A "psychic" or "spiritual healer" says your family faces death or harm — pay for protection rituals to stop it
A person posing as a psychic, fortune teller, or spiritual healer says you or loved ones face death or serious harm unless you fund ongoing "protection rituals". Payments escalate over months into hundreds of thousands of dollars. Toronto police have issued Canada-wide arrest warrants in cases exceeding $800,000.
Also known as: psychic scam Canada, fortune teller fraud Canada, spiritual healer extortion Canada, curse removal scam, witchcraft scam Canada
Already happened to you? Do this in the next few minutes
- 1 Call your bank or card's fraud line right now. Use the number on the back of your card — not any number from the message or caller. Ask them to stop or reverse the payment and freeze the account.
- 2 If you paid by gift card, wire, or an app (Zelle, Venmo, Cash App): contact that company immediately and report it as fraud. Acting fast sometimes recovers the money.
- 3 Report to the FBI at ic3.gov and the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov. The sooner, the better.
What to do right now
- 1 Stop paying immediately — each ritual payment confirms you will pay more; there is no curse and no protective ritual
- 2 Tell a trusted family member or friend now — secrecy is the scammer's main tool; breaking it breaks their hold
- 3 Gather all receipts, bank records, emails, and text messages — they document the fraud and are essential for police and your bank
- 4 Contact your bank immediately — if recent e-Transfers or withdrawals were made under a fraudulent pretext, a fraud complaint may support partial recovery
- 5 Report to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at https://antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca or call 1-888-495-8501.
Red flags
- ⚠ The 'psychic' found you through social media or an unsolicited approach, and quickly reveals 'a dark curse' or 'evil energy' threatening someone you love
- ⚠ Each ritual requires a new payment — purified gold, special candles, a 'protective offering' — and there is always one more step before the danger passes
- ⚠ You are told to keep the payments secret from family and friends, because they 'would not understand' or their negative energy would break the ritual
- ⚠ Payments escalate dramatically: what starts as $200 becomes $5,000, then $50,000, then everything you can borrow or liquidate
- ⚠ The practitioner claims extraordinary powers that will die or be revoked if you stop paying — you feel you have no way out
- ⚠ After months of payments the harm predicted has not materialised — but you are told it's because the rituals are still active