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Courts & Crime

Police: Gypsy scam cost Florida woman $298,000

Adam H. Beasley - Miami Herald

March 16, 2010 02:26 PM

Rub your body with an egg to cure ovarian cancer.

Eat nothing but red fruit for a "spiritual transfusion."

And, most importantly, ring up huge bills at ritzy department stores to save your dad from a heart attack.

You won't find these miracle cures in The Journal of the American Medical Association.

But Gina Marks, a well-known Broward County scam artist, police said, convinced a Coconut Grove woman that her survival, and that of her family, depended on them.

And in the process, the "gypsy swindler," as Broward sheriff's deputies called Marks, defrauded the woman out of $298,000, authorities said.

Marks, 37, of Hollywood, faces charges of organized fraud, grand theft and violation of probation after her victim's family finally wised up to the scam. BSO arrested her Thursday, putting an end to the 19-month confidence game.

Marks, the one-time owner of Gina's Psychic Readings and author of Miami Psychic: Confessions of a Confidante, is currently being held without bond in county lockup.

Read more of this story at MiamiHerald.com

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