Psychic and Fortune-Telling Scams: How They Work and How to Protect Against Them

Psychic and fortune-telling scams do not rely on magic so much as manipulation, using fear, grief, loneliness, and false hope to pressure victims into paying again and again. What may begin as a harmless reading can quickly turn into a high-pressure fraud scheme built on fake curses, invented dangers, and demands for money or personal information.

Key Takeaways

• Psychic and fortune-telling scams often target people who are grieving, lonely, or financially stressed, with fraudsters claiming supernatural insight or special powers to gain trust.
• Common scam hooks include fake curse removals, promises to restore health, offers to bring back lost love, or claims that a payment is needed to unlock wealth or protection.
• These scams frequently escalate through fear tactics, cold reading, repeated payment demands, and requests for sensitive personal or financial information that can also fuel identity theft.
• The safest response is skepticism: avoid “free” readings that turn into pressure sales, refuse to share personal data, verify reviews, and report suspicious psychics or fortune-telling services to authorities.

In psychic and fortune-telling scams, individuals claim to have special powers to predict the future, communicate with a deceased loved one, or provide insights into a person's life. These scams prey on vulnerable people, particularly those who are grieving, lonely or struggling financially. The scammers solicit business through mail, social media platforms, storefronts, and even street encounters.

While there are common and legitimate services such as palm reading, tarot reading, or astrological advice offering entertainment opportunities or general guidance, there are many con artists and fraudsters who exploit the industry.

Did you know?

Psychic services are a significant industry in the United States, with nearly 94,000 businesses offering palm and tarot readings, astrological advice, and similar services. Pew Research Center found that four in 10 adults in the US believe in psychics, fueling an industry with annual revenues exceeding $2 billion.

Financial losses to psychic scams are also troubling. According to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) Scamwatch platform, 207 Aussies lost over $500,000 to psychic and clairvoyant scams in 2022.

Tactics used by psychic, clairvoyant or fortune-telling scammers

Scams in this category usually involve scammers promising you:

- Curse removals. The scammers say they sense the presence of a curse that can only be removed for a hefty sum.

- Restore your health in exchange for multiple payments

- Riches or rekindling of lost love for a fee

Fraudsters in this line of business trick victims into handing over money and personal and financial information. This involves:

• High-pressure tactics to make people pay for services they don’t need. The scammers usually threaten or use intimidating language to coerce victims
• Preying on people’s fears and insecurities, making them believe they are in danger or that something very bad will happen to them unless they pay for a protection spell or purchase protection charms and talismans.
• Conducting cold readings to make victims believe they have special insights into the victim’s background and life. This typically involves the con artists making generalized statements about the victim – combining highly likely guesses and broad statements to create the illusion of supernatural powers or connection to the spirit realm.
• Requesting personally identifiable information that may include full names, date of birth and even IDs and credit card information to conduct identity theft and other crimes.

Here are some real-life examples from scam victims shared with the BBB’s Scam Tracker:

“Romance, psychic services scam. Tactics they used were harrasment, blackmail, cyberbullying and using your own information you gave they against to slander your name and reputation,” one victim said.

Another report reads, “I went to a business where two women pretended to be a psychics and fortune tellers. The whole time they were asking me specific information like full name, favorite numbers, phone, trying to illicit more and more personal information. They tried to convince me I had a family curse and I was surrounded by a dark aura, also I needed to pay them for a money cleansing ritual. It would be a few sessions of 150 each starting that day. They were very forceful and wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

Even people looking for love get caught.

“This person claims to be a ‘psychic artist’ who will draw your soulmate for you for $30,” one victim said. “However, the pictures she sends you are clearly AI generated, not hand drawn, and not personalized. This definitely feels like a scam operation although there is a refund option which I used so I was able to get my money back, but I still wanted to report this because it feels predatory.”

Three warning signs of a psychic or fortune-telling scam

• Guaranteed Outcomes. The individual promises you immediate financial gains, improved health, new romantic relationships
• Continuous Issues. The individuals constantly find new problems or issues that require you to spend more money to fix
• Fear Tactics. The individuals says that bad things will happen if you don’t pay.
• Requests for personal and financial info. The individual asks for copies of your ID, credit card numbers and other sensitive information

Protecting Yourself from Psychic and Fortune-Telling Scams

1. Be highly skeptical of anything that sounds too good to be true. Avoid online platforms, social media profiles and other service providers that promise to solve your problems in a clairvoyance session or reading.
2. Talk to someone you know and trust. Before engaging with psychics and related services, seek a second opinion from a friend or family member.
3. Be very cautious about free readings. Many scammers offer free readings online or in-person to lure unsuspecting victims and then pressure them into handing over personal information or paying for additional services.
4. Don’t hand out personal or financial information online or at a storefront
5. Clarify costs before you commit to any proposed readings and resist and high-pressure tactics that pressure you to pay unagreed services
6. Look for social media reviews and online comments about the psychic or service
7. Always report psychic scams and scammers to local authorities

8. Use Bitdefender Scamio, our free scam detector and prevention service for anyone with a Bitdefender account.

If you’re suspicious about a certain phone call, email, SMS or post, simply describe the situation to our AI-powered chatbot and let it guide you to safety. Scamio is available on WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger or a web browser for free! For localized versions, check Scamio in France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Romania, Australia and the UK.

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

How to tell if a psychic is scamming you?

The clearest red flags are pressure, fear, and escalating payments. If a psychic says you are cursed, in danger, blocked from love or money, or need to pay quickly for a cleansing, protection ritual, or special service, treat that as a major warning sign. Consumer-fraud guidance consistently flags urgency, emotional manipulation, and repeated demands for money as classic scam behavior.

Are online psychic readings a scam?

Not automatically, but they are a space where scams do happen. The safer framing is that an online psychic reading can become a scam when it relies on deceptive promises, fake emergencies, or pressure to keep paying for more “help.” In other words, the problem is not the online format by itself, but the use of manipulative sales tactics and false claims to extract money or personal information.

Do psychics know they are frauds?

There is no single answer. Some may sincerely believe in what they do, while others may knowingly use cold reading, fear tactics, and invented crises to make money. From a consumer-safety perspective, intent matters less than conduct: if someone is pressuring you, inventing threats, or demanding more money to “fix” your life, the practical risk is the same whether they believe their own story or not.

Why aren’t psychics charged with fraud?

They sometimes are, but these cases can be harder to prosecute than people expect. One challenge is proving deliberate deception rather than protected belief, spirituality, entertainment, or opinion. Jurisdictions also vary: some places have fortune-telling laws or consumer-fraud statutes, while others rely on broader theft or deception charges. Recent reporting on New York cases shows prosecutors do bring charges in some psychic-scam cases, but proving them can be difficult, especially when defendants claim sincere belief or First Amendment protection.