As more and more US business people try to sell their souls to the Devil in exchange for promotions – it’s up by 43,000 percent since 2004 – criminal types are trying to cash in on the situation.
In 2022, authorities estimate, there were over 175,000 cases of people posing as the Devil, conning would-be soul sellers out of cash, gift cards, even baked goods.
“I was approached by a guy who seemed legit,” says Glenda Higginson, a Wilmington, Delaware bank manager trying to make it to vice president. “The red suit, the horns, the works.” But in addition to her soul, she says, the man also demanded $240 in drug store gift cards – which she readily provided.
“A year later I’m out the money, I still have my soul, and a guy named Pierson got the VP job,” she says.
“People desperate to get ahead can be very gullible people,” says Steven Rimson of the Proctor Institute, who has studied corporate soul selling since the 1980s. “A guy says he’s the Devil and guarantees the job, people want to believe it even when he asks them to pay for an oil change and lube job.
Rimson says that people transacting with someone claiming to be the Devil should always ask for identification – and also keep in mind that the actual Devil is only interested in souls.
“The Devil maintains a large number of offshore bank accounts,” he says. “He really doesn’t need any airline miles or chocolate cakes.”
