Lesley Stahl's Notebook
After a hectic Election Night last Tuesday, I'm off on an overseas assignment. In the meantime, here are some intriguing details about tonight's (Friday Nov. 8) 48 Hours Investigates (8 PM ET/PT) which we're calling "Scammed!"
Did you know that one in three American familites is victimed by fraud each year? We'll be exposing a series of consuer rip-offs including one investigated by correspondent Harold Dow.
Here's a note from his producer, Marcie Spencer:
The story about self-proclaimed psychic Linda Marks is one I'll never forget. Correspondent Harold Dow and I found Ms. Marks to be a very smooth operator. She was gracious and eager to tell her story... and even allowed us to spend many hours in her home, but there was always something suspicious about her behavior. When we arrived for our initial meeting with Linda Marks, our camera suddenly stopped working. We discovered a test pattern in the lens we had never seen before, which of course, made us think maybe her "psychic powers" caused our camera to break. We knew she really didn't have any "psychic power," but it was certainly a strange phenomenon.
The interviews with her former customers/victims, Lynn Boys and Delores Hoffert, widow of the late Leroy Hoffert, were heart wrenching as you'll see. Ms. Hoffert is so angry that she wanted to make sure everyone knew how Ms. Marks scammed Leroy out of more than $300,000. Delores is one spunky, gutsy 71-year old. I will never forget her. Unfortunately, her late husband Leroy's encounters with Linda Marks have destroyed her dream of retiring without any financial worry. Leroy Hoffert and Lynn Boys were smart, educated people who were desperate and vulnerable and unfortunately got sucked in by a con woman's game. After watching "Scammed," we hope you'll understand what happened to Leroy and Delores could happen to anyone.
48 Hours Investigates, tonight at 8 p.m. ET/PT and of course, 60 Minutes on Sunday at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
And as always, share your thoughts and ideas with me via email to:
I may not be able to reply directly to each of you, but I do get to read what you have to say.
Thanks for watching.
Lesley Stahl