34 Facts About Bob Nygaard

Bob Nygaard is an American private investigator specializing in the investigation of confidence crimes, most notably psychic fraud.

Bob Nygaard has been instrumental in the arrest and conviction of numerous psychics, helping their victims obtain justice including financial restitution amounting to millions of dollars.

In 2018, Bob Nygaard appeared as himself in episode "The Psychic Didn't See Him Coming" of the CBS true-crime show Pink Collar Crimes, which portrays his investigations of the crimes committed by self-proclaimed psychic and convicted fraudster Gina Marks.

In 2021, Bob Nygaard was featured in "The Psychic Con" episode of the ABC TV series The Con.

Bob Nygaard is sympathetic to psychic fraud victims whom, he says, law enforcement authorities often fail to take seriously.

Bob Nygaard is an outspoken critic of the inconsistent prosecution of this type of crime across the United States, and advocates for prison terms for convicted psychics, rather than merely forced restitution to their victims.

Bob Nygaard was born in Queens, New York, and raised in the Long Island suburb of New Hyde Park.

In 1985, after graduating from the New York City Police Academy, Bob Nygaard joined the New York City Police Department as a transit officer working in Harlem.

In 1987, Bob Nygaard moved from transit to street patrol in New York's Nassau County, and in 1991 he was assigned to investigate home-improvement scams targeting the elderly.

Bob Nygaard arrested five men who were wanted for various confidence schemes, and this led to an interest in fraud cases.

Bob Nygaard became knowledgeable in the intricacies of sweetheart swindles, insurance fraud, and psychic fraud while "bouncing between investigative squads and federal assignments with the DEA and FBI".

In 2007, Bob Nygaard joined the National Association of Bunco Investigators, a trade organization for members of law enforcement and other related fields who specialize in the identification, apprehension, and prosecution of non-traditional organized crime suspects.

At a happy hour, Bob Nygaard met two women in the medical profession and regaled them with stories about how he had outsmarted con artists and helped their victims.

Bob Nygaard was embarrassed, but revealed she had been scammed by a local psychic named Gina Marie Marks, a well-known Florida fortune-teller with a recently published pseudonymous memoir Miami Psychic: Confessions of a Confidante.

Bob Nygaard took the case and investigated Marks, ultimately uncovering five other victims of Marks who had been defrauded of a total of $65,000.

Bob Nygaard was later hired as a consultant for segments on scammers.

Bob Nygaard said that as a result, "My phone started lighting up, and it hasn't stopped since".

Each woman became emotionally dependent on their psychic and were defrauded out of tens of thousands of dollars, but then sought the help of Bob Nygaard to obtain justice.

Bob Nygaard says he is familiar with a Florida case in which a woman claimed to have been defrauded of $17 million by fortune-tellers, and he personally has worked a case where his client was defrauded of $900,000.

Bob Nygaard has been involved with a number of notable cases, including the following:.

In 2015, on behalf of his client from Brooklyn, Bob Nygaard led police to Priscilla Kelly Delmaro, who had defrauded his client of over $700,000.

Bob Nygaard called the outcome a "travesty" that will encourage what he says is a booming nationwide trade in psychic scams.

Bob Nygaard tracked her to Miami International Airport, and contacted the police, who took her into custody just before she boarded a flight to Barcelona.

Bob Nygaard said, "I saw her come in with her husband and then I followed her through the TSA line, went in followed them to the gate just about 15 to 20 minutes prior to her boarding the plane and heading to Europe".

For Bob Nygaard, this was a repeat run-in with Marks; he was instrumental in two previous convictions in Broward County when Marks was sentenced to 18 months in prison in 2010, and forced to repay more than half a million dollars to her victims.

Bob Nygaard was arrested after Nygaard tracked down the psychic on behalf of a young actress who alleged that the psychic had fraudulently taken $32,000.

Bob Nygaard located Marks, leading to her arrest in Mount Vernon on charges of first-degree theft by deception; she was initially held on a $75,000 bail bond.

Bob Nygaard had worked at low-income locations until 17 years old, when she encountered Nygaard's client, who was then 27-year-old, at the Galleria in Houston, Texas in 2007.

Bob Nygaard says that when people report to law enforcement that they are victims of psychic fraud, they are often told that it is a civil matter, and are turned away.

Bob Nygaard says that while the NYPD and the Manhattan prosecutor's office are generally supportive, the situation in South and Central Florida is very different.

Bob Nygaard says that these con-artists are experts at psychological manipulation and that nationwide, this fraud amounts to "billions of dollars".

Bob Nygaard says that "no other victims are more maligned than victims of psychic fraud", and that victims are often so embarrassed at being swindled that they do not report the crime, despite being broken emotionally and facing financial disaster.

Bob Nygaard says it doesn't matter if the victim is a college professor, a lawyer or a doctor.

Bob Nygaard spoke at the same convention in 2019, doing a one-hour solo presentation titled "Combating Psychic Fraud".