How to Deal with a Social Media Psychic Scam Artist
5 steps to Identify and Report a fake psychic account
Picture this:
You are scrolling through reels on Instagram and your FYP on Tik Tok. Maybe you’ve been feeling a little lost and you would like some sign from the universe on what your next step is in life. Maybe you just need a little affirmation that you’re on the right track. Maybe you want a lens into your ex and whether or not they are thinking about you. The algorithm does its work, and you are given clip after clip of divine messages that are just for you. Then you see them, that spiritually inclined creator whose energy just fills you with warmth and light. Their way of doing things awakens something inside you and you feel connected to them. You take a look at their page, watch more of their content, you like, follow, and subscribe. You know you can learn so much from them.
Days, hours, maybe even seconds later, you see their icon pop up in your DMs.
“Hello my love! I was called to your energy and I want to perform reading for you!”
What are the odds? At last, the universe has answered your prayers!
DO NOT FALL FOR IT!!!!
I know it makes you feel seen and validated. I know you want to believe that you are special, powerful enough to catch their eye in their follower list and give you a prophecy that will finally point you in the right direction. I hate to burst your bubble, but this is a scam, and unfortunately, these fake accounts are getting awfully clever. Scam artists have been a huge problem recently for occult, spiritual and new-age communities online, preying on fans and rookie practitioners that interact with the content of clairvoyants, spiritual teachers and intuitive healers. Because these communities encourage keeping the faith, divine timing and manifestation, it is easy to slip through the cracks and target the hopeful and vulnerable.
Just a disclaimer, I am not saying that all psychic mediums on social media are scam artists, quite the contrary. I myself am a practising witch who experienced supernatural phenomena that I cannot explain. I do tarot for family and friends, and my culture’s tradition of tasseography with some fairly accurate results. I have met some amazing mediums and intuitive healers over the years who have helped me with my journey and craft. I’m a believer! But I know it’s not for everyone. As always, healthy, respectful scepticism is always invited in the spiritual community.
What this article is referring to are the scam artists copying and impersonating these gifted people, targeting confused or downtrodden lost souls who need guidance, validation, or just someone to talk to. While it can be a huge comfort to have someone affirm your choices in life, it gets addictive and can turn into spiritual bypassing if you are not careful.
If you are unsure about mediumship or have been relying too heavily on occult arts rather than tried and true medical and psychiatric practises, I’ll say this bluntly, maybe consider therapy instead of clairvoyants. If you have to pay for help, it might as well be with proper coping tools that you can use every day with documented progress. Ambiguous symbols and interpretations of cards and tea leaves are not a substitute for real
Without further ado, here are some things to remember when a psychic approaches you in your inbox.
1. Online mediums DO NOT approach new clients.
Let’s get the most obvious one out of the way. Many mediums on these platforms will even include this fact in their bio or pinned reels confirming this. They do not and will not message you telling you that you are a lucky follower chosen at random for a reading. With the popularity of some psychics and the number of readings they have already been paid and scheduled to do — sometimes months in advance — it is HIGHLY unlikely that they will approach you for more immediate readings.
If a psychic slides into your DMs on a whim for free consults, it isn’t really fair to their other clients who have already paid for theirs. Approaching new clients with freebies is not a wise move, and every true working medium knows this! Mediumship is still a business, and when connecting with spirits and unseen, barely-studied phenomena, it can be a dangerous one at that. Psychic readings can take up a lot of their energy. Tuning into their gifts day in and day out (especially with stressful cases) can be draining and they need the time to cleanse, ground, revive and prepare for their next one. Some might even close their channels while they recuperate, cancel and refund preexisting ones or renegotiate their upcoming readings if their energy is running low. It is a taxing job and they are still human with multiple responsibilities.
2. Watch their language.
Do they address you with pet names like ‘sweetheart’ or ‘darling’ instead of your actual name? Is the very articulate and refined way they speak on their videos just not present in the way they text? Do their lengthy responses only take a millisecond to type? Have they misspelt anything? Do they repeat themselves often?
Always watch for repeated or quick responses, likely they are canned phrases these scammers copy and paste, which throws the ‘personalised’ aspect of your reading into question, doesn’t it?
4. Look up the psychic’s socials.
That’s right, double-check that profile that messaged you. Chances are the fake account will match the real one in so many ways. Same profile picture, same content below, maybe even the same bio information. But there are always very subtle differences you can look out for.
Verified: This is the most obvious sign. Maybe your favourite psychic has reached high enough popularity to earn a verification tick. Fake accounts will try to mimic this by adding a tick emoji, but the differences between the real tick and the emoji are very noticeable, so I don’t know why they bother…
Stories: Busy psychics will likely have a story available to watch what they are currently up to, is the orange circle around their icon real? I had one that carefully copied a fake Instagram story ring around their picture, that’s what tipped me off when checking for the real account from a university classmate I hadn’t spoken with in a while, asking for me to smuggle suitcases to an undisclosed location!
Username: Does it have some accoutrement like underscores, dashes, periods, extra letters or misspellings of their name? Does ‘rn’ replace ‘m’ anywhere? Would it make sense for an American clairvoyant to spell their name ‘@center_ofthesoul’ or ‘@centre_ofthesoul’? Double-check the username every time.
Account Bio: Chances are the fake account might have some outdated info. Misspelt words or odd spacing can also indicate a copypasta bio. A massive tell would be there is no link to the psychic’s website or Linktree where you can actually look into more of their details. A fake account will wait until you accept their offer before they send you a fake link straight to an unrelated Paypal or Cash App.
Followers: If your psychic is incredibly popular, they would have a much higher follower count (which would also include your name!) than the fake account.
Inbox: Go directly to the original account you followed and pretend to send a message. If a new conversation opens up, or a different, older one resurfaces. It is most definitely fake.
4. Do your research.
As I said earlier, scammers are getting really sneaky nowadays. If the above factors are eerily similar and you can’t tell the two accounts apart, you might try to justify it. Maybe they created a backup account because they got hacked or doxxed? Familiarise how they present themselves on camera and their speech patterns, and ask them for a Facetime reading or a voice clip to check if it’s really them. If they refuse to validate themselves until you pay, it’s definitely a scam. But of course, this can also be faked. One friend just yesterday reached out to me to ask if it was a good idea to take a chance on the scammer that messaged them, as they had actually offered to Facetime her. I immediately recognised it was a scam, and started writing this article!
If they offer these things to try and lure you into thinking it’s legit, get invasive. Go Sherlock Holmes on both accounts and get into every personal detail available to the public until you find something you can call them out on. Maybe the real one has a dog or a spouse, or they live in a unique place that adds to their unique aesthetic. The scammers want their prize more than they’ll want to do a deep dive of research to get you to believe them. Ask them about the city incorrectly or wish them well for the opposite gender of their partner, and if they don’t correct you, they aren’t real.
A couple of years back, I was approached by a scam artist pretending to be someone I had met in real life through a local witch circle she had attended. When I asked her how everything was back in England, she said it was great, which is interesting, because the real person was based in America!
5. Report the account.
Here’s the easy part where you become the hero you wanted to be.
Gather all the screenshots you can of the messages you received and send them to the real account. Letting the real person know about the fake account with your evidence will allow them to inform their followers that there are scammers on the loose. Once you have sent those through, file a report and block the fake account so that they can’t bother you again.
This doesn’t mean there won’t be others out there that will try the same thing and get you to hand over money for a fake reading, or any other information they fish for. Armed with these little tips, you can protect yourself and your friends from falling victim to a scam, even when it boosts your spirits to see someone recognise your power.
It is great to feel and be seen for the soul that you are. Rather than chase that high by indulging in an ego boost, remember that part of spirituality is awareness. And now you’re aware of how to handle these fakes.
Hope this has helped, and Blessed Be!
-M