Reports of a Woman Hypnotised and Cheated—Could We Really Be Hypnotised?

This is appalling—apparently, a 73-year-old woman from Malaysia was cheated of RM86,000 (which is about SGD$27K) after she was hypnotised.

According this report, the scam was carried out by three females. All they did was just to “tap” the woman on the shoulder, and she was left in a “trance-like state”.

They told her about a curse that would kill her son three days later, and that they could “heal” the curse. The victim then retrieved her jewellery and money to the scammers and placed them in a plastic bag.

It was only when the victim went home that she was snapped out of her hypnotised state. By then, it was too late: the jewellery and money in the plastic bag had been swapped with two bottles of water and some bars of soap.

Now, isn’t that worrisome? What if one day, someone taps your shoulder, and the next thing you know, your bank account has suddenly been wiped out?

Well, it might not be that possible after all.

There’s a long article about hypnosis in HowStuffWorks, and it’s a wall of text and a little chim, so here’s a summary: yes, hypnosis does exist, but it’s not used that way. We’re all, to some extent, hypnotising: for example, when we’re watching a movie, our mind is fully concentrated on the screen, and all we think of is what happens in the movie.

However, it’s obvious that if someone suddenly tell you to do anything, you’ll be fully conscious of that request. So, what if the movie is so interesting that it makes you super relaxed and super engrossed in it?

Well, you can still snap out of it—if you want to. That’s the basic principle of hypnosis in its simplest form.

In an article on Psychology Today, the writer, John Ryder, who has a PhD, gives a simple statement: “Could you be hypnotized and forced to do something illegal or diabolical? The general answer is that you cannot.” In order to really be hypnotized, drugs must be used to push mind-control to its limit.

Instead of being hypnotized, being persuaded is easier, doable and very possible.

In this case, could it be that the victim was conned instead of being hypnotised? We won’t know, but at least we should be more mindful of cons instead of hypnosis.

Featured Image: thecompleteherbalguide.com

This article was first published on goodyfeed.com 

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