If someone tells you that you are cursed, that black magic has been done on you, or that you carry dark energy, and then offers to remove it for money, do not pay. A frightening diagnosis followed by a paid cure is the pattern that police in India and fraud agencies in the US and UK keep describing. You do not need to decide whether curses exist to act on that. A real problem would not get worse because you waited a week, told someone you trust and kept your money.

Someone has just told you that you are cursed or carry dark energy, and they want money to remove it. Part of you is scared and part of you suspects a scam.

No tarot spread, palm or psychic reading can confirm a curse. A reading is a way to reflect on your situation. It is not a scan for hidden harm, and anyone who uses it as one is selling something else.

This guide runs in time order: the first hour, tonight, tomorrow, this week and the months after. Go straight to the part you need.

How the pitch usually sounds

The wording changes from city to city, but the steps repeat. These lines are paraphrased from police complaints and fraud warnings, in our own words, next to what each one is for.

What you hear What the line is doing
A message out of nowhere: "I was guided to contact you." Nobody asked for this reading. An unprompted offer is a sales approach.
"I can see dark energy around you." It names a problem you have no way to check. Nothing you say can prove it is absent.
"Someone close to you did this out of jealousy." It turns you away from the people most likely to tell you not to pay.
"Your son will fall ill" or "you will lose your mind" It turns a fee into a rescue. Fear for a child works faster than fear for yourself.
"The first ritual costs very little." A small start makes each later payment feel like protecting what you already spent.
"Bring your gold so it can be cleansed. It comes back to you." This is how jewellery and savings leave the house.
"Tell no one, or the ritual fails." Secrecy keeps a second opinion out of the room.
"It went deeper than I thought. One more ritual." The work is never finished, so the bill never ends.

AARP lists the same signs in plain terms: a psychic who keeps finding new things wrong with you, who warns that harm will come to you or your family unless you pay, or who asks you to keep it secret. In the Postal Inspection Service's words, people are taken on an "emotional roller-coaster ride" that keeps asking for more money and never reaches the promised result.

People posting on Reddit's r/Psychic forum describe the same arc in their own words. A first reading seems accurate. Then comes a curse or "blocked energy" diagnosis, then a run of sessions at a fixed price each, then a warning that the negative energy could come back. Several of them were told this soon after a breakup, when they most wanted an answer.

Five cases, one script

These are reported allegations or court findings, not stories we made up. The point is how alike they are.

Where and when What the victim was told How the money moved What the report says happened next
Pune, reported June 2026 She would "lose her sanity" and her son would die by suicide unless rituals were done Rs 3.9 lakh over several months, with rituals in Nashik, Ujjain and Kolkata FIR registered after she contacted the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti. No arrests at the time of the report.
Navi Mumbai, reported April 2026 Rituals would ward off her troubles Rs 1.47 lakh in cash and Rs 43,000 online, September to December 2025 Two men arrested and booked for cheating and under the Maharashtra black magic law
Northeast Delhi, reported October 2026 Rituals would recover buried ancestral gold About Rs 39.3 lakh in cash and UPI. He says he was sedated during a ritual and Rs 15 lakh of jewellery went missing. Three men arrested
Washington State, US, indicted May 2026 Rituals showed they were cursed, and the curse was tied to their money Cash and property such as gold and jewellery handed over to be cleansed, with a false promise to return it A federal indictment alleges at least $2.5 million taken from at least three victims. The case had not been tried at the time of the filing.
Florida, US, indicted 2011 Evil spirits and curses were causing illness and money problems Cash, jewellery and gold coins handed over to be "cleansed" Rose Marks was convicted. The appeals court records a 121-month sentence and losses of about $17.8 million.

The amounts range from a few lakh to millions of dollars. The script does not change: a hidden threat, a ritual only this person can do, and more money each time.

In the first hour

  1. End the conversation. You do not have to argue or explain. "I need to think" and leaving the chat, call or room is enough.
  2. Send nothing more. No UPI transfer, card payment, gift card, cash, gold, or photo of your ID or bank card.
  3. If you paid online in India, call 1930 now. The government describes 1930 as the national cyber fraud helpline, open all day, every day. Reports made through it go into a system built to flag the money trail to banks quickly. Fast reporting gives the best chance of stopping a transfer. It cannot promise one.
  4. If you paid by card anywhere, call the number on the back of the card. Say the charge came from a fraud and ask what the bank can do.
  5. Save everything before you block anyone. Screenshot the chat, the profile, the phone number, the UPI ID and every payment. Blocking or deleting a chat can remove the thread you will need later.

Tonight

Write down what happened while it is fresh. Dates, the names they used, phone numbers, UPI IDs or account details, each amount, what they promised and what they said would happen if you stopped. A page of notes now saves a long, shaky conversation at the police station later.

Tell one person. Choose someone who will neither laugh nor panic. The instruction to keep it secret was part of the pitch, so breaking it is a step back toward your own judgment. For many people, saying the story aloud is the moment it starts to sound like a sales script.

If the threat was about someone you love, check on them in an ordinary way. Call your son. Message your sister. Hearing a normal voice is a better answer to "they will be harmed" than any ritual.

If the fear has turned into thoughts of harming yourself, or someone in the story has said they might, talk to a person tonight. In India, Tele MANAS is free on 14416. In the US, call or text 988. In the UK, Samaritans answer on 116 123.

Tomorrow: report it

Take your notes. Report even if the amount feels small or you feel foolish. A report is how police link your case to others by the same person, which is how the Pune complainant found out there were earlier cases against the people she paid.

Where you live If you paid online or by card If you paid cash or handed over valuables
India Call 1930 and file at cybercrime.gov.in. Tell your bank in writing as well. File a complaint at your local police station. In Maharashtra, local Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti volunteers have helped people take these cases to police.
United States Call your bank or card issuer, then report at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. For fraud that ran over the internet, you can also file with the FBI at ic3.gov. Report to your local police.
England, Wales and Northern Ireland Call your bank, then report at reportfraud.police.uk or on 0300 123 2040 Same route
Scotland Call your bank, then Police Scotland on 101 Same route

Elsewhere, start with your bank and your national police fraud line. Be ready for an honest answer about recovery. Money sent online can sometimes be held if the report is fast. Cash and gold are much harder to trace. Report anyway.

What the law says in India

Cheating is an offence under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita across India. The Navi Mumbai case was booked under section 318(4), which covers cheating. Maharashtra goes further with its 2013 law against black magic and related practices. Its schedule lists, among banned acts, claiming a supernatural power to create fear or threaten someone with evil consequences, and causing someone financial harm through black magic. The penalty in that law is six months to seven years in prison and a fine of Rs 5,000 to Rs 50,000. Other states have their own laws, so ask the police which apply where you live.

This week: deal with the fear

A curse claim is built so that whatever goes wrong next looks like proof. A fever, a flat tyre or a fight at home will feel like the curse arriving. When one happens, say it plainly to yourself: this would have happened anyway, and they told me to expect bad luck so that I would notice it.

If they gave a deadline, such as "within 40 days", write the date on your calendar. When it passes, you have your own evidence instead of theirs.

If you want spiritual comfort, go to your own tradition, not to the person who sold you the fear. A priest at your temple, an imam, a pastor, a granthi or an elder you already trust can pray with you for free. None of them should need your gold.

If you cannot sleep or eat properly after a few days, see a doctor. Fear causes real physical symptoms, and "someone frightened me with a curse and I paid them" is a normal thing to say in a clinic.

The months after

Expect a second approach. People who have paid once are often contacted again, sometimes by the same person with a "the curse has returned" message, sometimes by someone new who offers to recover your money for a fee. That second person may claim to be police, a lawyer or a recovery agent. Real police do not charge you to investigate. Check any such contact through a number you look up yourself, never one they give you.

Expect shame too, and set it down. The US Postal Inspection Service puts it simply: "If you've unwittingly participated in a scam, you are not alone." AARP notes that people are often targeted when they are lonely or struggling. The Delhi complainant was 79. The Pune complainant was a mother afraid for her son. These are not people who failed a test of intelligence. They were reached at a hard time by people who practise this script.

If someone in your family is paying

Start with the payments, not the belief. "You have been fooled" ends the conversation. "Can we look at what has gone out of the account together?" usually does not. The numbers make the case quietly.

Offer to sit beside them while they call 1930 or their bank, or to go with them to the police station. Older relatives in particular may feel embarrassed in front of their children, so let them tell the story in their own words.

If they still believe in the curse, you do not need to win that argument first. A person can believe in curses and still agree that this particular person has taken too much money.

Where a reading fits, and where it does not

A reading for reflection is a different thing from a ritual for sale. An honest reader tells you the full price before starting, does not diagnose curses and does not sell a fix for a card. If a hard card like the Tower or the Devil came up and someone offered to remove it, our guide to scary tarot cards explains what those cards are usually taken to mean.

For checks before you pay anyone, see how to choose a psychic reader and how to audit an email reading offer. If grief is what brought you to a reader, getting a reading after someone dies covers the upsells aimed at people in mourning. If the warning came from a video in your feed, read whether a TikTok tarot reading is meant for you.

Common questions

Can a psychic remove a curse?

No reading can confirm a curse, and a paid removal has nothing real to remove. Tarot, palmistry and psychic readings are ways to reflect on a situation. Anyone who uses a reading to diagnose a curse and then sells the cure is making a sales pitch.

What should I do if I already paid by UPI or card?

In India, call 1930 straight away and file at cybercrime.gov.in, then tell your bank in writing. In the US or UK, call your bank or card issuer first, then report to ReportFraud.ftc.gov or Report Fraud. Save every screenshot before you block the person.

Is black magic removal for money illegal in India?

Cheating is an offence everywhere in India under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. Maharashtra also has a 2013 law that bans using claimed supernatural power to create fear or cause financial harm, with prison terms of six months to seven years.

Will the curse get worse if I stop paying?

The warning that things will get worse if you stop is part of the pitch. AARP lists threats of harm unless you pay as a warning sign of a psychic scam. Write down any deadline they gave and watch it pass.

Can I get my money back from a fake tantrik or psychic?

Sometimes, if you report online payments fast through 1930 or your bank. Cash and gold are harder to recover. Be wary of anyone who later offers to recover the money for a fee, because that is often a second scam.

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