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A couple from Texas was arrested recently and charged after allegedly scamming vulnerable people out of millions of dollars with a \u201cpsychic\u201d scam.<\/p>\n
The U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office, Western District of Washington, said that Bridgette Doreen Evans (a.k.a. Jolene Travis), 47, and her partner, Vinnie John Uwanawich, 44, of Frisco, Texas, are facing charges of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, four counts of wire fraud, and four counts of mail fraud (1).<\/p>\n
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First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd said in a DOJ release that the pair \u201ccame into the lives of these victims at a time when their judgement was clouded by emotional loss and feelings of hopelessness.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMs. Evans preyed upon their needs, convincing victims that she could \u2018remove a curse\u2019 and help them find love,\u201d Floyd said. \u201cIn truth, her scheme was simply to help herself to their wealth, leaving them further devastated.\u201d<\/p>\n
Millions were sent to the scammers <\/p>\n
Between April 2021 and July 2024, Evans and Uwanawich allegedly stole at least $2.5 million from at least three victims, the DOJ release says.<\/p>\n
Using the fake name Jolene Travis, Evans posted ads on social media for \u201cpsychic services,\u201d and her posts \u201cwere designed to attract people who were struggling with romantic or personal problems: people experiencing divorce, death of a loved one or feelings of isolation,\u201d the release alleges.<\/p>\n
The DOJ says that Evans allegedly told victims that she could solve their misfortune through readings and rituals; then, she would say that the \u201ccurse\u201d was related to their finances.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter asking for a detailed accounting of the victims\u2019 financial holdings, she would tell the victim the only way to remove the curse was to liquidate the holdings and send the money in gold coins or cash so that she could \u2018cleanse\u2019 the money,\u201d the release alleges.<\/p>\n
Evans would allegedly tell the victims she would return the money after it was \u201ccleansed,\u201d but only returned small amounts, in order to gain trust, the DOJ says.<\/p>\n
One victim in Washington state reportedly sent more than $2 million for \u201ccleansing\u201d of a curse; another victim supposedly sent $86,000; a third was out more than $258,000 after Evans allegedly convinced them to take out loans to buy her a Corvette and give her access to their credit cards, the release says.<\/p>\n
Story continues <\/p>\n
Uwanawich, Evans\u2019 husband, allegedly managed the money coming in through bank accounts, sold gold coins, and transferred and spent the victims\u2019 money, the DOJ says.<\/p>\n
The DOJ release also alleges that Evans used a fake name \u201cbecause she had previously been convicted of psychic frauds in Florida and Texas,\u201d and that part of the fraud scheme was allegedly carried on by co-conspirators while Evans was incarcerated in Florida.<\/p>\n
Read More: About 1 in 5 Americans over 50 has zero retirement savings \u2014 here’s the catch-up plan you can actually use<\/a><\/p>\n How to protect yourself from spiritual scams <\/p>\n The \u201cpsychic\u201d scammers seemed to have preyed on emotionally vulnerable people, which is textbook behavior from many kinds of scammers.<\/p>\n There are many types of confidence scams: romance scams (or catfishing); elder fraud; and investment, tech support and investment scams (2).<\/p>\n These kinds of scammers build trust with their victims, often entering their lives and quickly developing a strong bond. In the case of romance scammers, they\u2019ll use love bombing \u2014 intense, constant attention and affection, though typically with messages, and not in-person \u2014 to overwhelm and ensnare their victims (3).<\/p>\n Confidence scammers go after vulnerable people who are experiencing loneliness, grief or health issues, as well as older adults who may not be technologically savvy, or may be experiencing cognitive decline. They step in where there\u2019s a gap in someone\u2019s life, and they seem to fill it, but they\u2019re only there to take advantage.<\/p>\n When people are emotionally or cognitively vulnerable, they\u2019re less likely to have sound judgment, and the relief of having someone \u201cbe there\u201d for them can make it harder for victims to see what\u2019s happening.<\/p>\n Someone who otherwise would be able to spot the scam can suddenly find themselves overwhelmed by a scammer who knows just how to manipulate them.<\/p>\n This is why raising awareness about scammers\u2019 practices is so important \u2014 it could happen to anyone. Spreading awareness increases the likelihood that if someone you love does encounter a scammer, they might reach out and tell you what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n Because the other thing these types of scammers often do is convince their victims not to tell anyone what\u2019s going on. Maybe they\u2019ll say the relationship has to be secret; maybe they\u2019re impersonating<\/a> law enforcement and they say it will put others in danger if the victim tells anyone what\u2019s happening.<\/p>\n If someone new in your life tells you to keep things secret, do not ignore this red flag \u2014 you could be dealing with a scammer. And if someone in your life has suddenly become withdrawn, secretive, or they say they \u201ccan\u2019t tell you what\u2019s going on,\u201d alarm bells should be going off for you, too.<\/p>\n You May Also Like <\/p>\n Join 250,000+ readers and get Moneywise\u2019s best stories and exclusive interviews first \u2014 clear insights curated and delivered weekly. Subscribe now.<\/a><\/p>\n Article Sources <\/p>\n We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our ethics and guidelines<\/a>.<\/p>\n U.S. Department of Justice (1<\/a>); United States Secret Service (2<\/a>); AARP (3<\/a>)<\/p>\n This article originally appeared on Moneywise.com<\/a> under the title: Texas couple allegedly stole $2.5 million telling victims to send gold coins to ‘cleanse’ a curse<\/a><\/p>\n This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"shutterstock.com \/ Honour.kn A couple from Texas was arrested recently and charged after allegedly scamming vulnerable people out…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":336082,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2088,119994,240,119996,118551,119997,119998,27,29,28,1817,119995],"class_list":["post-336081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-doj","tag-doreen-evans","tag-frisco","tag-gold-coins","tag-jolene-travis","tag-mail-fraud","tag-romance-scammers","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-victims","tag-vinnie-john-uwanawich"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/336082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}