A pair of thieves hypnotized an unsuspecting Muscovite and then compelled her to pawn her BMW for cash in order to lift a curse that had been cast on her family, Russian state media reported on Sunday.
The pair, a man and a woman, simply walked up to the driver and compelled her to go into a pawn shop and make the transaction, Vesti FM reported. The incident occurred on Saturday night on the southwest thoroughfare Prospekt Vernadskogo.
In recent years, local media outlets have carried numerous accounts of theft by hypnosis.
In December 2012, RIA Novosti reported that Moscow police were on the hunt for two female hypnotists who had allegedly persuaded their entranced victim to hand over 1.2 million rubles. The victim told police that she complied with the thieves' demands while under their spell in order to persuade them to lift a curse they claimed to have cast on her husband and son.
Earlier that same month, Moscow police reportedly detained a woman suspected of having stolen 2.3 million rubles' worth of cash and jewelry after hypnotizing a 29-year-old woman with an elaborate trick involving an egg.
In September 2012, a woman was arrested in the Siberian city of Omsk for having allegedly hypnotized a local shopkeeper before stealing seven mink coats, valued collectively at upwards of 400,000 rubles. A police spokesperson told RIA Novosti at the time, "The culprit was looking intently into the eyes of the shop director when she offered to hand the seven coats over to her friend so she could try them on and buy them." The hypnotist then fled with the coats.
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