The psychic lie of Instagram
I received a phone call a few days ago from a distraught woman who fell prey to a psychic scammer. My blood boils every time I hear about fake psychics coming up with new ways to fool people. So here’s lesson number one: never let a psychic or medium single you out. You must choose to consult a medium or a psychic.
Claire (not her real name) told me that she received an intriguing message from a “psychic” through her Instagram account. The fake intuitive sent Claire an email saying that he had seen Claire’s photo on Instagram and felt such “strong vibes” that he had to contact her.
The fraud said that she felt that Claire was surrounded by negative energy, and if she wanted to get rid of this negativity, she needed to buy “special” crystals for $200. The crystals, the “psychic” said, would help her determine what was wrong with Claire’s image. Claire ordered the crystals.
(Lesson number two: never buy anything to prepare for a professional reading. An honest psychic/medium will charge you for a session, and that’s it!)
During the next phone call, the shameful shaman told Claire that after examining her photo, he discovered that someone had cursed her because they wanted Claire to be unhappy. However, if Claire bought “special” candles for $500, the psychic might start “trying” to remove the curse. Unfortunately, Claire was afraid to believe that she needed help. She did not have the money available and charged her purchase on her Visa.
(Lesson three: Never give out your credit card information over the phone! Reputable workers use services like PayPal or insist that customers make wire transfers through a bank.)
The scammer told Claire that it would take a year to remove the curse and that she needed to pay $250 a week to make sure the anti-curse would continue to work. When Claire said that she didn’t have the money, the impostor said that he would help Claire by setting up a convenient payment plan.
At that moment, Claire became wise. She asked a friend that she had visited psychic mediums in the past and gave Claire my phone number. Claire called crying and after hearing her story, I gritted my teeth so hard that she could have bitten through steel.
“I feel like I’m being ripped off,” Claire said. “But she talked to me on the phone for hours and treated me like a friend.”
Of course the scammer spoke nicely as a friend, I thought. This is how they get you to trust them.
Claire continued, “But I still haven’t given him any money to continue my cure.”
“Claire, you don’t need any cure,” I told her. “This person you are talking to is not a doctor and you are not sick! Nobody can curse you, a ‘curse’ is nothing more than believing that something outside of you is emotionally and spiritually stronger than you. supposed psychic is more powerful than you?”
After a moment’s hesitation, Claire said, “N-no…”
“Good girl.” So I advised Claire to change her credit card number immediately.
We chatted for a while longer and Claire seemed to feel better. After she hung up, she made me sad to realize that some people exist just to make others feel bad about themselves. I keep a little newspaper clipping next to my desk to remind me of this. It’s from the classifieds section, under “Astrologists/Psychics.” These are some of the announcements:
“Mr. W- solves all problems quickly. Work, Love, Health, Depression, Enemies, Sexual Problem, Bad Luck. 100% Black Magic Removal.”
“The spiritualist Mr. K- solves problems related to love, court, business, family, money, the enemy. He treats black magic 100%.”
Lesson four, and probably the most important thing to remember: A reputable psychic or medium never promises to cure your problems. That’s your job. Life can often be tough, and of course we are met with challenges. But we grow spiritually and emotionally when we learn to strengthen ourselves and are able to reject those who say they can cure our ills for the price of crystals and candles.
