bad people. I do not invite negative karma like that into my working life.
I work from home, I am one person, not a team, it takes me longer to prepare my work because I am the only one doing it. I also have a little arthritis and the keboard is easier than working with a pen and paper now...
My qualifications were also attacked in this complaint and the reason I am selective in the details I share is because I have an ethical responsability to protect the identities of individuals who may not want their work splashed on the internet, incredible teachers, professeurs, colleagues and members of the astrology community who have known me for years. I honestly would not be doing this for this many years if hundreds of thousands of people had not sought my help and been helped.
The other issue about my location, for health reasons I spend parts of the year on the continent of europe and otherwise I spend time in Goa on meditative retreat and in study and beyond that it is of no relevance to my work where I am . All that matters is that I try and genuinely help the clients who seek my guidance. I also offer refunds if someone is very unhappy which is very rare in this business nor does it happen often to me, but I respect my clients and these accusations of ripping people off are upsetting to me when I work so hard.