QUEBEC CITY — An occultist known as Professor Alfoseny, accused of falsely claiming to be a medium, has been charged under an obscure anti-sorcery provision in the Criminal Code of Canada.

Authorities say the promised services never materialized and that alleged victims’ money vanished.

A preliminary hearing got underway this week for Professor Alfoseny, whose real name is Yacouba Fofana.

The 36-year-old had advertised his services in newspapers and online, say court documents.

"Great clairvoyant medium, solves your problems, return of the beloved, luck, gambling, protection, etc. Guaranteed results," the ad claimed.

One person was bilked of more than $5,000, says the Crown.

Police arrested Fofana in April and charged him with fraud. He was also charged under section 365 of the Criminal Code for "pretending to practice witchcraft."

The section reads as follows:

"Everyone who fraudulently (a) pretends to exercise or to use any kind of witchcraft, sorcery, enchantment or conjuration (b) undertakes, for a consideration, to tell fortunes, or (c) pretends from his skill in or knowledge of an occult or crafty science to discover where or in what manner anything that is supposed to have been stolen or lost may be found, is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction."

The defendant showed no emotion during his preliminary hearing this week at the Quebec City courthouse.

Fofana faces up to six months in jail if convicted of the sorcery charge, but could get as many as 14 years in prison on the fraud count.