Milton 'psychic' charged with extortion, pretending to practise witchcraft

A Milton woman and self-declared psychic didn't see this one coming.The 32-year-old was charged withextortion, fraud and pretending to practise witchcraft on Friday.

Halton police say they first began investigating after a victim came forward claiming they had been defrauded of over $60,000 by the woman who owned a company called Milton Psychic.

Halton police believe that there may be other victims that have yet to come forward.

"What we typically see is a tendency for perpetrators to take advantage of persons when they are in their most vulnerable state,"Det. Sgt. Dave Constantini said in a news release.

Victims are tricked into believing something bad will happen to them unless they pay up, he added.

"We even see incidents where victims are required to make purchases and remit these purchases in order to be cleansed. Purchased items include: new cell phones, jewelry, appliances and gift cards."

Constantinialso saidthat alleged fraudsters usually rely on the victim's embarrassment to keep them from contacting police.