Never give your money to this woman.

Psychic Scams: How to Spot Them

So you’ve been thinking of getting a tarot reading, but you’re afraid that they’re all psychic scams, and you’ll end up throwing your money away and looking like a fool. As PT Barnum once said, “There’s a sucker born every minute,” and you don’t want to be one of them, right?

That’s understandable, because like any other kind of service, you’ll always have a few faux psychics that are less than scrupulous or try to con you into spending a whole lot more money, which is a shame because a good psychic reading can give you tremendous insight. True psychics and talented readers can really help you get unstuck when you find yourself torn between many directions, and you just can’t decide on a course of action. To separate the good from the bad, here are some clues that you’ve run into one of those psychic scams, so you don’t get suckered in. On my last visit to a psychic reader, she was pretty much a walking, talking textbook example of a fake psychic, and made a perfect example of what to watch for as warning signs. All she was missing was a gypsy headscarf and a big crystal ball.

Reading the Psychic Scams Signs (Literally)

One of the first signs that something’s off-kilter is if you visit a psychic and they try to charge you a higher price than what’s advertised, whether it be online, or on a sign outside their door. For instance, if one approaches a storefront psychic who has a sign outside advertising a reading for $15, but the price suddenly changes when they see you standing there in your professional attire after work. Like magic, that price is now “for students only.” This is one example of someone trying to read your personality (and pocketbook) based on your clothing and appearance. And then trying to take advantage of it.

Throwing the Psychic Spaghetti Against the Wall to See What Sticks

While it’s normal for a psychic to ask some questions to help clarify any messages coming through – as psychic abilities are not black and white with messages delivered on a silver platter to the reader – there’s a difference between asking questions periodically to clarify a point, and someone who’s just throwing out one vague question after another to try to gauge your reaction. Or, in more concise language, what we would call guessing.

For instance, my psychic reader told me I was destined for a career in real estate, then she talked about the people living with me making me miserable, and that someone would be wanting to move back in with me and I would take them under my wing. Translation: Because you’re a middle-aged woman, I’m presuming you have children, grandchildren, and you have or have had a husband at some point.

She presumed wrong — dead wrong. I’m a single woman living alone who has never been married or had children, and the real estate thing is never gonna happen. Nothing fit or made sense, but she just kept trying.

Who’s Reading Whom?

When a psychic starts probing about how deep your pockets are — or in the case of a live reading, how close you live — they may be sizing you up for a long term scam, like that poor guy who got taken for hundreds of thousands of dollars by a New York psychic.

Since my psychic scam artist at my most recent reading had already presumed I had money to spend by my professional attire, she started asking about my local ties to see how close I lived. And more importantly, if I lived close enough to start making a whole lot of visits. This is another big red flag for a psychic scam in the making, to try to bleed your wallet dry. Even if someone has genuine psychic abilities, if they are already thinking about future visits, they aren’t focused on the current reading.

The Psychic Scams Version of the Upsell

And here is where the false psychic reader goes in for the kill. They have a vision… they see something blocking you in your quest for happiness and only she holds the key to getting you what you desire: wealth, love, your dream job, world peace… You can have it all, if you simply let her perform a spell, or a blessing, – or whatever she calls it — to get rid of that negative energy around you.

Note, this is not the same as someone who advises on certain actions you can take yourself to dispel negative energy like burning a white candle or burning sage in your home to “cleanse” the space. Those are not the actions of a scam artist, and whether you believe in such things or not, those kinds of simple rituals can have a great psychological effect.

When it becomes a scam is when someone leads you to believe that you need to keep coming back for magic or spell work to get rid of a curse hanging over you, or you’ll never be happy. Or, they might offer a spell to make someone love you. This is how people get suckered into spending thousands of dollars in the vain hope of finding happiness. With every visit, there is just one more spell, one more visit, one more payment to break that curse. Sometimes they will also ask you to bring in “cursed” objects for them to dispose of properly, like say, your Rolex watch.

Another classic scam is promising to heal you physically. This is the lowest kind of con game, exploiting someone who is ill and desperate for any hope of being cured, or even improving their symptoms.

We chuckle when we read stories of some poor schmuck being foolish enough to hand over $700,000 to psychics casting love spells, but it’s no laughing matter. Even on a smaller scale, taking part in psychic scams that take advantage of people’s suffering to empty their bank accounts is not how ethical psychics work. Psychic readers always love to have repeat customers and clients who come back for more readings, but a true psychic won’t engage in one of these spell scams to try to hook you in, or make unrealistic promises or guarantees. When they do, it’s the surest sign to run for the door — or hang up the phone — and move on to the next psychic.

Don’t let the psychic scams scare you away from trying a psychic reading. Just like dating, sometimes you have to kiss a few frogs to find your psychic prince or princess.

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