Carla Stagno was slapped with a nine-year stretch for running an unauthorised medical scam, criminal conspiracy, and causing death by peddling pseudoscience between 2019 and 2021.

The Turin Postal Police, under the eye of the local public prosecutor, uncovered a bizarre group calling itself "Unisono" that operated mainly on Facebook, Telegram and WhatsApp. The cult claimed to use an AI chatbot named "Marie" to  harness the powers of quantum physics to cure serious illnesses by rewriting human DNA.

Rather than wearing robes or waving crystals, Stagno packaged her snake oil in AI branding, fooling victims with a fake machine intelligence supposedly analysing their vitals in real time.

This "Marie" was nothing more than a scam cooked up by Stagno, who duped victims into believing their vital stats were being monitored by a digital oracle. Each day, they'd message her their blood pressure and heart rate, then get back completely random advice, including dodgy prescriptions, made-up dosages and suggestions to halt actual treatment.

Victims became so convinced by the AI nonsense that they ditched real doctors. One woman, tragically, stopped chemotherapy and refused surgery on Marie's advice. She died.

The cult’s inner circle included a treasurer, an IT guy and a physiotherapist, all of whom helped fleece victims and push this techno-mystical gibberish. The physiotherapist and a few others had already scored suspended sentences.

Over the years, the gang pulled in nearly €116,000, although the real haul is probably far more given how much was paid in cash and is now untraceable.