Phony Texas psychic used ‘karmic debt’ to scam victims out of $2.5M, feds say
A Texas couple posing as psychics used the guise of “karmic debts” to scam victims out of more than $2.5 million, federal attorneys in Washington state said.
Bridgette Doreen Evans 47, and her partner, 44-year-old Vinnie John Uwanawich, who are from Frisco, made their initial appearance in an East Texas federal courtroom on Wednesday. Evans and Uwanawich face charges of wire and mail fraud in the scheme, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
Evans, also known as Jolene Travis or Joy Paige, allegedly advertised psychic services on social media to people struggling with dating, divorce, death and other personal issues, according to court documents. Evans told the victims that she could perform rituals to determine the cause of their misfortune, prosecutors said.
Ultimately, Evans allegedly told the victims that their curse was tied to finances, and that the only way to remove the curse was to liquidate their holdings and send the money to her in cash or gold bars, according to court documents.
Evans told victims she would “cleanse” the money and then return it to the victims, according to the news release. She returned small amounts of money to the clients to earn their trust, but never returned the majority of the $2.5 million sum, prosecutors said.
Uwanawich is accused of helping Evans, who had been previously convicted of similar frauds in Texas and Florida, by managing the bank accounts tied to the scheme, selling gold coins, transferring and spending the proceeds from the frauds, authorities said.
During part of the scheme, Evans was incarcerated in Florida, and co-conspirators used her alias to keep up the scam while she was in prison, according to the statement.
The FBI is still investigating the scam and urges anyone who believes they may have been a victim to report the crime to www.ic3.gov.
