How to Spot a Psychic Scam

Q: How can I tell if a psychic medium is a scam? I made an appointment to see a medium in Florida next Tuesday, but i’m starting to worry that they may be a scam artist. My friends tell me I’m crazy, and not to waste my money. What do you recommend?

A. We get questions from folks who are skeptical about psychic mediums all of the time, and in our view….that’s a good thing. We are a big fan of the old adage, “have an open mind, but not so open that your brains fall out” and this is a good rule of thumb for approaching a psychic reading or spiritual topic of any kind.

Let’s get one thing out of the way up front:

First, there are people who will read the preceding words and say – but wait…..ALL psychics are scams!

If you are that person, and that is your feeling, nothing in the rest of this article is going to appeal to you, so feel free to stop reading now 😉

For those of you who are CURIOUS but maybe not entirely convinced, or who DO believe, but aren’t sure how to differentiate between “legitimate” mediums and folks who prey on the vulnerable, let’s take a closer look below.

First, if you come across a medium who uses a ton of hyperbolic language in their promotional material, to us…..that’s a red flag. “Unprecedented”, “internationally renowned”, “ground breaking”, “99% percent accurate”, and so forth and so on……if you feel like you are watching an infomercial at 2am when reading someone’s bio, in our experience, this is a bad sign.

YES, a medium who is well known, or highly regarded ought to communicate that in their branding, but if it feels over the top, or too good to be true, or absent any HUMILITY, in our view, this is more likely than not someone whose ego is far larger than their genuine skill. (there are a LOT of very fragile personalities in the psychic/spiritual development space, and many of these people seek validation from their “gifts”)

Look outside of the mainstream sites for reviews. Here is something that very few people do, and yet is super simple to accomplish. Rather than sticking to the most popular sites for psychic reviews (sites like ours, lets say, or sites like bestpsychicdirectory.com, or even sites like Yelp!, you can find, if you dig a little bit deeper, many more nuanced reviews and experiences with individual psychics and mediums OFF of the main review style sites that are overwhelmingly positive)

Here is why that works. On sites like Bob Olson’s BestPsychicDirectory.Com for example – while Bob is a good guy by all accounts, the reviews of the psychic mediums on his site are almost uniformly positive. If there are any BAD reviews, of any of his psychics, I have yet to read a single one. This is because his site is an ADVOCACY site, to promote the folks who are listed, and pay to be featured on the directory.

Our site operates a little bit differently, we post ALL reviews, good, bad or indifferent, but…..we overwhelmingly get positive reviews, simply because our mediums often ask their happy clients to leave them. (and of course, would not do that for someone they thought was disappointed)

So even here, the reviews are a bit skewed positive, which may give a false sense of a readers real skill.

YELP! can be a better spot for finding psychic scams, as quite often, we’ll find people who are listed on OUR site, and remove them, after seeing a tremendous number of negative reviews on YELP!, which tells us they ought not to be featured here, or if there are, it needs to be in the context of a warning, not a promotion.

NOTE: There are also some fairly well known mediums who have surprisingly low YELP! ratings, including people who are “almost” celebrities, authors and teachers in the spiritual spaces who you’d be surprised to see on YELP! but who nonetheless, are rated and reviewed like other local mediums, often in not so flattering terms.

If you continue to dig, you’ll often find detailed, honest, insightful reviews of psychic mediums on grief boards, forums, hospice groups and more….that reveal incredible insight into what real people are experiencing, with this medium or that, this “well known psychic” or that one, in every state, city, and town around the globe.

So do YOUR due dilligence. If you are serious about getting evidence that your loved ones continue one, be rigorous with what you’ll accept as evidence!

Be truthful with yourself when seeking out a medium and don’t fall victim to “confirmation bias” or the desire to hear what you WANT to hear, to confirm what you want to believe. You’ll find that this is incredibly helpful in the longrun…..as your level of clarity, and certainty from ONE GREAT READING with a truly gifted medium, is far better than having a dozen with those who can’t give you the help, healing and relief you truly seek.

What about you? How do you know if a psychic is genuine? Have you been victimized by a bad psychic or spiritual scam? Share with us on FB, or in the community comments below!