How much would you pay for a glimpse into your future?
From New York to Australia, people around the world are losing thousands to scammers who claim to be psychic. Still, not all clairvoyants are charlatans – and there are ways to tell the difference.
According to a recent AARP podcast episode, a woman in New York went into a Greenwich Village psychic on a rough day. This visit lead to another visit, which ultimately resulted in her getting a home equity loan and giving the psychic, Sylvia Mitchell, a $28,000 check.
Almost immediately, she realized that she “made a terrible mistake,” said AARP.
Another scammer from Canada was convicted last month in the U.S. for a decades-long fraud scheme that sucked $175 million from Americans victims.
“According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Patrice Runner, 57, a Canadian and French citizen, operated a mass-mailing fraud scheme from 1994 through November 2014. As part of the scheme, Runner sent letters to millions of U.S. consumers, many of whom were elderly and vulnerable. The letters falsely purported to be individualized, personal communications from so-called ‘psychics,’ including Maria Duval (leading this type of fraud scheme to be referred to as a ‘Maria Duval Scam’), and promised that the recipient had the opportunity to achieve great wealth and happiness with the psychic’s assistance, in exchange for payment of a fee,” according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
These cases cast a shadow over all psychics, but AARP noted that “if you understand what you’re getting for your money,” paying a psychic a reasonable fee is perfectly acceptable. There are around 94,000 psychic businesses in the U.S. alone, offering services such as palm and tarot readings.
Some credible psychics have even found themselves as the target of scammers.
Take the case of celebrity psychic Cael O’Donnell from Australia. The Australian Broadcasting Company reported that he “he has built an extraordinary audience on social media with claims he can channel spirits and forecast the future.”
Now, scammers are abusing the relationship O’Donnell has formed with his fans. They have used his identity to trick people out of money, from $70 to $1,000 per victim.
“I’ve counted 50 fake accounts across social media that are pretending to be me,” said O’Donnell. He said that some even pretend to be his talent manager and ask for fees to book him at events.
Psychic scams are on the rise in Australia, and there was an uptick in calls about psychic scams in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic stateside. Here are some suggestions provided by AARP for avoiding becoming a psychic scam victim:
· Be wary of psychics who guarantee outcomes, especially for a price
· Be wary of psychics who keep “finding new things wrong with you or your life,” they say can be solved with a fee
· Talk to someone you trust before getting services from a psychic
· Find out all costs before agreeing to the service
· Read social media reviews and online comments about the psychic service provider
· Get appointment details in writing
· Don’t share details about finances, give bank account access or credit card information
· Don’t “succumb to pressure to pay for services that weren’t agreed to upfront”
· Don’t comply if a psychic asks to keep interactions secret
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