Meet Jenna, the scam astrology bot

The Jennas, Astro-Marys and Vedic astrologers take advantage of well-known cognitive bias called the Forer Effect. Representation pic

Jenna wrote to me again as 2021 ended. I had been expecting it, of course; she has not missed a single New Year's eve, Christmas or birthday for over 15 years now. As always, I was deeply struck by how well this woman seemed to know me. How deeply she must care for me to write a personal letter, 1,848 words long, touching upon my innermost concerns, all while addressing me by name as Gopi 31 times and calling me my dear seven times.

Gopi, I have so much to tell you, my dear (Jenna wrote). My calculations show that 2022 will mark the beginning of a new life cycle that will last until 2031! In other words, this cycle will last for nine years until you are 79. I know you have passed through a difficult, stressful time and are looking for light now. The connection that I have felt to you based on your birthday confirms to me that this will be one of the most important cycles of your entire existence, Gopi!

Her offer was simple. Amazing fortune awaited me. If I would only let her guide me step by step, she would show me precisely, down to the minute, when great opportunities would strike in my career, love life, family and finances - and exactly what I needed to do to seize them.

All I had to do was to pay her a paltry $69 by credit card, debit card or Paypal, and she would reveal the mysterious forces waiting for me to take advantage of them.

As you have no doubt figured out by now, Jenna is a scam. You wouldn't have to be a genius to guess that there is no woman behind the name. She is a bot deep inside a server (in France, according to one investigation). The algorithm has mastered the tricks of making a person feel that ‘she' is talking directly to them and knows their innermost anxieties and hopes.

A more local version is the so-called Pandit Punarvasu, who claims to hail from an Indian family of scholars and mystic seers. His ‘personal' letter told me I was blessed with something called Gaj Kesari Yoga. I could get a 5-year report on the said Gaj Kesari for only $55.

Was I the only one who thought Jenna and the Vedic pandit were grifters? The internet told me that Jenna had a good following of devotees who swore by her. One even called her the "wife of the sky" and said she wanted to "save de soul of da customers". However, what caught my attention was the number of people who felt she had accurately nailed their personal situations and feelings.

Eta Uso found that everything she said "was somehow true". Anonymous concurred, saying that she "hit on things that I've been dealing with, she was not far off". Even I, a cynic and hobby-level astrologer, have found myself surprised from time to time by the Jenna algorithm's ‘accuracy' in capturing my frustrations and worries of the moment.

The Jennas, Astro-Marys and Vedic astrologers take advantage of well-known cognitive bias called the Forer Effect, described by the psychologist Bertram Forer as a tendency for people to agree with vague descriptions about themselves without realising they could apply to basically everyone and their dog.

In his 1948 experiment, Forer gave his students a survey and promised them personality sketches he'd write himself. However, he gave them identical sketches, using phrases like "You tend to be critical of yourself", "Security is one of your major goals in life" and "At times you have serious doubts as to whether you have made the right decision". Participants gave the sketches a score of 4.3 out of 5 for accuracy.

Astrologers practice a sneaky trick called ‘cold reading' to create the impression that they know more about you than you know yourself by making certain types of generalised statements that could apply to anyone. Jenna the astrology bot knew that after two years of a pandemic and lockdowns, anyone would agree with a prediction that they had passed through a "difficult, stressful time".

I have never paid Jenna a penny but I never delete her letters. They are warm, full of hope and the promise of plenty, and they assure me that my future is fantastic. Why would I not want more of that kind of talk?

Once I even tried to reply to her, saying I felt the same deep connection to her but she broke my heart with her silence. I wrote to her that I expected more from someone who wrote such long and intimate letters, but still no reply. Seven more letters later, I gave up, unrequited.

Jenna and I were clearly not meant to be.

Here, viewed from there. C Y Gopinath, in Bangkok, throws unique light and shadows on Mumbai, the city that raised him. You can reach him at cygopi@gmail.com
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The views expressed in this column are the individual's and don't represent those of the paper.