Color me a whole lot more than skeptical . . . they may or may not be hypnotists but I would venture that the thieves are using more common confusion con games to get their marks to hand over money than anything else.  Distraction works (they do have women with them) as does threats or collusion (the clerks evidently hand the money over and then report that it’s been stolen).

Here are a couple reports . . . http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/08/27/foreigners-arrested-hypnosis-robbery.html and http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/the-strange-case-of-the-hypnotizing-bandits-pair-declare-their-innocence/393079 . . . the news writers are assuming that it must be hypnosis, I am more than doubtful as anyone who has seen The Real Hustle knows there are plenty of cons that could accomplish this without the need for genuine hypnosis.

The standing order for police to shoot suspected robbers on sight makes me even more doubtful that this sort of case would be properly investigated.

Anyone have a link to the video footage of this case online?  I mean the Indonesian cases, not the Italian misdirection that has been plastered everywhere as evidence of hypnosis (it’s not).

All the best,
Brian

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Brian David Phillips, PhD, CH [brian@briandavidphillips.com] Hypnotist, Hypnotherapist, Intuitionist, Trance Wizard
President, Society of Experiential Trance
Associate Professor, NCCU, Taipei, Taiwan