{{Short description|Amulet Supreme, pseudonym of Carolina Maria Gambia}} {{About||the scam that bears her name|Maria Duval scam}}{{Other uses|María Duval (disambiguation){{!}}María Duval}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Maria Duval | image = File:Psychic-Maria-Duval.jpg | alt = | caption = Duval at her Moscow press conference in 2008 | birth_name = Maria Carolina Gamba | birth_date = 15 July 1937 <ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://avis-deces.linternaute.com/nom/famille-gamba|title=GAMBA : tous les avis de décès|website=avis-deces.linternaute.com}}</ref> | birth_place = Milan, Italy | death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|2021|10|15|1937|7|15}}<ref name="auto"/> | death_place = Callas <ref name="auto"/> | other_names = Carolina Maria Gambia <ref name="auto"/> | occupation = Psychic, businesswoman | years_active = | known_for = Being the face of the Maria Duval scam | notable_works = }}

'''Maria Duval''' (born as Maria Carolina Gamba)<ref name="knocking">{{cite news |last1=Hicken |first1=Melanie |last2=Ellis |first2=Blake |last3=Jones |first3=Julia |date=30 March 2016 |title=Chapter Five: Knocking on the psychic's door |url=https://money.cnn.com/2016/03/30/news/psychic-maria-duval-chapter-five/index.html?iid=ob_lockedrail_bottomlarge&iid=obnetwork |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160404121934/http://money.cnn.com/2016/03/30/news/psychic-maria-duval-chapter-five/index.html?iid=ob_lockedrail_bottomlarge&iid=obnetwork |url-status=dead |archive-date=4 April 2016 |work=CNNMoney |location= |access-date=15 October 2023}}.</ref> was the woman at the origin of the Maria Duval psychic scam. Claiming to have psychic powers, she gained some fame before her name became associated with a vast and sophisticated mail scam.

==Independent psychic== Gamba was born in Milan, Italy. First living in Callas, Var, then traveling extensively, "Maria Duval" was able to build a growing reputation as a psychic throughout the 1970s and 1980s, doing consultations and horoscope newspaper columns. She did media interviews and appeared on the cover of ''Vogue Paris''. Old newspaper clippings she keeps in her home indicate she brushed shoulders with celebrities, although her claim to have psychically found Brigitte Bardot's lost dog was debunked by Bardot herself.<ref name=cnn2018>{{Cite news|url=https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2018/07/investigates/maria-duval-psychic-scam-invs/index.html|title=After two years investigating one of the longest-running frauds in history, we finally met its central figure: Maria Duval. What would she have to say?|last1=Ellis|first1=Blake|date=26 July 2018|work=CNN|access-date=13 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180813194756/https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2018/07/investigates/maria-duval-psychic-scam-invs/index.html|archive-date=13 August 2018|last2=Hicken|first2=Melanie}}</ref>

Gamba had a son, named Antoine Palfroy,<ref name=cnn2018/> according to whom "Maria Duval" was not an alias, but rather the name she took on her second marriage.<ref name="knocking"/> According to CNN, he believes "that there is no question his mother was a real psychic, and that she started out intent on helping others".<ref name="knocking"/>

Her son mentioned she once owned an industrial cleaning business which specialized in saunas and pools, as well as "several" clothing stores, the latter of which were where she started giving astrological consultations to friends.<ref name="knocking"/>

==Face of giant mail scam operation== {{Main|Maria Duval scam}}

In the mid-1990s, Gamba sold the rights to the name Maria Duval to a group of scammers, who used the name to sell astrology charts. The scam quickly changed form, as sick and elderly people started receiving letters promising the psychic help of "Maria Duval" for $40 per mail consultation. The scam would quickly take gigantic proportions and generate some $200 million in revenues for the fraudsters running it. It appears only a very small portion of that money made its way to Gamba.<ref name=cnn2018/><ref name=cnn1>{{Cite news|url=https://money.cnn.com/2016/02/24/news/psychic-maria-duval-chapter-one/index.html|title=Chapter One: Who is behind one of the biggest scams in history?|last1=Ellis|first1=Blake|date=24 February 2016|work=CNN|access-date=13 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180813193257/https://money.cnn.com/2016/02/24/news/psychic-maria-duval-chapter-one/index.html|archive-date=13 August 2018|last2=Hicken|first2=Melanie}}</ref>

In 2016, the U.S. Department of Justice shut down the North American arm of the "Psychic" Mail Fraud scheme.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-permanently-shuts-down-international-psychic-mail-fraud-scheme|title=Justice Department Permanently Shuts Down International "Psychic" Mail Fraud Scheme|date=9 May 2016|access-date=29 July 2018|language=en}}</ref>

Gamba made several public appearances over the years, including a news conference in Moscow in 2008. She left Callas in the late 1990s, although retaining ownership of the property. She moved back in 2008.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://draguignan.maville.com/actu/actudet_--Draguignan-Maria-Duval-le-retour-que-personne-n-avait-predit-_-785054_actu.Htm|title=Draguignan – Maria Duval : le retour que personne n'avait prédit|date=28 December 2008|website=draguignan.maville.com|language=French|access-date=14 August 2018}}</ref> She was still residing there in 2018 when French police searched her home and when an investigating team from CNN visited her.<ref name=cnn2018/>

According to her son, Gamba suffered a stroke in 2010 and was diagnosed with dementia in 2013.<ref name=cnn2018/>

==References== {{Reflist}}

<!--Unused source: <ref>Australian Broadcasting Corporation, [http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/europe/stories/s98424.htm Paul Van Buitenen]</ref>--> <!--Unused source: <ref>[http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/11/19/247438_did-these-mail-order-psychics.html?sp=/99/200/365/&rh=1 McClatchy DC] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129091715/http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/11/19/247438_did-these-mail-order-psychics.html?sp=%2F99%2F200%2F365%2F&rh=1 |date=29 November 2014 }}</ref>--> <!--Unused source: <ref>Consumers' Institute of New Zealand, [http://www.consumer.org.nz/newsitem.asp?docid=2300&category=Scams&topic=Maria%20Duval%20ads%20pulled%20in%20NZNot Not clairvoyant enough?] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929133619/http://www.consumer.org.nz/newsitem.asp?docid=2300&category=Scams&topic=Maria%20Duval%20ads%20pulled%20in%20NZNot |date=29 September 2007 }}</ref>--> <!--Unused source: <ref name="duval1">Advertising Standards Authority, {{cite web|url=http://www.asa.org.uk/adj/adj_4185.htm |title=Astroforce Ltd t/a Maria Duval |accessdate=2 June 2017 |url-status=bot: unknown |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20000611060535/http://www.asa.org.uk/adj/adj_4185.htm |archivedate=11 June 2000 }}</ref> Complaints about its advertisements were upheld in the UK in March 2000.<ref name="claims"/>--> {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duval, Maria}} Category:1937 births Category:Confidence tricksters Category:People from Milan Category:People from Var (department) Category:2021 deaths