Simple stage magic was used by psychics to deceive professional scientists under experimental conditions at Stanford for years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P

Simple stage magic was used by psychics to deceive professional scientists under experimental conditions at Stanford for years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parapsychology_research_at_SRI https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parapsychology_research_at_SRI It is unreasonable to assume that someone who is not an expert in stage magic can detect/defeat basic deception techniques. I don't know about this particular case but I see no reason to rule out deception, anyone can be fooled especially if they are specifically targeted.