Fortunes lost for victims of psychic blessing scam
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A psychic scammer who defrauded victims over two decades through fake blessings to combat curses and evil spirits has admitted running off with hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Maria Williams robbed people of significant savings and led to one woman being evicted from her home.
The now 50-year-old marketed herself out as a “Master Psychic” through pamphlets and newspaper ads offering spiritual cleansing from 2004 until her arrest in 2024.
Using the pseudonyms “Celina” and “Anna”, she told her victims they had been cursed or affected by evil or ancestral spirits.
The Lakemba woman then asked for large amounts of money to be sent so they could be blessed and the bad luck cleansed away.
She promised each victim the money would be returned.
But Williams created excuses to keep the cash, including the “moon time” had passed, confidentiality had not been kept, or the victim did not trust her enough.
She has pleaded guilty to four counts of fraud relating to four victims stung during her decades-long con and is behind bars awaiting sentence in Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court later in June.
The details of her crimes have been laid bare in court documents seen by AAP.
In 2003, Williams pulled in her first victim – a woman in her 40s – by claiming she could fix her marital problems through psychic powers.
She sold the woman three “magic candles” at $325 each and said she had to bless large amounts of money to save her marriage.
The victim handed over $225,000 from October 2003 to December 2005 after borrowing money from family and friends, taking out new bank loans and opening new credit cards.
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Content retrieved from: https://www.theleader.com.au/story/9286072/fortunes-lost-for-victims-of-psychic-blessing-scam/.
