It started with a simple mind game. Think of a wild animal, they say, and we'll write down what's in your mind. but it escalates quickly to very personal information about a former girlfriend, and finally, says Patel, mind control. Even investigators are persuaded.

Sounds to me like old-fashioned "divert his attention" rather than hypnosis: keep the attention of the victim occupied while an accomplice does the job with the cash register.

The great Derren Brown shows us how to do it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=II_-QcW4Q4I

I have actually heard of this in America before, I think. I have a vague memory of this happening around the end of the 19th century, some stage magician used it (to demonstrate his powers of course, not for nefarious ends), but he didn't do it onstage, he went into shops and did it, and even did it to the police once. Unfortuntely I can't remember more than that.

The news stories about the incident don't provide too many details. At first I thought the robbers got the clerk to actually hand over $1000 to them, but the myfoxkc version of the incident made it sound like the clerk was simply standing by as the robbers took the money.

If they really claim to use hypnosis, this is complete bullshit. Hypnosis doesn't work that way.

Ozymandias, I agree with you. Granted I haven't studied hypnosis for over thirty years (I keep meaning to get back to it but I get sidetracked), but what I rmember is that hypnosis is a form of concentration. And it can't be done quickly except by a couple of well-known tricks. Of course, the number of quick tricks could be larger now than the early 70's but I still doubt cutting paper is one of them.

Obviously, then, the trick is:

Don't cut up the piece of paper.

I'd like to see them try this at a liquor store in my neighborhood.

(Shoot this paper eleven times!)

Nah this stuff really happened, go to a specific website (search on google, im lazy)

and you can watch the security tape.

I've studied hypnosis, this is definetly possible.

This supposedly happened here in Greece just this week. TV reported that a Gypsy woman entered asking to break a large note, and footage showed her leaning over and just taking money from the till. The victim claimed he was hypnotised.
More likely just astounded.

Really, this just makes hypnosis look bad. it is an obvious scam.

The media in countries around the world has sporadically reported shocking news of robberies committed using hypnosis on bank cashiers, salespeople, or passers-by. The first reported episode in Italy dates to the 1950s. Although the phenomenon has been reported in the papers more frequently in recent years, no objective analysis of it has been published in the scientific literature. This paper by Clerici CA, Veneroni L, De'Micheli A, Merzagora Betsos I, analyzes 106 episodes recorded in Italy between 1988 and 2007, identified by a systematic review of the online and printed archives of Italian national and local dailies and of the database of the country's principal press agency. When they are analyzed from a psychological and criminological standpoint, there is no evidence to support any real use of hypnotic methods in the episodes described.