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Toronto Police are now warning of similar “curse-lifters” prowling the city’s Chinese community. They approach elderly Cantonese speakers on the street, warn them of a curse, convince them to fill a bag with valuables for a special ritual, then run off with it.

The scam has been rampant in Vancouver, where con artists will sometimes throw in promises of “lucky jade bracelets” or bottles of “blessed mystical water.”

“We’ve had about seven [incidents] reported to us,” Detective Constable Jay Amundsen of Vancouver police told Postmedia News. “We’re talking about $100,000.”

‘My spells are 100% real not fake, so if you need real spells that work then call me and i can help you’

Performing supernatural cons on the street is a new twist on a scam that traditionally involves fraudsters posing as palm readers to attract clients, convince them of a curse and offer a pricey antidote.

They “usually start off cheap or free, and then hook you and charge more and more money and promise things that are impossible for them to deliver,” wrote Tara Greene in an email to the National Post.

Her website says she’s a Toronto astrologer and psychic, although she prefers the term “intuitive counsellor.” She uses a familiar toolbox of crystal balls and tea leaves – but is careful to note, for legal reasons, that her services are for “entertainment purposes.”

“I use my intuition, I can see psychically [but] it is the client’s choice what to do with the information I give them and I am not responsible for that,” she said.

Vancouver psychic Cassandra Mac-Leane publishes tips on her website to steer people away from “fraudulent readers,” arguing they get honest psychics “tarred with the same brush.” The tricks these psychics use “are as old as written history,” such as breaking open a chicken’s egg to reveal a black omen, said Ms. MacLeane. “One year I met two professors from UBC who fell victim,” she said. “That just gives you a sense of how convincing they are.”