TikTok Fortune Tellers Arrested After Banking $115K USD In Failed Love Spells
Could this be the end of social media’s scamming spiritualist trend?
As if love and heartbreak aren’t trivial enough, a group of Shanghai fortune tellers found via TikTok, have been scamming young women.
We’ve all been caught up in a toxic relationship and for a few Shanghai women, their broken hearts only led to more heartache. As reported by the South China Morning Post, one woman surnamed Mai found fortune tellers on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.
In the October horoscope video, spiritual scammers claimed to be well-versed in their field, promising accurate readings. Like many on the astrology and spiritual side of TikTok, Mai was experiencing an intense period of change, such as her recent breakup with her boyfriend. On a hunt to get her man back, she fell into the trap.
Susan Kirsch
Her first payment to these scammers posing as spiritualists was 599¥ (approximately $86 USD). “The fortune-tellers then convinced her to purchase a series of magic rituals they promised would bring him back to her,” SCMP reported. In less than three months, she sent these fortune tellers 13,000¥ (approximately $1,870 USD) for “relationship rituals” doubling as faux-black magic. At one point, they performed a “week-long ‘black magic’ ritual where they would “would borrow supernatural power from the devil to “heat up” her former relationship and make her ex-boyfriend, “think of nobody other than her.”
After reporting these scammers to the Shanghai police, it was revealed that this ploy was run by a group of scammers and they’d collected 800,000 ¥ or in U.S. dollars, $115,000. Despite her losses, Mai has not garnered sympathy from the internet. Instead, users commented in applause for her ex-boyfriend, praising his “supernatural” ability to avoid her traps, they joked.
For more on relationship rituals that aren’t toxic, read this article.
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