Complaint Review: Psychic Linda in New York City - New York New York

(Hi, I posted this on a psychic scam website a few years ago recounting my agonizing ordeal of being scammed by this supposed psychic and came across this report about a psychic scammer based in NYC and think the public should know of this lady too) As you read this you might be thinking common or instinctive sense from beginning to end of this ordeal would have told me not to or immediately stop my self-involvement when things started to get shady. Believe me, I contested and was suspicious every time money was asked. But like most people who tell of their account of being a victim of a psychic scam these psychic scammers are very skilled in convincing that they have the gift and power to help you and ability to extract information from you. In which their overall objective is too emotionally control and psychologically take advantage of you by turning to your vulnerability and fears which is frightening!! They try to win your trust and loyalty to let them confide in you, so they can use that information (whether emotional or financial) against you. That they know the cause of your problems and that they have the power to help you, that whatever needs to be done (in most cases asking for money) will benefit you in the end. They make sure that they put their hooks onto you to get you to still want to be involved in their scheme by enticing you to come back for more. In my case, this fraud had me call her constantly and every weekend to let her know how I was doing and occasionally provide me bits of information of who supposedly cursed me and promised to later find out exactly who cursed me (which she never did!!). She was very convincing wanting me to believe and have faith in what she was saying and power of what she could do. She seemed empathetic in listening to my concerns and problems. Stating that there was no pressure to this if I didnt want to do it, allowing me to think it over and that even if afterwards if I had doubts about it she would give me the money right back. From the basis of that I assumed she was the genuine thing. Her name is supposedly "Laura Millerwich" or Arroyo (labeled on her mailbox, I found later on) and she resides as well as her place of business at the time though she may work in other areas is at: 7 West 24th Street in NYC, tel: (212) 645-1994 & cell: (646) 263-1397. She is in her 30s and says she is of Greek descent with Mediterranean or Hispanic features, but she capable of changing her disguises. Her blond hair apparently seems to have been bleached at the time that I had been approached by her. I later found out she occasionally displays a fold out advertisement sign of her supposed services or hands out flyers at the end of the corner walk where she resides. Except for the $300 fee she charged and refused to give back, I was able to get all of my $1,600 back. An ordeal beginning to end for about a month till I wore her out of calling and calling her. Plus also the idea of me knowing and seeing where she lived, having her home phone # and cell phone # she had given to me, having already seen her husband, family members - who I believed lived throughout the apartment building and her very young children must of scared her a bit. Plus when I think back to it based on the behavior of her children, I believed she used her own children in the scheme. Which found to be quite pathetic and disturbing as a parent myself. I also later found out the super/owner of the apartment building she lived in worked at the yoga business next (Universal Force Yoga - 7 West 24th street between Broadway & Sixth Avenue www.universalforceyaoga.com) to the building. I never did report her to the owner but wish I had because I later found out by law if the owner knew that an illegal business was being conducted by a tenant in the apartment building it would be grounds for eviction - especially if there is the possibly of getting the cops involved. It was late winter of 2002 when she approached me. I was walking down the street and saw her from a distance handing out flyers. As I was walking down towards her, I noticed she was looking down on the street not looking at anyone. As I was walking towards her direction she handed me a flyer. The instant I took it she looked straight at my face and said something though I can't remember her exact words, but it was something along the lines of about my soul mate is out there but I know him and currently quarreling with him and he doesn't know that I am his soul mate yet; that there this darkest surrounding me and standing in the way of my happiness. That Im in trouble need to be read and that she would read me for free. I was so enthralled by what she had said I went with her to her home right up the block and there she read my palm. She said that someone years before had apparently placed a darkness upon me (yes, a supposed curse but in her own elaborate wording). I was astonished to hear of the tough times she knew I had been going through (psychic scammers use questioning methods in order to draw out information out of a person, so they can appear as though they are psychic), that the cause of this was this curse placed upon me, how it affected my past, present and how it will affect my future even worser. That if I wanted to be happy she had the gift and power to remove this curse placed on me and be able to do that for a one time fee of only $300. So I came back with the money and she told me that she would do some meditation that night at her (supposed) church on focusing on how to help me. She told me to come back the following day and to bring back a red rose and an envelope. So I came in the following day and she told me from her meditation last night, she saw the soul of a person who placed this darkness upon me. That this person went to someone to have this done and they used things that were not natural and holy to commit this act. She told me make three wishes and pull the petals from the rose she instructed me to bring and drop them in the envelope and write my name and birth date. She said she would keep the rose and meditate on it that evening and find what she could find out at let me know the following day. The following day, she said that based upon her mediation she found out that this person hadnt done this to me once but to me nine times and that she needed to do further mediation that weekend to find out further information of what needs to be done. She said that I needed to bring the following week nine bills of $100, an uncooked egg, white cotton underwear, nine leaves (yes, - the egg trick) and the envelope. She gave me incense and told me to light and place all those items under my bed that weekend. I said I would be able to gather the items except that the money would be a problem since I didnt have that kind of money on me. She said to get whatever largest quantity I could find, so I managed to get $50 bills. I placed all the items under my bed and lit the incense that weekend and contacted her right after as she instructed me to. So the following Monday I came in. Though I cant remember all the step by step details of what she did, I do recall she blessed me with some holy water (probably tap water), took the money and folded all the money into a shape like star, had me recite some gibberish prayer that she was recanting, put the money on my forehead and chest and put the money in the envelope for me to keep. Then she did the egg trick having my eyes closed and having me reciting again another gibberish prayer (a way to keep you distracted so they can slip whatever disgusting gross thing onto the egg they just crack). When I opened my eyes I found a tiny wormy snake in the egg cracked and placed on top of the underwear I was told to bring. Afterwards, she told me based upon her meditation that weekend and only one snake being found in the egg there still lied more evil that had not been removed (that only one evil was removed but there was 2 more evils that had not been removed)- hence there was more work needed to be done in removing more evil. At home, she told me to light a white candle halfway with my initials engraved, leave a half way water filled jar under my bed and breathe into it 9 times a day, tie nine red ribbons around my fingers and toes and to bring $2,700 the next day (her explanation: $300 - three representing the trinity of the largest denomination X 9 the many times the curse had been placed upon me) for her to remove the evil from me and transferred to this money. She said that then afterwards I had a choice to have it destroyed before my eyes and buried in the ground where no human being would walk or lock it in a specially ordered box for several months to be placed on an alter of her church to be cleansed and be given back to me several months later. I told her it was going to be difficult since I didnt have that kind of money on me. She yelled at me saying if I really wanted to be happy I needed to rid myself of this that I should try to get as much as I could and to contact her through the week on the progress of the money. So I contacted her mid-week saying I could only get $900. She told me to light the rest of the candle and contact her on Sunday to set up a day. I contacted her on Sunday and then throughout the week until she said she was available to do it the following week. So I came to her home the following week and had her destroy the all money including the money in the white envelope by having her rip the money before my eyes or say for the least under my throat while she had me recite another prayer (another method they use - she had ripped some but not all of the bills as she crumpled them and left them to fall to the ground, the impression and sound that they were all being ripped when in fact they werent). Then she had me write up and sign a contract stating that I was loaning her the money. She then told me to come back the following day with the leftover candle wax I burned so she could mediate with it and to pick up a package of crystals, incense and holy water that she had order to for me to use that weekend. When I came in the next day, she did some sort of ritual cleansing on me and the only thing she gave me consisted of 2 incense and water mixed with incense to bath in (which I never used and threw away) and that the crystal she specially ordered would arrive in a few weeks and to contact her again that weekend. But then that weekend, realizing what I had done, I came to my senses and called her requesting for my money back and she said she would. Later that weekend she called me saying she had only half of the money and to pick it up on Monday and that she would give me the rest later on. That Monday, I went to her home and picked up the money. She said you would check later on this week or next to see if the church could give her the rest of the money. So for three weeks, I called and called. Mostly phone tagging her, with her each time giving me excuses that the church wasnt able to give her any money this week and she very busy and to call again later for in hopes that I would eventually give up in the end calling her. Realizing I wouldnt give up, she finally relented one day saying she had the money for me to pick up. I finally picked up the money and never spoke to her since.