How to Spot a Psychic Scammer

by Anysia - Sacred Circle founder / owner

 

Since opening Sacred Circle, we’ve had a number of customers come in and confess that they’d been the victims of fraudulent psychics, or “psychic scammers” as I call them. These customers felt embarrassed that they’d been taken in and were sometimes quite fearful of reprisals by the scammer. Typically they had been told there was a curse on them that the so-called psychic could lift for a fee, usually amounting to hundreds or even thousands of dollars, depending on how many times the victim was coerced into returning.


Make no mistake, these con artists are very good at what they do. They are expert at reading people and have energetically powerful personalities, allowing them to dominate and manipulate others into acting against their own best interests. They may even be psychically gifted but are misusing the gift for criminal gain. They prey on people who are in a vulnerable or confused place in their lives (just as cults do), as well as those who are naturally trusting and unguarded or don’t know where else to turn. Ultimately, they not only harm their victims but also give a bad name to  genuine, honest practitioners of the psychic and metaphysical arts.


So how do you recognize a psychic scammer and distinguish them from the real thing? Of course, your first line of defense is your own intuition or “gut feeling”. If something doesn’t feel right to you, trust that. Here are a few warning signs to watch for as well:


•    Location  Scammers often operate out of apartments or houses with signs in the window or in front of the house. (Honest practitioners who work out of their homes generally do not have signs on their property.) They also sometimes do readings on the street in heavily trafficked urban areas.


•    Hidden Fees  The initial price for a reading may be as low as $5 or $10 or $25 and the reading may seem accurate. When they feel they have your confidence they’ll tell you that you have a curse on you or some such dire announcement. They will offer to remedy the situation by praying or performing a ritual for you – for a hefty fee in the hundreds or thousands of dollars! Or they may try to sell you something such as a candle for an exorbitant sum.


•    Scare Tactics  They will often play on fear to convince you that you need to come back over and over again for some reason, and of course pay more and more money. Their success depends on disempowering you.


•    Low Profile  Scammers do not come recommended by people you know; they rely on the unwary to fall into their trap. Most people who have been conned by them are too embarrassed to talk about it. Nor do they tend to advertise in reputable publications that specialize in mind/body/spirit topics (Pathways, for example). They prefer to fly under the radar so as not to attract unwanted legal attention.