Evidence that Egyptian Curses Really Work?

It's long been established that the hysteria that sprang up around the opening of the tomb of Tutankhamon and the ancient curse that supposedly claimed countless lives has been massively exaggerated. Still, there's something mysterious about these ancient spells that appeals to the modern mind. A German man recently returned a carving to the Egyptian embassy, claiming that it had unleashed a curse upon his stepfather.

Paging Mr. Indiana Jones

From the article:

The stepfather had stolen the piece while on a visit to Egypt in 2004 and on his return to Germany suffered paralysis, nausea, unexplained fevers and cancer before dying recently, the anonymous man said in the note.

That's some curse. I would love to see the carving itself to determine if a spell was actually put upon it and if so how it works. Of course, a more likely scenario is that the stepfather already had undiagnosed cancer when he stole the carving and the symtoms of the "curse" merely followed the progression of the disease - but the coincidence does make one wonder.