Why Are There So Many "Scam Artists" in the Psychic World?

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey, welcome to Three Cups and a Dash of Spirituality podcast. Today, this week's episode, we're gonna talk about scam artists. Cue the music. Hello, and welcome to another episode of Three Cups and a Dash of Spirituality. Today we're gonna talk about scam artists and the psychic world, which are everywhere in the world, right? And let's welcome everyone in. Hey Stacy. Hello. Hey Michelle. Hello, hello. In life, we got scam artists everywhere, right? I mean, in every line of business, there's gonna be scam artists. What do y'all want to start off with and talk about in regards to the intuitive psychic world of scam artists? The seers. Remember back in the day, they'd be like, oh, the seers.

SPEAKER_02 0:53

I definitely wrote a paper on it last week. Oh, tell us about this. What was the topic? It was for qualitative research, and it was on what to like how to do a study, essentially, like develop a study around intuition. And I utilized a lot of scams that have taken place over time. I'm not gonna call out the famous person that was actually part of a major lawsuit, but there was someone that was very well known, their voice was very well known, that was sued back in the 90s because it was determined that the background, the voice that she used was not real. She had a very specific accent that she used when she was on TV. She did a lot of late night calls or late night shows. And the channel that she was on got sued big time because it was like, I think $5 a minute or something crazy like that. And what would happen is people would call in in the middle of the night and she would give them bits and pieces and keep them on and kind of string them along for more time, more, more money. And when people were getting their astronomical phone bills, they were there was a major complaint. There was there was a lawsuit because of it. And I think the company ended up paying over like five million dollars. I want to say billion, but I think it's million. I'm not sure. I'm in a massive lawsuit because of it.

SPEAKER_00 2:20

I love how you brought in money because even in the psychology world, you know, like the great, or let's say great, the really top psychologist of the modern day world today, a lot of them got in trouble. And what I have found is that learn from them and get what you want. But when it comes to the grandiosity, you know, needing so much uh an hour for fees, you have to realize well, some people say, well, they're really busy. Yeah, they're really busy because they self-promote. Yeah, they're really busy because they have a marketing team. Yeah, they're really busy because they have the grandiosity to bring in that big following to make a lot of money. So I'm just going like straight to the very end. Sorry, straight to the very end, end of the episode. Here's your here's your learning. Get what you need for. So stay classy. No, I'm kidding. But just you know, no one is really worth a shit tons of money. You can, there's so many great people in this world, you know, that you can learn from. But if that's what you want to pay, like I know someone I think she was charging to learn how to to be intuitive was like 900 to a thousand an hour. I was like, I don't think so. You're not that special. You don't have that many, I don't even want to say the word gifts, you know, as I could call up Michelle or Stacy and learn a bunch of stuff. So the grandiosity you're gonna start picking up in a little scammy stuff.

SPEAKER_01 3:48

I just find the idea of scam artists so infuriating because here, as um, somebody new to um putting myself out there as a psychic, as a medium, trying to figure out how my intuition comes in for me. Like it's very hard for me to charge, even though this information is really coming in. This is the energy that I'm reading, because I am so worried that someone's gonna call me a fake or not find that they're getting the value for their money. And that all comes from a fear of being called a fraud, a fake, and so many out there. Because there are so many out there. And let's just put it out there. So there are talented people who have abilities that can be scammers, and there are people who go about it other ways that can be scammers. So there's two ways that a scam can come in, probably hundreds of ways a scam can come in. But do you want to speak to those at all? I mean, I I like the idea that there are only two ways.

SPEAKER_02 4:48

I know, I like which I know, like it's not that's not, you know, it's unfortunate, but that's not real. Um, so I I mean, I have had my business now for like three going on four years. I charge for an hour-long reading, I charge a buck fifty, $150 for an hour-long reading. And I charge that not because I am demanding money, but because I have to pay for literally everything that I've ever done. And that's reasonable. And you've been doing this for years. Yeah. And I I step into it with the understanding that the person that I'm reading for needs something. There's a reason that they're coming and sitting in front of me. And the majority of the time it's a very healing experience. With that said, I I've had experience with readers. I had a reading with somebody once. She practiced with energy, like she did a lot of energy manipulation. And I, and and I don't want to throw, I don't want to throw witchcraft under the bus at all, because that's essentially what it what it was. And so she did a reading for me. And I'm very open and honest whenever I go to people and get readings. I tell them that I'm a reader myself and that I'm seeing them because they don't know me. Because I am so biased when I read for myself, but I know that. So she did this reading, and there were there were some good hits. She got a lot of information right, but then she came back and she said, Stacy, I need you to buy a spell. There's there's spell work that needs to be done, energetic clearing that needs to happen. And initially, I was like, you know, I had kind of stepped into it planning to do that anyway. So I chose to move forward with that aspect of it. But then less than a week later, she was demanding, I think, three, four hundred dollars because there was some energetic emergency taking place in my chakra system and she needed to clear it out. And each candle that she needed to buy was a hundred bucks a piece, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And it felt different. It felt like you could tell the difference the first time. I was game because I was planning on it. When she reached out a week later, it hit me in a different way. Like I looked, I got the message and I read it, and I read it probably three or four times. I was so disappointed. I because in it, like right off the bat, like my guide was like, Nope, trust her, you can do this. This is actually gonna be helpful for you. And then it's like she just she got greedy, got greedy and wanted to take advantage, and that's what it came comes down to. But you can feel, you can feel when that happens, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:32

And it can be subtle. It's like if you feel like you need them, that's code. They get this like way of it could be very subtle. It's the codependency where you feel like you need them for something, right? Like you were talking about, there's so many different hundreds of ways, right? Like that one, so thankfully was apparent.

SPEAKER_02 7:54

Yeah, but well, and and I was also listening to my guys who when she asked for more money, I Simon was like in my background just laughing.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

Which taught you a lesson? I mean, it stepped you right into hope and feeling like, okay, this is she's gonna be able to help me. She doesn't know me, and then she took it away because she got greedy.

SPEAKER_02 8:15

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

That is just disgusting because there are some people who can't step away. There are some people who get in that cycle and they just need more and more and more. And it makes the person giving the advice really wealthy, but drains the other person maybe at their life savings. That's just disgusting to me. I agree. And I've seen scams on it. Um, Rob and I, about 18 months ago, were watching something on CBS. It was a special on scammers, and they did as we started out talking about there's scammers in every field, and one of the episodes was on psychic scammers, and I wanted to throw my phone at the TV because I'm like they give people a bad name. And I felt sick for a week after watching it.

SPEAKER_00 8:59

So I mean, you know, but there's therapists. I remember when I first went to therapy when I was in college, undergrad, you know, 1920. And back then, you know, it was the yellow pages. I was open the yellow page or yellow pages, looked under therapists or something. And she luckily I got a good one. She goes, Chrissa, how'd you find me? And I told her, and she goes, please, please be careful and tell your friends next time to be careful. She said, There are, which I kind of disagree now. I think it's switched. She goes, There's this many bad therapists, there's this many competent therapists, and there's this many like amazing excellent. I think it's more of like this many competent, this many really bad, and this many excellent. But the point is there's gonna be bad seeds in every kind of industry. And unfortunately, a lot of times when you go to these places, it could be therapists, it could be intuitives, psychics, readers, you're typically vulnerable and you're needing help. And that's when it's not okay when that person is charming you and you know, making you feel like they've got so many of the answers.

SPEAKER_01 10:03

And that's they're manipulating your grief, they're manipulating that lower vibrational energy that you're currently trying to get yourself out of. Like you're seeking the help, and it's just they're exploiting it. It's just disgusting.

SPEAKER_00 10:18

Yeah. Well, and sometimes they're not aware of it too, because they're diagnosable. They they think they they think they're doing well, they think they're, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 10:27

They think they're doing the right thing and not realizing that they they're perhaps taking advantage of a population that really needs more support. Well, and and this kind of I was actually talking about this subject earlier with somebody because this is why I'm going to school for what I'm going to school. I would like to see, and and this is it's funny. I don't like a lot of rules put in place for many different things, but I would love to see some regulations around psychics and mediums. I think not even necessarily needing to prove that you are real, but some sort of regulation just so that you are not necessarily taking advantage of populations that really can't uh I don't even want to say sustain it, but I have seen people lose their entire life savings because a psychic told them something. I saw somebody that was told that their soon-to-be husband was cheating on them throughout their entire relationship. And she almost threw it away. And that person was not cheating. And, you know, I know in a world where we've got so many social media options to see these people read for free. They answer yes, no questions, all these beautiful things. And I will be fully, I will fully admit that I scroll and I watch and I ask questions because I like to see if you know what what comes up. And I I went to one page and my husband and I, we're we're we're tight. He would never cheat on me. You went to one and they said that they told me that he was cheating on me. They said that he is actively with another woman and that I really needed to be careful. And I stepped back and I was like, you know, that is the kind of thing that really sets people up for failure. Because you said that to me, and I'm confident enough that I'm not worried. Because if bro is cheating on me, he's he's he he he would lose, anyways. Um, because I mean, look at me, I'm amazing. But if I was of a lower energy or not confident with myself, I probably would have paid for a reading, wanted more information, started sending money their way, and who knows what else?

SPEAKER_00 12:41

I remember going to a couple and I'm thinking, oh, they must be credible because they've got such a huge following. Well, that's kind of a red flag, and they have celebrities, they're on these big channels. You you gotta go with your gut.

SPEAKER_01 12:56

Yeah. Yeah, it's hard when um people push on triggers, loss of love, your health, and throw fear into the equation because once you become fearful, you're gonna pay anything to try and relieve that. And it just takes you down this rabbit hole that maybe uh is not gonna have good consequences or good um results.

SPEAKER_02 13:23

Or I'm gonna throw a lot of information at you and see what sticks and then ride on it. Exactly. Oh, I think you lost somebody recently. Somebody in your life passed away, it created a major hole. Oh my gosh, who was it? Oh, it was grandma. Oh, okay. Yep, she's here. She's here. Let's talk about, let's talk to her. What do you want to know? And and it's not genuine. I know whenever I'm getting a reading and it feels accurate, like I get full body chills throughout the entire reading. If it's not a genuine reading, I I sometimes I will get chills about certain things that are said because they're what I need to hear. But you can feel when people are trying to manipulate the situation. And it's those people that are like, I'm gonna throw a lot of information at you and wait for you to respond before I give you more.

SPEAKER_00 14:13

Stacey, you could be doing research on the paranormal and psychics. There's a lot of there's a lot of stuff going on right now, too.

SPEAKER_01 14:19

Well, I recently went to a group reading or a group healing in which kind of the same thing happened. They threw out like leading questions like, I'm feeling a female, the name starts with an L, like all these things where people are, you know, that could be me, that could be me, and then narrowing it down to who the message belonged to. And this person did have some hits, but the one thing that made me very uncomfortable in his presence that's like, oh my gosh, I don't know about you, is he did say, Hey, I have some someone coming through right now. You may not want to claim them. And if you don't, then somebody's gonna miss out on a reading because I am never wrong. So he totally stepped into that ego of I'm never wrong. I can't be wrong about this. So one of you guys need to claim this person. And you know, it was weird. It was weird. That just made me like full. I know I left there and I I apologize because I dragged somebody with me and I'm like, I'm so sorry. It shouldn't have been like that. But I will say the people who received messages or the people who recognize the energy that was being described, they did walk away with a little bit of healing because maybe at that point they were able to pull it. I don't know. It just didn't feel like a reading, it didn't feel good to me. It felt, as Stacy said earlier, just kind of uh yeah, a little manipulative, a little, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:46

So I I'm gonna I'm gonna say this, and this could honestly get me shot in the foot, but no psychic or medium is a hundred percent accurate.

SPEAKER_00 15:57

No, and you're all we've we've talked about this, we're all intuitive. You all have you can all connect with your loved ones who have passed over. It just may not be your role in this life. And I think Stacey in one class, it was like what research showed they had like what 60 out of all everyone, 50 to 60 percent accuracy taken from psychics. I mean, we have free will, don't give your power to these people.

SPEAKER_02 16:25

Well, and and I know when I do readings, you know, I look at past, present, future very, very typically, you know, I can focus in on a topic or it can be general. And when I get to the future piece of the reading, I tend to explain how it's very energetically where you stand right now. And I explain that the future is like a tree branch. So if you look at a tree and how many branches are off the branches, this is where you're heading right now. But any decision, any change that you make can put you off on a different branch. So it's really hard to accurately predict the future. Now, with that, you know, I love Carissa that you said everyone is intuitive because it's fact, everyone is intuitive. I get intuitive information from my guides that are like this is going to happen, period. And when they come to pass, I usually look back and I'm like, maybe I should listen to you guys more. But I don't because I choose to continue to live. Like I have the information in the back of my mind, but I don't use it to make decisions off of moving forward either.

SPEAKER_00 17:39

Yeah, you want to learn, have experiences. If we got all the answers, what would life look like? Right?

SPEAKER_02 17:46

It what what's the purpose? Now, what can be fun though, just to throw this out there, is if you get two different readings and they say the exact same thing.

SPEAKER_00 17:56

Oh, that would be interesting.

SPEAKER_02 17:57

I'm not gonna spend that money on do that, but so I have I have a very uh good friend that's local that gave me a reading a couple uh like a month or two ago, and I actually did get a reading from somebody that has never met me like two weeks ago, and she said the exact same thing. And so I kind of sat back going, Okay, okay, I can't really argue with two different people that that don't really know me giving me this information. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:23

Yeah, and I serendipitously, or the universe, thank you very much, introduced me to a person I had a reading with earlier this week. And the way it all happened and unfolded, she reads a lot like me. And it um what Stacy just said reminded me of what she said. She opened up like, I don't read the future because we have free will. So we all agree with that. Like the future is very hard to read. But she was able to walk in with little, a little bit of information and take me to places that I need to revisit in my life, places that I kind of forgot, but had a question that somehow intertwined back to my question. Like she said something, and I'm like, oh, that's how it connects. It was just very, very cool. And I felt very safe with her. And so when you find a reader that you feel safe with, one that you feel like you can have a conversation with, you know, that's a safe place to be. She didn't ask for any more money, she didn't insist I book another session. We just had the session and left it there. And it felt really amazing, actually.

SPEAKER_02 19:28

Well, and and you're actually bringing up something that I think is a really, really, really strong and good point is that if you come like if if somebody gets a reading from me and they're trying to come more than once a month max, I'm gonna say no. Because that's not enough time for a significant amount of things to change from the last reading. So I'm not gonna take your money, read for you in two weeks. It's it's not it's not okay. And you know, you can get you can get advice, you can get information, but there comes a point where it would feel to me unethical to continuously accept money like that. I suggest even every three months, every three months for a reading if you want it. Every two months, two months, three months is best. But if you're coming every month, it it can be hard to get more information.

SPEAKER_00 20:22

Well, you take away their self-agency, you're taking away their right for critical thinking.

SPEAKER_02 20:28

And then, you know, the other thing that happens too is last month when we met, you told me X, Y, Z was going to happen. It didn't. And like I somebody has come to me and said that, and I'm like, okay, I don't remember the reading because when I'm in an intuitive state, it doesn't like I don't it it doesn't come back to me. So what else did I say? And and they'll be like, Well, you told me that if I did this and this and this, this would happen. And I'm like, Did you do those three things? Well, no, well, then it's not gonna happen. So, you know, like I I get the information, I give you what I'm told, but that doesn't necessarily mean you are going to do the key pieces to move forward. Agree.

SPEAKER_01 21:10

So, what do you think a person can do who's wanting to get an ethical reading by a reader who is in it for the exchange, because that's an important component too, to charge money for time. There's an energetic exchange there. And I've had this conversation with a group of women in which they said it's very important that, because I don't like to charge. Like I just want to give the information and, you know, do that for somebody, do something nice, do my part, pay it forward. But there is something about charging to that. What is the word I'm looking for? You guys were a part of this conversation, charging to that gives a little bit more validation or power to your reading because you're seeing your own worth in giving that. To somebody. Am I saying that correctly? Is there something else you'd like to fill in there?

SPEAKER_00 22:04

And it's like in therapy. And I'm not going to say all, but I'm a good bit of my insurance clients, which I don't take insurance anymore, insurance clients versus self-pay, the self-pay was really more invested than the one, and you know, they who the ones where they got their company, and so they're paying just like 20 bucks copay. So I think you're hitting something really important that when they are paying for it, they're more invested. They're gonna ask those questions, they're gonna open up more.

SPEAKER_02 22:33

Well, there's an energetic exchange that happens, and there needs to be some sort of energetic balance. If I'm giving and giving and giving and giving and giving and giving and giving with absolutely zero return, even if it's you know bartering boundaries, is that role modeling. It's and it's it's definitely not. But if if what if I'm not bartering with you or if you are not, you know, paying for the information that I'm giving you, there's no there is no buy-in. I absolutely agree with that. And you have to look at what your end goal is. So I know on my website at the bottom there's a disclaimer that readings are for fun, you know, and if you're making life decisions based off my reading, that's kind of that's not my responsibility. However, with that said, a lot of help and insight can come from readings that you can use as a tool to move forward with things that are perhaps blocking you. A reading, I don't care who it's with, I don't care how much you pay, a reading with a psychic or a medium should not make your life decisions. It you can take it into account, you can use that to move forward, but it should should not be. Oh, I'm gonna call Stacy and ask her if I should accept this job. And then you call me and I'm like, it's not looking like it's a great choice. So you just say no and you miss a great opportunity. It I'm not making your decisions for you, I'm giving you what is coming through in the moment.

SPEAKER_01 24:04

In the moment, and it's not being led by fear, because I believe that fear can be a trigger for anyone. And if someone like you go to meet a psychic and they say, Oh, I see death in the future, I mean, that is something fearful you're walking away with, but then they can make it better. That's not gonna happen. That's probably not a good fit for anybody.

SPEAKER_00 24:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:25

Yeah. Well, and honestly, in the very few readings that I've done where I've seen something along those lines, my guides tell me that's not information to share, that's information for you because I'm not gonna scare you into gathering more information. And one of my biggest like lessons, because language is really important when giving a reading. I was giving a reading a couple of years ago and we were talking about fear. And I said, fear is like cancer. And that was my that was exactly fear is like cancer. I didn't say anything about cancer, the illness. I just said fear is like cancer. And two days later, I got an email from this person, and it said something along the lines of, in the reading, you said cancer. Am I going to get sick? And so I wrote back and I was like, nope, didn't say that. If you recall, I told you that your fear is like cancer, not that you were going to get cancer. And I wouldn't say that in a reading, anyways. I am not a medical intuitive and I don't want to be.

SPEAKER_01 25:24

Exactly. And wording is so important. I know before any reading I give, I do ask my guides to let the words come through in the way that will resonate the most with the person that I'm talking to. Don't let me stumble, don't let me hesitate, just give the message like they can hear it. So, how does somebody know if the person they're going to see is a good match for their energy? Is it just something you feel? Is there something like advice you can give there?

SPEAKER_00 25:54

You may have to learn from it. One, you may have to go with your gut and you may have to learn from it. Yeah, lesson.

SPEAKER_02 26:01

And honestly, I I say go with your gut too, because I agree with you, Carissa. I think sometimes you go to a reader that's not great, but you still get something from it. Um, everyone's intuitive. Yeah, you still there's something important. And even if you walk away and you're like, you know, none of that resonated with me, for example, it doesn't necessarily have to resonate that day. It could be in two weeks where you went, oh crap, so-and-so said XYZ. And it makes perfect sense now. Trust your gut, step into it and be open. Be open. I don't need you to share your life story with me, but being open and being excited to be there really helps me stepping in, step into your energy and actually bringing more accurate information through.

SPEAKER_00 26:49

How about the money thing? If they're asking for book, I mean, over $500 an hour, book, that's a lot of money, especially in this market. You need to really step back and go, how great are they? There's so many people in this world. You gotta look at the grandiosity piece too.

SPEAKER_02 27:08

You can also read reviews, but I'm going back to to what Michelle said is trust your gut, because I know, like on my website, I don't have too many reviews. I have some, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 27:18

But I don't I don't beg you could be a great charmer.

SPEAKER_02 27:21

Yeah, I don't I don't beg for reviews. I kind of am, I don't even market myself if I'm being totally honest with you. Like I I exactly I I go with word of mouth.

SPEAKER_00 27:30

So some of the good, some of the best ones are word of mouth, they're humble, they're not the self-promoters.

SPEAKER_01 27:37

So I was gonna say any other advice that you have, Michelle? No, I was just gonna say if you walk away like many dollars more than you wanted to spend, if you walk away in a lower vibration, all energy, like anxious, fearful, nervous, all of those things, that person is not the right fit for you. You want to walk away from a session feeling good about the experience. And again, as Stacey said, if it doesn't resonate in the moment, give it a little time to unfold because we're moving forward all the time.

SPEAKER_02 28:08

To add on to that, just to be very clear, just because you walk away from a reading and you don't feel uh higher vibration, feeling better, whatever, it may just be that they didn't resonate with you. It might not be that they're a bad reader, it might be that they didn't they were not a good fit for you. You know, I can go like the reading that you had earlier this week, I could go to the same person, Michelle, and it it doesn't resonate with me. And it's just because we have different energies, and that's okay.

SPEAKER_01 28:35

And I was trying to say that. I wasn't just saying because you had a bad experience, everyone does. That is what I was trying to say. So thank you for clearing that up a little bit. I'm here for you. I know you are. You're both here for me, and I'm here for you.

SPEAKER_02 28:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:49

So anything else anyone wants to say about this?

SPEAKER_02 28:52

If you step into a reading that has a set price and the person in front of you is asking for more money or telling you that you perhaps have something going on with your energy that needs to be fixed, or is fear-mongering, or anything along those lines, that's when you step away. There have been times and readings where I've established that the person sitting in front of me has an attachment. And I can't do a clearing when I'm in a reading because they're very different energies. With that said, I tell the person that they would need to get it taken care of, but I don't just offer myself. I offer several people that can do that work because I do not want anybody to come to me and feel like I'm just upselling myself. So if I find something that needs to be changed, I personally feel that a genuine reader, person, anything along those lines is going to offer you multiple avenues to get things taken care of.

SPEAKER_00 29:47

And you don't have to spend a lot of money just because they seem great, like my experiences. Oh, they know a lot of a celebrities, they've had these pictures. You can easily find some of the best ones are not very well known. Not saying you need to make the money, right? We live in the real world, we have to make money. I'm talking about these boo kus of money. You don't have to drop that. You really don't. As long as you go in with the intent of I really want this information for my highest good. If it's meant to be, you're gonna get it.

SPEAKER_01 30:23

Yeah. What about you, Mr. I agree with all that. I do. I think it's a great place to end this episode. Well, with that, then I'll say stay classy, stay sassy, stay badassy until next time. Bye, everyone. Bye, guys.