Of course you can debate whether or not any psychic isn't really a scam artist, as nobody has ever proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that people really do have psychic ability. However, assuming that there are true psychics in the world, then how do you tell the real ones from the ones who are just out to take your money?

In all honesty, it isn't easy to tell when you are being scammed as most of the scammers are very well trained in the area of the occult that they specialize in. In other words, they know just enough to sound convincing and legitimate. This makes it all the harder to pick out the cheats. There are, however, some things to look out for.

One thing is the price you are charged for the service and whether or not the psychic tries to get you to have future readings and how hard they may push for this. A legit psychic, depending on how well known they are, will probably do a reading for somewhere between $15 and $100 for a half hour reading. Most really legitimate ones are at the lower end of the price range. They try to give you a lot of value for your money and this is commendable. However, there are those who charge as much as $300 to $1000 for that same half hour reading. At the end they say that there is still more that they need to tell you but they don't have the time in one reading. They then suggest that you make another appointment. For the most part, these psychics are the scam artists and need to be avoided at all costs. Before you agree to a reading ask what it will cost. This will give you a pretty good idea if it's legit or not.

Another form of a psychic scam, and this is really subtle, is to advertise to people who have been the victim of a psychic scam. They put in the ad that if you have been the victim of a psychic scam that you should come to see them and they will work with you for as long as it takes to get your self confidence back. This is known as psychic dependency and is just the worst kind of psychic scam as it prays on the insecurities of the poor people who have already been scammed. Any time you see an ad like this, more likely than not, it has been posted by someone running a scam.

Then we have the phone scams. These are where you call up a 900 number to get some kind of reading by some well known psychic. In truth, on the other end is just a person who has been set up with a phone by the phone company. The scammer's job is to keep the unsuspecting victim on the phone for as long as possible as they are being billed by the minute and the charges are astronomical. Most of these scammers are just very good actors and incredibly skilled at keeping people intrigued.

Of course there are other scams that we'll cover in future articles. These are the ones to be most on the lookout for. By knowing what to look for you can avoid being a victim of a psychic scam.