BOGUS fortune tellers are cheating Hongkong residents and tourists out of hundreds of dollars in a skilful, apparently legal, confidence trick.
The men, claiming to be mystics from India, manage to convince strangers saying they can tell their dates of birth and other intimate details.
It is all an elaborate hoax relying on sleight of hand. But if a gullible person falls for the con, he or she is then asked for money before more interesting secrets can be revealed.
Many people are so astonished at what they imagine to be a genuine example of supernatural insight that they are more than happy to cough up the money.
In one case, an Indian approached a new arrival to Hongkong near the Star Ferry pier in Central.
He produced an identity card proclaiming him to be a genuine ''yogi'' who had trained for many years in India.
The man asked the target to write down his date of birth, his favourite flower, his middle name and his ambition on one of two scraps of paper provided. While he did so, the ''yogi'' kept an eye on what was being written.