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Claims of personal insight can be used to sell a service, conceal a charge or pressure someone to hand over money. These five U.S. enforcement cases show different forms of deception involving psychic-service promotions or claimed psychic powers.
Each account below identifies the documented outcome and links to its source. A civil settlement, a guilty plea and a conviction are different events. None of these cases establishes that every person offering a reading commits fraud.
The cover illustrates reviewing an offer; it does not depict a participant in these cases.
1. The companies promoting the “Miss Cleo” lines
The FTC alleged that Access Resource Services and Psychic Readers Network, along with their officers, misrepresented free readings and engaged in deceptive billing and collection practices.
A court approved the settlement on 4 November 2002. It required the companies to stop collection efforts and forgive approximately $500 million in outstanding consumer charges, and required the defendants to pay $5 million to the FTC. The $500 million was cancelled charges, not an equivalent cash refund distributed to callers. The action described here concerned the promoters, not a criminal conviction of the television spokesperson.
Source: FTC settlement announcement.
Consumer lesson: before accepting a “free” session, find the exact point at which billing starts, the rate and how to end it. Save the offer and compare it with the bill.
2. Rachel Lee and control of a client’s finances
On 19 February 2015, a federal judge sentenced Rachel Lee to 100 months in prison and ordered approximately $15.49 million in restitution. The DOJ described wire-fraud and money-laundering conspiracies and failure to file personal income taxes.
According to the court documents described in the announcement, Lee met the victim at her psychic shop, developed his trust and gained control of his personal and business accounts. Family members participated in a deception involving a fabricated identity, marriage and child.
Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office for Oregon sentencing announcement.
Consumer lesson: familiarity and emotional closeness do not verify someone’s financial authority. Keep account control separate from a reading, and seek independent help before signing documents or transferring major assets.
3. Rose Marks and promises to return “cleansed” money
A jury convicted Rose Marks in September 2013 in a fortune-telling fraud case. The DOJ’s account of the trial evidence describes demands for money and valuables to remove curses or negativity, with promises that property would later be returned. Instead, funds went into accounts controlled by the defendants and were used for their expenses.
The Eleventh Circuit affirmed Marks’s convictions and total 121-month sentence on 4 August 2015.
Sources: DOJ conviction announcement and the court’s appeal decision, case 14-10928 (PDF).
Consumer lesson: a promise to hold or spiritually cleanse money is not a safeguard. Demands for valuables to prevent harm deserve the same scrutiny as any other demand for payment.
4. Patrice Runner and supposedly personal letters
On 15 April 2024, Patrice Runner received a 10-year federal prison sentence for a psychic mass-mailing fraud scheme. The DOJ reported that it took more than $175 million from more than 1.3 million U.S. victims.
The letters appeared to offer personal insight from named psychics, but were produced as part of a mass-mailing operation. A first payment led to further solicitations. The Second Circuit affirmed the judgment on 9 July 2025.
Sources: DOJ sentencing announcement and the court’s appeal decision, case 24-1040 (PDF, hosted by Justia).
Consumer lesson: a letter using your name does not show that its supposed author knows you or personally performed the advertised service. Check who is selling, what will be delivered and what further charges may follow.
5. Gina Rita Russell and escalating threats
Gina Rita Russell pleaded guilty to interference with interstate commerce by extortion in July 2019. On 18 July 2024, she was sentenced to 125 months in prison.
The DOJ described a scheme that began with claimed psychic powers and demands to prevent bad events, then expanded through deception and threats. It resulted in a Maryland man embezzling more than $4 million from his employer. The announcement describes threats toward his children as part of the scheme.
Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C. sentencing announcement.
Consumer lesson: treat threats as a safety issue. Do not try to resolve escalating demands by borrowing, stealing or sending more money. Seek appropriate support and contact emergency services if danger is immediate.
Questions to ask before paying for a reading
- What exactly am I purchasing? Ask for the format, duration, total cost and cancellation terms in writing.
- What supports the promise? A testimonial or a confident prediction is not independent verification.
- Can I take time to decide? Pressure to act secretly or immediately makes independent checking harder.
- What access am I giving? A reading does not require banking passwords or control of your property.
Our guide to checking a reading’s claims offers practical ways to record specific statements and assess them without changing their meaning afterwards.
If you have already paid or received a threat
You can ask for help without proving that you should have recognised the warning signs earlier. Save the messages and transaction records, and contact the relevant payment provider promptly to explain what happened and ask about available options.
For reporting links, evidence to keep and handling further demands, use our curse-removal scam response guide. Outcomes vary; a restitution order in someone else’s case does not guarantee recovery in yours.