‘Black magic’: sham fortune-tellers arrested in China after woman pays US$1,870 for love spells to win boyfriend back
- Services promising magical solutions are extremely popular among young people in China
- Nearly 80 per cent of those under 30 have used fortune-telling services, according to a survey from March 2021
A Shanghai woman desperate to win back her boyfriend turned to “black magic” and was conned by a group of fake Chinese fortune-tellers into handing over 13,000 yuan (US$1,870).
The woman reported the crime to Shanghai police, who arrested a group of con artists who targeted desperate singles selling them love spells and rituals. They had netted 800,000 yuan (US$115,000) before they were caught.
The woman, surnamed Mai, met the scammers through a horoscope video that claimed to tell people’s fortunes on Douyin in October.
Mai initially paid 599 yuan (US$86) to have her fortune told and became excited after it was predicted she might get back with her boyfriend. The fortune-tellers then convinced her to purchase a series of magic rituals they promised would bring him back to her.
These included a “reunion ritual”, completed by sending her a video of two burning candles – one suggesting her boyfriend’s luck in new relationships had “burned out”, and the other moulded into a heart shape, promising her good luck in love.
Then came a week-long “black magic” ritual the sham fortune-tellers promised would borrow supernatural power from the devil to “heat up” her former relationship and make her ex-boyfriend, “think of nobody other than her”.
A list of services offered by the con artists was released by Shanghai police in December. It included a range of rituals and amulets priced from a few hundred to thousands of yuan (several hundred US dollars), targeting people desperate to change their love luck.
After the story became public, Chinese social media users had little empathy for Mai.
“Even black magic can’t cure her lovesickness,” commented one Weibo user.
“I’m happy for her ex-boyfriend that the rituals didn’t work,” said another person.
“A love relationship should be protected with true heart, not some black magic,” said a third Weibo user.
However, it is fairly common for young Chinese people to turn to spiritual services such as fortune telling, horoscopes, and tarot card readings.
Nearly 80 per cent of people under 30 have used fortune-telling services, according to a NetEase DataBlog survey published in March 2021.
On the Chinese video-sharing platform Bilibili, the top-rated video on tarot card reading had received 2.8 million views. On the popular horoscope app Cece, a top fortune-teller can make up to 2 million yuan (US$288,000) in one year, the app’s founder Ren Yongliang told the 21st Century Business Herald in 2021.
Despite the popularity of these services among young Chinese people, many claimed they did not believe in superstition and had dissuaded their parents from spending money on spiritual services.
Many said they were a fun placebo to help cope with pressure from school, work and dating.
