Clairvoyants and psychics
The scam
A letter from a so-called psychic or clairvoyant promises to make predictions that will change the course of your life forever - but first you have to pay a fee. Sometimes these mailings are aggressive, saying something terrible will happen to you if you don't pay up. Or the scammer says they have seen wonderful things in your future, and requests money for a full report.
If you send money, you will get little or nothing back. And you are likely to be bombarded with further scams because your name will be added to a 'suckers list'.
This is one of the most common direct mail scams. Identical letters are sent to thousands of other people to con them.
Protect yourself
- Don't be intimidated into replying. Bin it!
- Stop junk mail by registering with the Mailing Preference Service. That way, you can spot scams like this more easily.
If you think you've been a victim of this scam, call Consumer Direct for advice on 08454 04 05 06.
Example scams
You can view a mock-up of a typical clairvoyant scam mailing from the link at the end of this page. When you hover your mouse over the text, pop-up boxes reveal the techniques that the scammers use to con you. If you click the warning sign at the top of the page, you can see where all of the pop-up boxes are located.
To view the example in the link below you will need to have Flash player installed on your computer. If you do not have Flash, you can download the software free from the Adobe Website.
Alternatively, view a text-only version of the clairvoyant scam mailing.
Clairvoyant scam mailing (385 k flash file opens in new window)