14 DAY TRIAL // A New York woman was scammed out of more than $200,000 (€144,150) by a fortune teller who convinced her she was suffering from a curse that needed to be lifted.
The victim is 22-year-old Jiawei Li, who lives in a luxurious Hell’s Kitchen apartment building. She first got in touch with Amanda Ufie, the Manhattan fortune teller, in January 2012. Over the course of nearly a year, the young woman paid $217,040 (€156,470) to have the curse lifted.
Eventually, the victim wised up and reported Ufie to the police.
According to a Manhattan criminal court complaint, Li gave Ufie “property, cash, gift cards and other means” because she “claimed to have the power to cleanse this individual of a curse and solicited the money to cleanse said curse.”
The 26-year-old fraudster has been arrested on Tuesday and charged with grand larceny and scheming to defraud, as reported by the New York Post.
The investigation conducted by the detectives revealed that there was a second person who was ripped off by Ufie. In January, she allegedly stole $1,400 (€1,000) from a second victim, this time claiming “to have the power to remove negative energy from the second individual’s body,” according to the same complaint.
This is a typical case of fortune teller fraud, because just like in many other cases, the fortune teller gained Li's complete trust and then, through carefully managed manipulation, convinced the victim to give her valuable items and money.
Usually, the victims of this type of fraud are people who have various personal problems and feel desperate. They are convinced that their “problem” is the result of a curse that has been placed on them or their family. The fraudster convinces the victim that he or she alone is able to remove that curse through spiritual or physic powers. This is exactly what happened in Jiawei Li's case.
It appears that these cases are quite common in New York City. A few years ago, fortune teller Tammy Mitchell allegedly stole $487,000 (€350,900) from a successful entrepreneur.
Another reader called Crystal Marks has been accused of scamming over $100,000 (€72,000) in watches and cash from a civil attorney, while other members of his family have also been indicted for similar crimes.
In order to avoid falling victim to fortune tellers, the wise thing to do is never seek help from people who offer fortune telling and claim to have supernatural powers.