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Welcome to BadPsychics, your trusted resource for uncovering the truth behind fake psychics and debunking supernatural claims. We are committed to promoting skepticism and critical thinking, providing you with clear and factual information about the paranormal and pseudoscientific practices. At BadPsychics, we celebrate the power of science and rational inquiry. Our mission is to expose fraudulent psychics and unverified supernatural phenomena, empowering you with knowledge.
3 August 2020
Do you want an article written about you removed from BadPsychics? Here is how.
For so many years, many many years, we have exposed psychics/mediums on this site, but we have never really given a guideline for how a psychic can have an article about them removed.
Now why would they want an article removed? Well we rank very high on Google for a start, so anyone searching for a psychic's name, may very well come across this website and a negative article about them.
I do not accept bribes, quite a few have tried. I do not listen to threats, I have seen and heard it all before.
So if you want to have a single article removed, or even all articles about you removed, you only need to do a couple of things.
1. Publish online a video of you looking at the camera stating the following.
"My name is [insert name], I am not really psychic, I do not have magic powers, I cannot see the future or the past through any kind of supernatural ability. I do not communicate with the dead. What I do is an act, specifically a psychic/mediumship act. It is purely for entertainment purposes only.
2. Publish that same statement as text on your own official website, or official social media page.
Once you have done that, send me a link to the video and the text. And upon checking, I will remove whatever you like about you specifically, from this site.
Really! That's it. Just do that one simple thing, that being honest. And all is forgiven and forgotten. You can carry on doing what you do, and I will not care, I will not report on it, I will not expose it. And as long as you keep that video and statement online, then as far as I am concerned I have no interest in you or anything else you say or do.
I wont even publish the video statement either. As long as it is on your own site and stays there, then as far as I am concerned you do not exist in the same Universe as me.
Who wants to take me up on the challenge? No tricks. No secret articles. I will do as I say.
Surely doing this is much cheaper in the long run than wasting money on lawyers who will only tell you, you don't have a leg to stand up.
By Jon Donnis
29 July 2020
I Tricked Psychics Into Contacting FAKE People - By Jaack Maate
Psychic Mediums claim to speak to your passed loved ones, whilst charging extortionate amounts of money to do so. Are they real? Today, I decided I'd try and find out.
https://www.youtube.com/c/jaack
Links for those in need:
Cruse: http://www.cruse.org.uk/home
Cruse Helpline - 0808 503 4193
NHS: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/coping-with-bereavement/
BEAD: https://www.beadproject.org.uk/
G ENCOUNTER: https://www.griefencounter.org.uk/
30 June 2020
What to do if you believe you have been scammed by James Higgins TV Psychic Medium or anyone else
In October 2018, Bad Psychics published an article entitled “Why you should avoid James Higgins Psychic Medium, which you can read here.
Much to even our surprise, it provoked a huge response – as you can see from the comments section. He now ranks as our most complained-about psychic ever with posts such as these:
Please note that all images can be clicked on and enlarged to make easier to read.
However, as appalling as his alleged behaviour is here, things have recently taken an even darker turn. In the last week alone, we have been flooded with messages, all telling very similar disturbing stories. We therefore felt it was important to do a follow-up article with information about this and advice on what to do if you ever make the mistake of paying for a reading from a psychic/medium.
James Higgins’s latest scheme
If you visit Mr. Higgins’s Facebook page, you’ll see that he has now amassed several thousand followers. A closer look will reveal how he has done so. He live-streams videos practically every day, asking people to send him messages if they want the chance to get a free reading. The word ‘free’ is guaranteed to grab people’s attention – and it’s also a sure-fire way of getting his page numbers up. Especially since he also tells his followers that they must share his videos and like his page to take part.
Needless to say, many people messaged him in the hope of winning. They then got responses like these:
And these:
And these:
Can you spot the differences?
Nope! Despite shameless claims such as “you are one of the first I feel drawn to”, and “I believe there is something you need to know”, they’re all identical automated replies – with just the recipients’ first names changed.
But sad to say, many people did fall for this, clicked on the attached link which took them to his ‘Spirit HQ’ page, and paid around £32+ each for a reading.
It should be mentioned here that most of the customers only did so because they had suffered bereavements, were feeling very vulnerable, and were desperate to hear from loved ones again. In fact, to illustrate this, here is a selection of just a few of the distressed messages which we have received over the last few days.
Think for a moment how despicable it is to take advantage of people who are grieving. But I’m afraid it gets worse. Because not only did his customers never receive their readings, they just got more spam when they tried to make enquiries:
And then to top everything off, they were blocked from his page when they asked for refunds!
As a result of all this, we’ve been inundated with messages from his customers asking us what to do.
Well, in answer to this, we have three pieces of advice.
1. Get Your Money Back
If you paid by PayPal, log in to your account and open a dispute in PayPal’s Resolution Center.
Information on how to do this is here on PayPal’s official site. https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/security/buyer-protection-resolution
And you can also find step-by-step instructions in this article:
https://medium.com/@grailed/how-to-file-a-paypal-claim-ae9372cb371f
If you paid via any other method, contact your bank or credit card company.
For those in the UK, you should be entitled to a refund under the ‘Chargeback Scheme’. But make sure you do this within 120 days of paying for a reading.
Further information can be found here on the Citizens’ Advice Bureau website:
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/somethings-gone-wrong-with-a-purchase/getting-your-money-back-if-you-paid-by-card-or-paypal/
2. Report! Report! Report!
If you ever experience a situation like this with any (England/Wales-based) psychic, you MUST report them to Trading Standards!
If Trading Standards get enough complaints, they will investigate and can take the psychic to court or stop them operating.
To contact them, you must file a report via the Citizens’ Advice Bureau. Instructions are here:
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/get-more-help/report-to-trading-standards/
3. NEVER EVER Pay For A Psychic Reading Again
I have looked closely into the psychic world for over 15 years (while Jon Donnis has investigated it for even longer). Neither of us has ever come across conclusive proof of anyone having psychic powers. In our experience, psychics/mediums always fall into one of two categories.
a) Deluded people who believe they have psychic powers
b) Con-artists/tricksters who exploit grieving and/or vulnerable people.
It’s a sad fact that happy people rarely consult psychics/mediums. The psychic market usually consists of people who are down on their luck for one reason or another, and are looking for someone to bring them hope. But believe me, a psychic or medium will never provide that! As the late great skeptic Robert S. Lancaster, among others, once observed, psychics/mediums will only:
i) Take money under false pretences from people who are in a very vulnerable state emotionally
ii) Make these vulnerable people so dependent on them that the victims will not be able to move on with their lives. Unfortunately, there have even been cases where victims have been scammed out of their life savings and ended up in debt because they believed what the psychics/mediums told them and kept going back for more.
iii) By inventing messages from people who have passed, the psychics/mediums will be stepping on the true memories of your loved ones.
And on that note, I’ll end by saying that if you ever have problems or feel depressed for whatever reason, there is no shame in asking for help. There are professionals who can offer confidential support and unlike psychics/mediums, they will not charge you a penny.
If you are in the UK, you can contact the Samaritans for free on 116 123 or via their website:
https://www.samaritans.org
Or if you are in the USA, you can call the Lifeline Network on 1-800-273-8255, again for free, or contact them via https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/talk-to-someone-now/ (N.B. This service is also available to those who may not be contemplating suicide).
Both phonelines are there for you 24/7 – day and night.
Addendum
As at the time of writing, James Higgins's main Facebook page has been deactivated. He has now moved his business to his Spirit HQ page, and is bizarrely blaming Facebook for “temporarily unpublishing” his Facebook page because of “high levels of engagement”. He also rather audaciously claims that he thinks he “holds a record in relation to levels of engagement and followers”. Make of that what you will.
In addition to that, some people have contacted us about a private Facebook account in his name (and with his photo) that appears to be messaging people and sending out friend requests.
However, we believe that this account is NOT actually James Higgins, but another scammer who is trying to cash in on fans/followers. See the screenshot.
Notice that this scammer wants money to be sent to the PayPal account of someone called Wycliffe Mutsami.
No doubt this is an impersonator from Africa. This is a VERY common trick that scammers (particularly from countries like Nigeria) use. They set up fake accounts in the names of celebrities or people who have a lot of Facebook followers and try to befriend their fans to get money out of them.
DO NOT accept any friend requests from this account or click on any (phishing) links it sends you. In fact, do not engage with it at all. Just block and report it.
--- The following paragraph is written by Jon Donnis---
Article written by someone who wishes to remain Anonymous, I have verified their identity.
Please understand that the amount of abuse someone gets for daring to speak out against people like James Higgins is huge, as such if you do want to be abusive you will be met with overwhelming kindness, facts, and knowledge. You wont scare us, you wont make us go away.
26 June 2020
Could a Psychic Guess When a Slot's Going to Pay Out?
There are many mysteries that people haven’t figured out yet. One such mystery is the existence of psychics, and why despite how many times they are exposed, you have a constant stream of new claimants.
There have been many supposed psychics throughout the history of mankind and one of the most famous is Nostradamus. He was a seer that seemingly managed to predict several things in the future, and although believers in him may need to decipher what he said as a way to make his prediction fit current events, there are many who think he was the real deal, but there are many others who just see a desperation of believers to make things fit.
Psychics claim to have what is known as ESP and they say that this helps them predict the future and even read minds. This sounds too good to be true and you know the old saying about things that seem to good to be true. There have been lots of fake psychics that have been exposed throughout the years, something that we on this site have done more than most. We have yet to find that elusive "real" psychic.
If a true psychic existed then he or she will have the power to predict what happens next. That would be especially helpful if the psychic is a casino enthusiast. The person would know when to increase or decrease a bet, when to switch from one game to another and would find himself/herself banned from a lot of casinos.
The thing about casinos is that most of them are online now. There are plenty of such sites that offer lots of games to players. The one game that would be a challenge for a psychic would be any slot game. Sites like Casimba Slots offer more than one slot games so players have a variety to choose from. They also throw in some bonuses to make things interesting. And to make things fair they use a Random Number Generator. Now if you were really psychic, surely this is the easiest way to prove it?
The Random Number Generator
This is something that every casino site has on offer. The generator makes sure that every sequence it pulls out is a random one. That’s why slot games would be a challenge for a psychic. They would probably know what game to pick and when to pick it so they could get a payout.
The True Psychic vs an Expert Slot Player
If you’ve been paying attention to history then you’ll see that psychics aren’t that much concerned with payouts from online slot games, or from Casinos at all. In fact there isn't a single psychic in history who has come forward and said, "watch this, I will take $1, and make it $1 million". Ask yourself why that is.
Master slot players might be lucky a few times since they’ve played a game for a long time which is why they might be able to “sense” what’s coming next. But usually that sense comes from watching a machine over hours, working out how much money is in the machine as it has been used by other players. On an online Slot machine, this isn't possible, so it really does come down to chance, or if you were a real psychic then it would be your abilities, yet instead psychics "waste" their time giving readings to vulnerable people for $20. Still think they are real?
Unfortunately, the world is short on psychics that would test their skills in online slot games. And if any have tried it, then they have failed every single time. And that is why you never ever see a psychic make a claim that is easily debunked. Gotta keep things vague!
8 May 2020
Sylvia Browne Predicted the Covid19 Coronavirus and Skeptics are going crazy!
UPDATE: Please Read This First
I hate that I have to write this, but due to the abuse I am getting from the so called Skeptic community I think it is best I say a couple of things.
1. READ THE WHOLE DAMNED ARTICLE!
2. The whole point of this article is about the difference between a good skeptic and a great skeptic. Taking a deliberate "click bait" type headline and breaking it all down. A good skeptic just debunks a claim. A great skeptic gives the claim the benefit of the doubt, gives the claim every possible chance to be real, puts the claim on a pedestal and STILL debunks it. And by doing so removes all doubt.
3. If you read the whole article I actually expose Sylvia's claim, yet I have skeptics who only read half the article and then call me a "Sylvia Browne Apologist". You people are not true skeptics, you are imbeciles. And you are the very people I reference in the headline about "going crazy".
By Jon Donnis
I have always wanted to write a ridiculous click bait type headline like that, and now I have my chance.
So before I start let me make a few things clear. Sylvia Browne is dead, she died on 20th November 2013, and up until the day she died she maintained that she was a real psychic medium, who could communicate with the dead and see the future. That was a lie. She was a fraud. Like literally, a convicted fraudster. In 1992, Browne and her then-husband Kenzil Dalzell Brown were indicted on several charges of investment fraud and grand theft, she was found guilty.
So to make absolutely clear where I stand on Sylvia Brown, she was a fake, a fraud, a con-women, a charlatan, in fact I was exposing her as such decades ago, and in fact I helped the late great Robert Lancaster start his "Stop Sylvia" website, and when he started that, I stepped back from writing about her, as he was going to only concentrate on her.
Now with that out of the way, let's get back to the lovely click bait headline, that any hack at the Tabloid media would be proud of.
Sylvia Browne predicted the Covid19 Coronavirus.
This was bizarrely first brought up by everyone's favourite tooth shaped celebrity Kim Kardashian.
Kourtney just sent this on our group chat pic.twitter.com/XyjGajY71d— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) March 12, 2020
Sylvia wrote a book in 2008 called "End of Days" whereby she recorded many future predictions.
And yes in that book is the very passage that Kim shared on her twitter account.
She wrote
"In around 2020 a severe pneumonia-like illness will spread throughout the globe, attacking the lungs and the bronchial tunes and resisting all known treatments. Almost more baffling than the illness itself will be the fact that it will suddenly vanish as quickly as it arrived, attack again ten years later, and then disappear completely."
Now let us ignore the ten years later bit, as we will have to wait until 2030 to see if that happens.
So did she get this prediction correct? Yes.
Unlike the vast vast majority of psychic predictions she was very specific. She gave a year, she described the symptoms of the disease, and how no treatments would work.
These claims are objectively true. Let us look closer at what she said.
"around 2020"
Well the virus officially started in 2019, but it became a global pandemic in 2020, so for her to use the word "around" is actually more accurate than it is vague. A lot of skeptics have tried to use that as an excuse to dismiss it.
"a severe pneumonia-like illness will spread throughout the globe, attacking the lungs and the bronchial tunes"
From a laypersons point of view, she perfectly describes the symptoms of the Covid19 Coronavirus. This is not some vague "he felt a pain in his chest before he died" type of claim you often get from mediums. This is an accurate and very specific description of the main symptoms of the virus that people suffer with who get very ill and then die.
She also stated it "will spread throughout the globe", again this is objectively true. She could have easily just said the United States, in fact if I was to make a vague future prediction, it would be easier to just say one country, that way if there was a bad flu outbreak that year (which there was at the end of 2019) you could claim that you were correct. But instead she clearly states it will spread around the globe. Unlike any other major outbreak of this kind in history, this virus has spread around the globe, to more countries than SARS, MERS, or any of the big name coronaviruses you will have heard of.
Next up she stated "resisting all known treatments" again so far this is objectively true. China knew of the virus at least 6 months ago, if not longer, but at the very least 6 months, so after 6 months can you name a single confirmed treatment that works? There has been some promising results with a few treatments, but at the best they may help you recover a couple of days sooner if at all. So 6 months after the virus is out there, and we have no truly workable, accepted treatments. Now that doesn't mean there wont be one, but as of writing this, her prediction is objectively true on the treatments aspect, and even if there is a treatment found tomorrow, that's 6 months worth of her being right.
The rest of her prediction we can't answer since we don't know if it will just vanish itself, or if it will come back, so that has to be left open.
Up to this point of the article I can see you all scratching your heads and asking "I thought Jon was supposed to expose fake psychics and mediums, yet all he has done so far is point out Sylvia Browne was right".
And now we get to the problem I have with this whole story. As skeptics we are supposed to look at the evidence and build our opinion based on that evidence, and so far pretty much every skeptic has blindly dismissed Sylvia Browne's prediction, just rubbished it without any real explanation. I have seen some skeptics just say she was vague, others just refuse to even talk about it, yet I have shown here she was not at all vague, she was incredible specific. Others have pointed out that she was a proven fraud so what's the point of giving any credence to this prediction, and yes there is some weight to that argument, but there is also the counter "black swan theory". In other words it only takes one black swan to prove that black swans exist. (They do exist by the way, the theory was talked about when there was a presumption that none existed).
So where does that leave us?
It leaves me annoyed with the skeptic community, for they do the very thing they accuse others of doing, ignoring the evidence, being closed minded, dismissing out of hand something just because it seems impossible or unlikely.
As skeptics the thing we demand more than anything from psychics is for them to be specific, we don't want vague comments that could apply to anyone, we want specific dates, times, names, descriptions, we harp on about this all the time, and this one time we get the kind of super specific example of a psychic prediction, and the skeptic community buries its head in the sand.
I refuse to do that.
So I am stating here that in 2008, in her book "End of Days", Sylvia Browne made the single greatest, most accurate, self proclaimed "psychic" prediction in history. Her prediction on any level of understanding was correct and it could yet further come true as time passes.
But now the big problem. I am a skeptic, I have accepted that her prediction came true, it was not at all vague, how do I deal with this. Quite simply really. Of the thousands and thousands of predictions she made in her life, she got one right. It's that simple. She had a failure rate of 99.99999%. She was a fraud, a fake, and just once, she got something right.
If I make a pinhole in a wall, pick up a handful of sand and throw it at the wall, and one single grain of sand lands in that pinhole, I can claim correctly that I threw a single grain of sand and it landed in a pinhole, something so impossible to do, that the fact I did it means I have magic sand throwing powers.
Now we can talk about how and where she came up with the idea of the prediction, well the SARS outbreak happened a few years before she wrote her prediction, that virus infected over 8000 people around the world, killing 774. It infected people in 29 different countries, so very much a "global" disease.
But here is where it gets interesting, the SARS virus came, it then went, it then came back and then it disappeared, and there has not been a single case of it in over 15 years. Sound familiar?
There was no treatment for SARS and no vaccine was every created, and in fact Covid19 is a strain of that virus, so if we had have developed a treatment for SARS it would likely help in the fight against Covid19.
When you look at the SARS outbreak, the lack of treatment etc, it kinda sounds like what Sylvia predicted does it not?
Since she released her book there has actually been 4 different outbreaks that had she used a different year in her prediction, they would also fit.
Swine Flu 2009-2010 (200,000 Dead)
MERS 2012-2020 (850 Dead)
Ebola 2014-2016 (11,300 Dead)
Covid19 2019-2020 (270,000+ Dead)
Remember no where in her prediction did she actually state number of people who would die.
So if a virus had killed less than 1000 people like MERS has then her prediction is just as accurate as Swine Flu which killed 200,000 people.
Before the SARS outbreak, with the exception of HIV, there had not really been any major worldwide virus since the late 60s and the Hong Kong flu.
The question you have to ask yourself, would she still have made the same prediction had the SARS virus never have happened? or if it had not gotten media attention? Probably not.
So when you look at these things as a whole, when you put things into context, then you can figure out the more likely reasons behind the prediction, but to just dismiss it, is a mistake, for when you just dismiss such things, you make yourself a target of the deluded.
Never back away from such a claim, I didn't, and I'd like to think I explained away her prediction pretty well. But let us not pretend that her prediction was not in itself, and on its own, and without further context, the single greatest "psychic" prediction in history, it was. But that still does not make her psychic.
By Jon Donnis.
(Some of my numbers might be off, or might change as time passes, so please if anything is wrong feel free to correct me in the comments, also please feel free to leave your opinions, and if you think I am wrong, then say so.)
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