In September 2016, a New York–based psychic was arrested for convincing a client that her failing marriage was caused by an evil spirit that could be driven out only by an expensive exorcism. According to a September 13, 2016, story in The Gothamist:
Photo: Steven Hirsch
An Upper East Side fortune teller was arrested this weekend after she allegedly terrified and manipulated a distraught woman out of more than $60K. Among other things, the “psychic” convinced the woman she had a “demon/evil spirit” inside her that was a dead baby the victim’s mother had miscarried before the victim was born—and the only way to get it out was through increasingly expensive “demon removal work.” (http://tinyurl.com/z6m48d4)