New trends in frauds?

[snorks]

Are there any new trends in frauds these days?  Or do people still pretend to be Indian (North and South America)?  I would think that this field would be filled by now.

Have they moved on to other native peoples?  One question: are there African and Asian frauds as well?

I find it curious that people seem to focus on Indians and Australian peoples but not others.  

(BTW, Snorks is the name by which many people know me by.)

[educatedindian]

Seems like the frauds find new ways to "branch out" all the time, niches within niches. For example, I posted part of an article a few months ago that mentioned someone is now claiming to channel Castaneda (long ago proven to be a fraud) from beyond the grave.

The trend of exploiters preying on Latin American NDNs is newer, maybe 10-12 years old compared to 35-40 years of posing as North American NDNs. I'd say it's driven by the desire to avoid protests and seeing US NDNs as "not primitive enough". (AIM and others spoil the fantasy for wannabes.) Latin American NDNs have fewer resources to protect themselves, and sometimes bigger problems in places like Colombia like avoiding being killed by death squads.

We did post a long time ago on a fraud, Credo Mutwa, who worked with Roy Steevensz ("Littlesun") who passed himself off as a Zulu healer but actually imitated old Disney movies. And there was a white woman passing herself off as a Voodoo priestess, plus an Irish plumber who passed himself off as a Tibetan monk, and Marlo Morgan's "Mutant Message Down Under" hoax. But since this group was founded by NDNs and is focused on exploiters who target NDN traditions, that's what most of our research and discussion is on. I'd like to see more people who from these cultures, but it's not easy. We did have a Native Hawaiian member who we haven't heard from in awhile, plus a Siberian member, Sarangerel, who passed on.

[snorks]

Thanks for the detailed answer.  Appreciated your time and effort.

What I meant to say was "Why are NDN frauds so popular and not other ethnic groups".

However, I have been encountering 'Huna' teachers.  I have read the archives about fake Hawiians so I have been wary of the Huna people.  However, they seem to be branching into Reiki and other alternative medicines.  

Is there anything else about Huna?