MISS Cleo was a popular psychic reader before controversy plagued her public image.
The television personality was known for appearing on the Psychic Readers Network in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
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Miss Cleo – whose real name is Youree Dell Harris – was a TV personality and popular psychic reader.
From 1997 to 2003, she played Miss Cleo on the Psychic Readers Network, a pay-per-call service, and appeared in several commercials.
She claimed to be a shaman from Jamaica and announced calls for viewers to do fortune telling. She also encouraged them to “call me now!” per News week.
She was known for her catchphrase: “Letters never lie.”
In the late 1990s, Miss Cleo and the Psychic Readers Network were the subject of allegations of false advertising and fraud.
According to Newsweek, customers claimed they received emails stating: “[Miss Cleo has] has been authorized to issue you a Special Tarot Reading! … It is essential that you call immediately!”
However, telemarketers who read the scripts supposedly answered these calls, rather than psychics who used tarot cards, for example. Slate.
Although most readings were advertised as free, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said nearly six million people called, which totaled about $1 billion in charges. The Washington Post reported.
Calls cost an average of $60 each.
In 1999, North Carolina filed a lawsuit that accused Access Resource Services (operating as Psychic Readers Network) of fraud and false advertising, according to Newsweek.
Other states followed suit, including Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Indiana.
In 2002, the FTC filed a complaint against Access Resource Services, Psychic Readers Network and their directors, Steven L. Feder and Peter Stolz.
The FTC alleged that they participated in deceptive advertising, billing, and billing practices.
According to the federal agency, the complaint “specifically alleged that defendants misrepresented that those who requested readings ‘would receive [a] free psychic reading’, ‘incurred no costs when they remained on the phone with the psychic readers’ and ‘were required to pay fees for calls made to defendants’ audio text numbers that consumers were not required to pay.’
“The lesson in this case is that companies that make a promise in an ad need to deliver on it – whether it’s availability, performance or cost,” said J. Howard Beales III, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.
“I’m not psychic, but I can predict this: If you make misleading claims, there will be FTC action in your future.”
Miss Cleo’s Life
Miss Cleo was a famous television personality who played a psychic reader on the Psychic Readers Network from 1997 to 2003.
She was born Youree Dell Harris in Los Angeles, California on August 12, 1962.
She claimed to be a shaman and was involved in controversy with the Psychic Readers Network.
Miss Cleo and the network were accused of fraud and false advertising.
She later continued her advertising career and voiced a character in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.
She tragically passed away at the age of 53 on July 26, 2016, after a battle with colon cancer.
The late TV star is now the subject of the August 2024 Lifetime movie Miss Cleo: Her Rise and Fall
In the 2002 settlement, Access Resource Services and Psychic Readers Network “agreed to a stipulated court order stopping all efforts to collect bills or complaints from consumers who purchased or allegedly purchased their pay-per-call or audiotext services,” according to according to the FTC.
They also forgave about $500 million in outstanding customer charges as part of the FTC settlement.
The defendants also had to pay $5 million to the FTC as part of the settlement.
The Florida-based companies and their executives ran “a massive 900 number scheme known to the public as the ‘Miss Cleo’ psychic lines,” the federal agency said.
Although Miss Cleo herself was not charged in the case, legal battles revealed that she was not from Jamaica, as she had claimed, according to Newsweek.
She was born in Los Angeles, California, and her parents were American citizens.
In a 2006 interview with The lawyerMiss Cleo said, “I am who I say I am,” noting her Jamaican roots.
Regarding her identity as a medium, she said: “I’m more of a shaman, an elder of a community who sees visions and guides the people of her village.
“My clients and my students are my village. I care for this community. If you sit at my table, you have to learn a lesson and not just learn what will happen tomorrow.
I’m not psychic, but I can predict the following: If you make misleading claims, there will be FTC action in your future.
J. Howard Beales III
“I also perform weddings — both gay and straight weddings — and home cleanings and blessings.”
Following the controversy, Miss Cleo – using the name Cleomili Harris – appeared in the 2014 documentary, Hotline, in which she spoke about her time at the Psychic Readers Network.
She also worked in advertising and voiced the character Aunt Poulet in the 2002 video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.
Miss Cleo tragically died at the age of 53 on July 26, 2016, following a battle with colon cancer.
THE LIFE OF MISS CLEO
A Lifetime Movie About Miss Cleo – Miss Cleo: Her Rise and Fall – premieres Saturday, August 10, 2024 at 8pm ET.
It will be available for streaming the next day.
The show “begins in the late ’90s when single mother Youree Dell Harris becomes desperate to take care of her family and takes a job at the Psychic Readers Network – only to become one of the network’s most beloved personalities, Miss Cleo.”
The description continues: “But their challenges don’t stop there and when the network faces accusations of fraud and deceit, they turn their eyes to Miss Cleo.
“For the first time, Miss Cleo’s side of the story will finally be told.”
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This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
