Her close circle of friends could not be convinced by anyone that it is, indeed, a real pursuit to help others with spiritual matters—a difficult challenge for any person on this career path. Friends continually mocked or embarrassed her for being a lunatic, and no explanation into the true nature of this choice helped allay her friends’ fears. Many give up after a few attempts once convinced these subjects should be kept to themselves.

This “implicit” environment causes two extremes. On the one hand, we cite the ancient profession of fraud. Fakes or frauds may easily deceive naive people and earn a great deal of money from it. To exploit someone with this belief seems unethical regardless of the culture or belief. On the other hand, the second extreme holds an individual responsible to separate out the real from the fake, if they actually believe in the subject. This job proves the most difficult because frauds become very good at hiding their tracks and sometimes more persuasive than the real psychics. Unfortunately, real psychics fall prey to more fraud accusations than the fake ones because they do not always practice according to each request.

Should this be the case, and if we want to consult a psychic, how do we know the real ones from the imposters?

Below, I give you some tips to distinguish between real psychics and frauds. Don’t get me wrong now; I do not argue the 100 percent accuracy of these techniques. I made these observations and gathered the data from experts. At the least, I hope it helps you with your own evaluations.

1.    Never forget, a person with real psychic power has not had a smooth life. They were pushed away, considered outcasts, and their sanity always under question. This person even suspected their own sanity until they took somewhat control of her powers. They were even distrustful of family. For this reason, psychic people may behave abnormally. Many may appear hyperactive, paranoid or manic-depressive. Even the very quiet ones have a tendency for obsessive-compulsive behavior. Most frauds seem quite normal while talking to you because with their years of experience, they know how to talk and behave in a comforting way. You should suspect a little if a fairly normal and comforting person claims to be a psychic.

2.    When you consult a psychic, if they make very clear assumptions about the future and predictions mostly financial (the score of a game or the value of a certain stock), leave the place immediately. If they had that information, they would be wealthy and do not need to consult for you.

3.    A fraud only cares about the money, and for this reason would like to impress customers. If you encounter exceptionally good news (large earnings, promotions, inherit a house, etc.) or the opposite very depressive news (death, illness, car accident, etc.), you should suspect a little. Frauds will try to exploit you to the extreme by either making you very happy or very fearful. The most extreme point becomes witchcraft. They make demands like “to get rid of the disaster, you must do this.” Of course, “this” help comes with a price. Remember, a real psychic only has the power to see something, not change it!

4.    If a psychic encounters a skeptic, a fraud will try to validate themselves. Be very careful here; even a person without any psychic power can fool someone with their tricks and illusions. I will tell you my own two experiences.

a.    The psychic meets you at a house or some place well lit. To avoid skepticism, they need to show you their powers. They hand you a little piece of paper and pen requesting you to draw a symbol. After you draw, they take it and place it somewhere. After that they use the classic line “think about the black symbol you drew on white paper” and by entering your mind, draws your symbol on another paper. You don’t notice it because it is a very fast trick. The psychic puts your paper over the coffee cup. In this way they see the reflection of the drawing on the black surface of the coffee. Truly, they did not enter your mind.

b.    The sorcerer tells you that you have an evil eye (a curse) and guarantees to set you free from it. They take a coin and make a cross on it with a knife. First, they hold it and pray, then hand you the coin. After praying, they tell you to open your palm and drop in a tarnished coin. “Now the evil eye is on the coin” they tell you. This is also a very easy trick. They process another coin in a fire beforehand to tarnish it. While praying, they attract your attention to exchange the coins. This is done very quickly, so you don’t realize it.

5.    “Fishing” strategy. Nearly all frauds use this trick to gather information from the customer to dictate the future accordingly. The most common methods:

a.    They make loose-end comments and wait for the customer to fall. They say “I see black clouds all around you” and wait for your reaction. If naive, you will make a comment like “Yes, my mother fell and broke her leg.” The road for fraud now opens. They say, “There is a spell on your family members,” and then profits from your fear. If you are skeptical and give an answer like “There is nothing like that these days,” the psychic gives some cliché like “… but these clouds are no longer present…I think a blonde relative helped you with it…,” and tries to get you back on the hook again.

b.    Asking too many questions about their victim to gather information. For example, if the answer “Yes, I lost my aunt” to the question “Did you lose one of your relatives recently,” the psychic will use this information in later predictions. They may make a comment like “You nearly had an accident recently, but your aunt protected you from the other side.” If we consider that we encounter small accidents daily (dropping a pen, a problem with the printer, etc.), this way of gleaning information is very efficient as well.

c.    Asking the victim many “yes-no” questions, they can manipulate you for a possible correct answer, such as “I see a Pisces near you. Do you know anyone with this sign? Is that person a little careless? Is she close to your family?”

When you consider the tactics I presented, if you are already familiar with these tricks, you can easily detect fraud. Usually, a person cannot be a psychic, a medium and a sorcerer all at the same time.

However, skeptical people can be fooled very easily as well. You can easily lose yourself in the game and become the victim of fraud because fake psychics know their part very well and choose their ambiance very carefully. For this reason, if you plan to consult a psychic, clear your mind and do not let them manipulate you with their charisma. Make sure you don’t allow them to affect or direct you to then enable him to perform his fraud.

Tunç Pekmen

I am a half-British, half-Turkish amateur writer/researcher born in 1974 currently residing in Upstate New York. I am a skeptic that tries to see all parts of the story and constantly on the search of the truth. Having said that, I neither believe that the reptilians form the Nth plane are ruling the world, nor that love and peace will save everybody. I am a spiritual person, but as I am also an engineer, I try to keep an open mind and verify the facts before jumping to a conclusion. My beautiful wife, my job and devil-cat keep me grounded and I am very lucky that way. On the other hand, if you have had any sort of spirituel contact, alien encounter or any type of event that physics can not explain, please contact me… I would love to hear it…