Love can make you do crazy things – even spending thousands of pounds on shady love spells. As reported by the South China Morning Post, a number of Shanghai women only found their heartbreak worsened after being scammed by apparent fortune tellers on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.
In an October horoscope video, the phoney fortune tellers claimed to be experts in their field, promising accurate readings. Like many who find themselves on the spiritual side of TikTok, a woman named Mai was going through a transitional period following a breakup with her boyfriend. In a desperate attempt to win her back, she, unfortunately, fell victim to a huge scam.
The first payment Mai sent to the scammers posing as spiritualists was 599¥ (approximately £72). “The fortune-tellers then convinced her to purchase a series of magic rituals they promised would bring him back to her,” SCMP reported. After being offered “relationship rituals,” she sent the fortune tellers 13,000¥ (approximately £1566). Their services included a “week-long black magic ritual” where they would borrow “supernatural power from the devil” to make her ex-boyfriend “think of nobody but her.”
Eventually, the scammers were reported to the Shanghai police. It was revealed that the ploy was run by a group of individuals who had collected 800,000¥ (approximately £96,00) from their victims.
So, no matter how badly you want your boyfriend back, we’d recommend you stay clear of TikTok spiritualists.
