By Tim Binnall
In a cautionary tale ahead of Valentine's Day, a Canadian woman says she was swindled out of a staggering $50,000 by a psychic who promised to improve her love life. According to a local media report, Joanne Whalen began seeing the mystic around two years ago following a marriage separation. Looking to get back out on the dating scene, she turned to the psychic for some supernatural help. During their initial session, the mystic revealed that she had received a vision that Whelan was led to believe about a man from her gym who had previously drawn her romantic interest. What followed was a costly 'consultation' that she now deeply regrets.
"She told me, 'I can bring this man closer to you for $550,'" recounted Whelan, who happily handed over the money. While a romantic connection with the man failed to materialize, a darker relationship with the mystic developed over the next several months as she convinced her client to give her increasingly larger payments for the odd job. "I transferred $12,000 to $15,000," Whelan said, "but she wanted cash, so I was dropping off lots and lots of cash at her house." The psychic even went so far as to suggest that she buy gold bars for special 'romance ceremonies' aimed at finally connecting her with the man.
The psychic's strange spell over Whelan was finally broken when she found herself still single after a year of seeing the mystic. "I said to her, 'If everything is going so great why isn't anything happening?," she recalled, "I'm paying you thousands and thousands of dollars and I'm getting nothing." Understandably dismayed over the experience, Whelan shared her story with the media to alert the public about such psychic scams. "I just couldn't believe this happened to me," she mused, "that I was part of it." While Whelan hoped that her coming forward would also lead to the mystic returning her money, she has recouped only $2,000 despite being promised a full refund.