I got a free hand alignment on Instagram – then I was blackmailed for £12,000 with threats from dark spirits

I had just broken up with my long-term girlfriend and I was feeling particularly down. The breakup had devastated me and I was having trouble sleeping.

I tried everything to get a good night’s sleep – exercise, drinking, and medication – but nothing helped. My work as a freelance market researcher suffered, and at 30 I had never felt so low.

It was during one of those long, sleepless nights scrolling through social media on my smartphone that I came across a psychic on Instagram.

It was the early hours of a bleak, cold October day and I can still remember the rain beating on the window of my one-bedroom flat in Guildford, Surrey, where I had moved after we had split up.

The ad offered an online palmistry service. I don’t believe in fairies at the bottom of my garden, but my ex-girlfriend was interested in the power of the supernatural, and as strange as it may seem, I took this as a sign to give the reading a try.

This, and the fact that the ad said it would be free.

I gave my email address and immediately received a message asking if I would send high-resolution photos of both hands taken with my phone.

In return, the psychic—who never gave his name but described himself as a shaman—would help me make better decisions about love, money, and health.

Although it sounds naive, it felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders when I realized that I had to find solutions to all my problems, while I felt so vulnerable.

But it was mainly the prospect of much-needed sleep once I knew what I wanted to do with my life that made me agree to a reading.

Being on such a popular social media platform, I assumed everything was fine. I sent the pictures of my left and right palms and within a day I got an Instagram message back expressing concern for my health.

Apparently the life line around my thumb indicated troubles, and the line with the broken heart and the grooves on the line, which foretold financial prosperity, indicated difficult times.

But she assured me that these were only predictions – for a future that could be changed.

The response seemed sincere and supportive, and the palm reader was happy to help, but indicated that he could not afford to do so for free.

When the psychic told me the next session would cost £50, I thought it was worth every penny.

She had already described that my life was in turmoil just by looking at the pictures of my palms, so I transferred the money online as requested. I must confess that at this point I

I stepped up to the plate for the ‘psychological solutions’ because I liked being able to share my problems with a stranger.

I had been dealing with relationship and financial concerns for a while, but it was a relief to finally find someone who would listen to me.

In the weeks that followed, I built a friendship with this psychic, texting each other via WhatsApp in exchange for more money.

In return, I received advice such as ‘Follow your heart’ and ‘Don’t make hasty decisions, but try to find a solution yourself’.

In retrospect this was just nonsense, but at the time it was what I wanted and needed to hear.

After a month of consultations – sometimes two or three times a week – alarm bells should have started ringing when the palmist offered to cast a spell to protect my finances.

I felt uncomfortable and explained that I could not pay any additional charges. At that point she suddenly turned on me and threatened that if I did not pay, curses and dark spirits would come upon me, as well as my family and friends.

The threat of curses sent shivers down my spine. Among these nasty messages was one that warned of a spell being cast to drive my ex-girlfriend crazy.

The WhatsApp messages started coming in daily, sometimes in the middle of the night. It was the stuff of nightmares.

The extortion felt so real and I became so upset that I agreed to pay £900 to resolve the problem.

Of course, this turned out to be another big mistake. I was then told that in order to avoid being harmed by the spirit world, I would have to continue to pay the clairvoyant in future demands.

It sounds ridiculous, but at the time it was so believable. My belief in spiritual guidance was exploited by criminals – I see that now.

But because I suffered from insomnia during that period and often went two or three days without sleeping, I was less able to make rational decisions.

The warnings I received were mean and personal – and made it even harder for me to sleep.

In total they took over £12,000 from my High Street bank account until I was left with nothing. The bank never contacted me about being a victim of – or warned me about – a potential scam.

Even after I realized what had happened, it didn’t seem interested in helping. It wasn’t until my savings were gone – it took 22 requests for money to get there – that the psychic stopped bothering me.

Fortunately, my mental state started to improve at that point. It was only then that I realized that I had been scammed and was an unwitting victim of a nasty scam.