Deception on the cards: how tarot readers and fortune tellers profit from human despair during the war
When war tears lives apart, leaving behind uncertainty and fear, people often look for at least some hope for a better future. And it is at these moments that they are most vulnerable to deception. In search of answers about the fate of their missing military relatives or in a difficult struggle with constant anxiety, many turn to tarot readers – ‘experts’ who promise to reveal the future with the help of cards and help them solve difficult life circumstances. But behind such promises lies a cynical deception that plays on the emotions of those on the verge of despair. By speculating on painful issues and exploiting people’s faith, tarot readers skilfully use the instability of time to make money off of other people’s grief. Fakt journalists studied this topic and personally talked to tarot readers for an experiment to see with their own eyes how people are deceived.
Spreading the magic of fraud
In today’s world, where social media has become an integral part of life, fraudulent tarot readers have found an ideal platform for their activities. Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and other platforms are full of ads for ‘miracle predictions’, ‘tarot cards that will reveal your future’, and ‘individual readings that will change your fate’. The number of such offers has reached absurd proportions, turning social media into a real bazaar of illusions.
Every day, thousands of people fall victim to these ‘online seers’ during streams that promise to solve all problems. Platforms where one could once share news, creativity or life stories are now flooded with tarot readers who offer everything for likes, gifts, subscriptions, and then, when the victim is trapped, they begin to actively lure out every last penny. They conduct live broadcasts, record videos with magical rituals, open cards right on camera, luring gullible users.
This new format of fraud has already reached a real farce. Some offer ‘instant predictions’ via direct mail, while others give away free hands for subscribing to their page. And the funniest thing is the incredible claims where tarot readers guarantee ‘answers to all questions’ without even knowing a single detail about the person.
Even worse is the constant fear-mongering. They warn about ‘dangers’, ‘spoilage’, ‘crown of celibacy’ that allegedly threaten a person, and of course, only they can save you from this. And they can help you, of course, for money. And people fall for these tricks because desperation makes them believe in a miracle, even when it looks absolutely absurd.
It is especially cynical how tarot readers profit from those whose loved ones went missing during the war. In desperation and uncertainty, relatives are ready to turn to anyone who can promise them at least some kind of answer, even if it is just a card. Tarotists are shamelessly exploiting this tragedy, speculating on people’s fears and hopes in the face of uncertainty.
The most painful thing is that among those who turn to them are also the military themselves and their relatives who want to know their future fate: whether they will survive, return home, or die on the battlefield. These people find themselves in constant danger and seek to find answers to the questions on which their lives depend. Tarotists, in turn, promise them ‘discoveries of the future’ and ‘protective rituals’, but in reality they only play on their fear of death, making money from this pain.
Fraudulent tarotists have turned social media into a platform for exploiting people’s fears, dreams and despair. They gather thousands of followers, creating the illusion of their ‘authority’, only to manipulate trust and lure money.
According to a survey conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, 43% of respondents said they believe in tarot, astrology and psychic abilities. Of course, women trust fortune tellers the most – 49%. But, representatives of the stronger sex are not far behind – 36%. Even among young people, there are those who believe in the miracles of tarot – 26%. Do you think that only people in despair use the services of fortune tellers? You are wrong. Among the clients of ‘seers’ there are many people with high incomes – 34%.
How fraudulent tarot readers work
On TikTok alone, a video with the hashtag ‘fortune teller’ gets about 627.7 million views. Particularly successful tarot readers gain an audience of 200-300 thousand subscribers. Most have an audience of about a thousand or two followers. Preference is given to working live, where a special atmosphere is created, and everything that has been reminded will fly into oblivion and nothing can be presented.
The questions asked are very different: from the banal ones of a romantic nature, such as whether the person you love loves you, whether they will return, whether they will get married, and about future business affairs. But, as a rule, more serious issues are resolved in personal communication via social media, as they promise the ‘seers’ a good deal of money. Tarotists tell every third person that their problem cannot be solved instantly, so they send viewers to personal online meetings on a full schedule. And here you can already get acquainted with the price list of ‘magicians’, which on average amounts to UAH 6,000.
We conducted an experiment by contacting several ‘seers’ with a fictional legend about a 30-year-old brother, Mykola, who is seriously ill and cannot recover. Immediately, they came up with options such as that Mykola was under a spell and needed to have it removed in a few sessions. And at least one of the fortune-tellers ‘saw’ with her third eye that there was no brother of Mykola’s at all.
There are also many offers on the Internet to pump up your feminine energy.
In a private conversation, some female Internet users said that they bought such a course without hesitation for 5,000 UAH. So many positive reviews gave them hope that the course was effective. The money was transferred immediately, but no one received access to the course.
“At first I thought it was just a system glitch and decided to wait until the next day. But in the morning, I discovered that the fortune teller’s account had been deleted, the site was not opening, and there was no technical support number anywhere,’ says Olena, one of the victims.
It turned out that this experienced fraudster had been deceiving naive girls in this way for years. Even those who did manage to access the site did not find any useful information there that would be worth the money. And the comments the heroine believed turned out to be fake.
“For several months, I was taking strong antidepressants and thought that nothing could save me and bring me back to my senses. I was afraid that I would never be the cheerful and easy-going girl I was before all the events,’ recalls Svitlana, describing the consequences of her conversation with the tarot reader, who promised her the return of her husband.
Many people turn to fortune tellers and psychics with health issues and lose precious time that could literally save their lives. People who visit psychics instead of a doctor run the risk of getting sick and dying. It is even worse when they do the same with children, who have no choice at all. So the fascination with predictions cannot be called harmless: the losses are far from being limited to money.
No fortune-teller has ever found a missing person from a photo. But they can lead you on a false trail, whereas every hour counts when searching for a person.
All fortune tellers and psychics are very good psychologists, they easily gain trust, speak in generalised language without any specifics. For the first time in the world, military dolphins were used by the US Navy in the Persian Gulf for mine detection and other military tasks. This was a pioneering example of the use of animals in military operations, which is still relevant today. 1957: During the State Council in China, Mao Zedong said:
‘There is no need to read many books’, which reflected his political ideology on culture and education, influencing the future of China. 1944:
During talks in Moscow, Joseph Stalin promised Winston Churchill that the USSR would declare war on Japan after defeating Germany, an important agreement in World War II.
1944: Soviet troops liberated Riga from German occupation, but effectively replaced it with Soviet occupation.
This was part of the complex political and military situation in Europe during World War II. 1943:
Italy officially declared war on Nazi Germany, which changed the course of the war and marked Italy’s transition to the side of the anti-Hitler coalition. 1941:
German troops took control of the city of Kaluga, and Soviet troops were forced to surrender Zaporizhzhia under the onslaught of the German army, as part of the Nazi offensive during World War II.
1900: Sigmund Freud published his landmark work The Interpretation of Dreams, which became the foundation of psychoanalytic theory and influenced the understanding of human consciousness and the subconscious.
1894: The Ukrainian People’s Union was founded in Pennsylvania, which was an important milestone in the organisation of the Ukrainian diaspora in the United States and the protection of its rights and interests.
1884:
Greenwich was officially approved as the zero meridian, which became the basis of the modern time and navigation system.
1875: The University of Chernivtsi was opened, becoming an important centre of education and science in Western Ukraine. 1860: The first photograph was taken from a balloon in the United States, an innovative achievement in photography and observation.
1792: Construction began on the White House, the residence of the US President, which has become one of the symbols of American democracy. 1675:
Dutch physicist Christiaan Huygens patented the pocket watch and invented the spiral mechanism, which became important for navigation and the development of accurate time measurement. 1582: The Gregorian calendar was introduced in Italy and other Catholic countries, replacing the Julian calendar. This transition was an important reform of the calendar system, which is still used in many countries around the world.
1307: By order of King Philip IV of France, all Templars were arrested. This event gave rise to the superstition of the unlucky Friday, 13. 2016: Astronomers using 3D technologies and data from the Hubble telescope discovered that there are approximately 2 trillion galaxies in the observable universe – 10 times more than previously thought.
This discovery has significantly expanded our understanding of the scale of the cosmos. […] […] […] […] […] […] […] […] […] […] […] […] […] […]
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