Teenage Con Artist: God Told Me To Charge You $150

Brian Scibetta thinks he can talk to god, ask him questions, get the answers, and tell you what he said… for the low, low price of $150/hour.

He says god told him to charge that amount.

I don’t know where to focus my rage: At Brian, who’s (knowingly or unknowingly) conning people; his customers, who are gullible enough to go to him; or King5.com, for publicizing this story…

While the narration mentions that not everyone things he’s legit, no skeptic is interviewed. Instead, we only hear people who think this kid is special.

He’s either completely deluded at a young age and needs psychological help… or he’s pulling one hell of a prank.

I want to call Poe on him… I mean, just look at his website:

Welcome!

It is no “accident” that you have found my website. You are here because there is something missing in your life and you have chosen this very moment to act and to discover what it is you’re missing.

God has gifted me with the ability to help you in your life’s journey.

Among my many gifts, I am able to speak with God, ask Him questions that you have of Him and will relay His answers for you without interpretation, or any change in the message. Because His answers are just for you, they often have no meaning to me.

Your specific religious beliefs are not important. God doesn’t care how you get to Him, just that you do. I can connect with Buddha, Jesus Christ, Mohammad, The Virgin Mary, all of the Saints, Ganesha, and all who have departed this earth, just to name a very few.

I suppose you could have fun with this… Question for God: What is the one true faith? Or get two people to ask questions that demand contradicting answers. Let’s see what the kid makes up.

Or maybe some atheist can put up a similar, competing website and charge $125/hour… all you have to do is say nice, happy things to the customers, watch the money roll in, and donate it all to charity.

(Thanks to Connor for the link)

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The Godless Monster

He’s cold reading.
hoverfrog

Oh dear. He’s offering a service for money. He should be able to demonstrate that the service is genuine or he might end up with a legal action against him.

Although reading his web site his fees are only charged for “a reading” and there isn’t anything specific that is being promised. I would say that he is an unscrupulous con man who is taking money from the gullible despite his apparent belief that he can talk with the gods.

He really needs to be exposed as a crook.
Ted

Yup, completely cold reading; maybe some warm reading too because he has a few minutes to talk and interact with the person beforehand, of course.
Steve

This just pissed me off the moment I began reading the article. It’s bad enough that people in the church throw away their money, thinking that God is taking it. Or that people pay money to con artists like Sylvia Browne. I wish that people weren’t so gullible to actually pay for this crooks “services”.
Zac

I’m going to call him as a smart mo-fo. A fool and his money are soon parted, and that is the service he is providing, not communion with God.
MikeTheInfidel

Steve: I immediately got the Sylvia Browne vibe from him, too. What a little douchenozzle. He knows he’s a fraud.
Michael

You know…it seems to me to be akin to prayer, only they get an answer. $150 is a lot, but it might be worth it for people who are too afraid to or who haven’t realized that they’re answering themselves.
freddy

So, does God get a cut of Brian’s income from this? After all, as George Carlin said, God just can’t handle money and always seems to need it. Brian should at least offer the Big Guy a taste of the juice.
dantresomi

wow, all the saints and people who departed this earth, to name a few… geez

i am in the wrong business
muggle

I agree that the little douchnozzle does know what he’s doing but I also think it’s even worse than that. His mother put him up to it at age 12 following that call up on stage (she had tears of joy in her eyes all right, behind them were dollar signs) and has been exploiting him for the money every since. Looks like she’s living very comfortably off her son.

It will be interesting to see what happens when he turns 18. If he continues the scam or breaks free. Depends on two things: his mother’s hold over him and/or his own greed.
Matt

Hmm… I do need a new computer. *logs into GoDaddy*
😛
WICK

I couldn’t stop laughing when I checked out his declared inspiration and mentor’s website: http://www.garyspivey.com/

Seriously. That hair needs to die. 🙂
Defiantnonbeliever

This guy has upped the anti from the crooks who Houdini exposed, by claiming to talk to gods as well as the dead. If there is a way to charge him with fraud it should be done but unless one has made an arrangement with a departed loved one with code statements as Houdini did with his wife, I don’t know how, could catch. Even that couldn’t to hold up in court, though.
I give him 10 yrs before he’s caught in a sex scandal.
Anonymous

Isn’t there a way of taking some kind of action against this? Some official report of scamming/fraud that can be made to law enforcement? I wouldn’t know, I don’t live in America.
mr.dr.jesus

This man is an asshat. and all of the people who actually PAY him to ‘talk to god’ are etremely gullable and possibly equal asshats. He either needs phycological help or is a great conman.
Darryl

This is really more of a New Age scam than anything to do with traditional Christianity. With this kid, the term “God” means whatever a paying customer wants it to mean. (In traditional Chrisitanity, the church authorities will tell you exactly what to think about God, and will demand payment in a slightly more passive-aggressive way.)

This guy’s mentor, Gary Spivey, tells on his own website (lined above on WICK’s comment) that he got started in sales, which seems significant indeed. The fright wig of white hair was a sales gimmick that he kept when he went into the “talk to God” business.

Nothing new here.
Darwin’s Dagger

I couldn’t stop laughing when I checked out his declared inspiration and mentor’s website: http://www.garyspivey.com/

Seriously. That hair needs to die.

Holy Crap it’s a Spaceball!
chicago dyke

in this economy, i’m hard pressed to criticize anyone who can pull down $150/hr. nice con, kid! and i’m sorry, but if grown men and women are stupid enough to hand over that sort of cash to an obvious con artist like this, they don’t deserve to have it.

people in this country are so pathetic sometimes it makes me really want to move.
hipopotamo

Uhm, I wonder if he is really subject to legal action, given that his “service” is not different from those horoscope or medium lines so popular in the States. Of course the only caveat is that psychic lines always have the “for entertainment purposes only” in the very small print of the add. It will be interesting if this youg man should be forced to add a similar disclaimer!

Well, it’s early and I should head to work, but first I’ll check my horoscope to see what the stars have in my destiny today.
Hey! checking my horoscope is cheaper than getting a consult from God, so please let me be!

Cheers from the hippo
Nordog

people in this country are so pathetic sometimes it makes me really want to move.

If you need help packing, just let me know.
Corvus

I’ve been unemployed since I graduated from college in August 2009 (with two Bachelors of Science). I’ve hunted, with increasing desperation, for over a year: primarily for something in my chosen field (microbiology/public health), but I haven’t been above retail, waitressing, or even the local equivalent of Hooters (which is waitressing, with added personal degradation!). As my already-meager college student savings have dwindled, I’ve even considered living out of my car. So you know what makes me angriest about these kind of con men nowadays? That I’m too scrupulous to be one. I could not, can not lie to people for a living and look at myself in the mirror in the morning… but damn could I use that $150/hr.

Think anyone would pay $150/hour for “If we go by the reliable evidence (or lack thereof), there’s probably no god. You have to deal with your problems yourself, but that’s okay! Actual -action- is always better than false hope (based on lies) which stupefies you into useless actions like repeated prayer to nothing, or even total inaction while you wait for nothing to do something. So hey, let’s you and I forget the praying and get some actual work done.”
chicago dyke

love your show, Nordog. kisses!

(i’m using my Bitchy Queen ultrasarcasm voice, in case you can’t tell)
Silent Service

The fact that people can still pull cold reading scams in the 21st century just makes me want to cry. Is our basic educational system really so bad that so many people can’t see through this crap? Yes, yes it is.
margaret

Paying him = tuition in the school of hard knocks.

When his customers don’t have the $$ to pay their bills after wasting it on a charlatan, then they will find out just how little their deity intervenes. Some people can only learn the hard way.
Karen

I found their blog and it states that Brian is pretty busy since graduating, and “God has agreed to also give His answers to Brian’s mom, Carley. She will present the questions and receive God’s answers, post them as accurately and as completely as possible and as soon as possible…”
I hope God doesn’t get too ticked off now that Brian is too busy for him.

Here is the site:
http://www.projectaskgod.com/
Bob

Questions that God can’t answer:

1. Did you create homosexuals? (If he answers yes, fundies immediately declare him a fraud. If he answers no, he contravenes known science.)

2. I have a GPS-enabled smart phone. Where is Noah’s Ark?

3. How is it that I have to pay Brian/Carley $150 instead of hearing from you directly? Did you lose my number or something? I mean, come on – follow me on Twitter. Facebook. Foursquare. I’m out there, God, I really am.
s. pimpernel

If this guy has a pipeline to the almighty, he could make more on one day at the stock market than however many $150/hr.’s he could possibly talk to. Doesn’t make much sense, does it.
The Godless Monster

I don’t see a substantive difference between what he does and what the average religious organization does. In both cases, the gullible are separated from their cash. This just cuts out all the endless, painfully BORING ceremonial bullshit that goes on in-between weekly fleecings. If anything, this kid provides a real service in that he distills this religious idiocy down to the basics:

Preacher or conman: “I talk to God (or know God’s will); give me your money.”
Idiot sheeple: “Okay, sounds good to me!”
Rest

Oh, come on guys. Sylvia Browne charges $850 for a 1/2 hour reading over the phone. At $125/hour, this offer is a steal.
Rest

Oh, come on guys. Sylvia Browne charges $850 for a half hour reading over the phone. At $125/hour, this offer is a bloody steal.
Nordog

Chi-dy,

I was using my “Let me help you make both of us happier” voice, in case you didn’t know.
Alex

He has got to be a front man for FFRF or JRF. If not, FFRF or JRF just found a new funding source!
Rich Wilson

You left ‘licensed counselor’ Linda Kardos off your list of people to be pissed at.
Nordog

in this economy, i’m hard pressed to criticize anyone who can pull down $150/hr. nice con, kid! and i’m sorry, but if grown men and women are stupid enough to hand over that sort of cash to an obvious con artist like this, they don’t deserve to have it.

people in this country are so pathetic sometimes it makes me really want to move.

This reminds me of Chesterton:

“Those thinkers who cannot believe in any gods often assert that the love of humanity would be in itself sufficient for them; and so, perhaps, it would, if they had it.”
Bob

“Beg pardon, Sir, but I speak to God all the time, and He never mentioned you.”
— Phillipe the Mouse, ‘Ladyhawke’
Dave

I think he’s telling the truth. Or, what he believes is the truth. All this could easily be explained by schizophrenia. He’s at an age where symptoms would start to become apparent. I know a guy who thought that God talked to him through the radio. He’s much better now that he’s on medication.
Miko

I’m not concerned with the lack of a “skeptical viewpoint” interview. No one who’s willing to pay this idiot $150 would listen to a skeptical viewpoint anyway and, besides: what serious skeptic would be willing to do that interview? What are they going to say? “After careful study with properly double-blinded experiments, I’ve determined that the probability that the subject is actually talking to any god is less than 0.01”?

Bob:

1. Did you create homosexuals? (If he answers yes, fundies immediately declare him a fraud. If he answers no, he contravenes known science.)

Known science says that God created homosexuals? Didn’t realize that.
Dan

MIrroring what others are saying… plenty of psychics are out there making money off the same con. So are the people who have TV shows in which they claim to speak to the dead. He’s not really breaking new ground.

But I’ll tell ya this, his hair/glasses/face combination REEK of con artist. He’s douched to the nines.
RG

If I was a different person I would do this. Maybe I could quit my IT job. I wish sometimes I myself wasn’t a “friendly” atheist.
Steener

I’m lost for words right now. seriously. wow.
Jeff P

I wonder if he will have to pay taxes on his income? He might claim himself to be a church and be exempt. I’m not really sure how that tax exemption works, though.

Maybe I could be a church…
I just have to make up some supernatural stuff…
Steener

He says that I didn’t find his website on accident…so I found the friendly athiest website while looking on line about my doubts about god and god gave me those doubts just to find his website and give him money to tell me crap that I could probably get better “answers” about from people that actually KNOW me. Wow. Plan FAIL.
Larry Meredith

don’t you just hate it when the media puts out these ridiculous stories without really investigating the validity of it?
This reminds me of a story that was run on my local Global News station (Canada) during the Halloween season about a woman in Africa who claimed that her brother died, they buried him, and then years later she found him at a market. There was no mention of skepticism or questioning the validity of it. They just presented it as a spooky true story.
Kamaka

So the kid is a self-glorified, god-speak con-artist? This is something new?

Not for a minute do I buy it that all these clerics, ministers, pastors and priests believe the crap they espouse. How could they? Their texts are so obviously a bunch of made-up stuff, any educated person who reads scripture on a regular basis has got to have very serious doubts that any of it is true.

Con-artists and the puppets of con-artists, the lot of them.
Wally

Quick, someone contact James Randi and order one fraud exposure with a side of skeptical smackdown! To the Randimobile!
Rebecca

I’ll test him! He can give me the winning lottery numbers in say, the Powerball lottery on such and such a date, and I’ll GLADLY pay him $150 after I get the winnings in my bank account. I really doubt he’d do that for me or anyone else. Who ever heard of a psychic winning the lottery anyway? I know I haven’t.
Dymara

Ooh, I’d like to ask him whether P = NP, and to provide a concise proof! Surely this ‘God’ in all its wisdom can do that, right?
fastthumbs

To everyone who wants him to be arrested for criminal activity… ain’t going to work. If John Edwards can get paid for “talking to the dead” without going to jail, what makes you think the USA authorities are going to do anything?

On the other hand, Al Capone got arrested and put in jail for tax evasion on his ‘alledged’ illgotten gains… So just start reporting the little twit and mom to the IRS…
Jesse P.

“I’m not a stereotypical psychic.” – Yes, yes you are – you are either dishonest or deluded, offering no evidence that you have any kind of gift, only asking others to “believe.” That’s about as good as any other psychic.

I think Hemant’s suggestion of asking him questions is too good to pass up. One can find plenty of Bible verses heavily critical of mediums and probably could find verses seemingly supportive of the venture. It’d be awesome to see his responses to items like this. Though, I’m betting he’d fall back on a lot of New Age woo considering the references to Gary Spivey and “indigo child,” dismissing Biblical criticism and embracing Biblical support.

Indigo child? It’s almost a satire piece at that point.
Fiona

I’m glad god led me to this blog rather than his site.
Amanda

Can’t believe only one person has commented on the one ‘expert’ they brought on, the licensed counselor, and her ridiculous interpretation of the psychic kid as an “indigo child”. What a load of crap, and from someone who is supposedly educated and licensed to perform therapy! It stings even more than the psychic BS coming from the teenager.