Source : Perth Now news
A psychic scammer who defrauded victims over two decades through fake blessings to combat curses and evil spirits has admitted running off with hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Maria Williams robbed people of significant savings and led to one woman being evicted from her home.
The now 50-year-old marketed herself out as a “Master Psychic” through pamphlets and newspaper ads offering spiritual cleansing from 2004 until her arrest in 2024.
Using the pseudonyms “Celina” and “Anna”, she told her victims they had been cursed or affected by evil or ancestral spirits.
The Lakemba woman then asked for large amounts of money to be sent so they could be blessed and the bad luck cleansed away.
She promised each victim the money would be returned.
But Williams created excuses to keep the cash, including the “moon time” had passed, confidentiality had not been kept, or the victim did not trust her enough.
She has pleaded guilty to four counts of fraud relating to four victims stung during her decades-long con and is behind bars awaiting sentence in Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court later in June.
The details of her crimes have been laid bare in court documents seen by AAP.
In 2003, Williams pulled in her first victim – a woman in her 40s – by claiming she could fix her marital problems through psychic powers.
She sold the woman three “magic candles” at $325 each and said she had to bless large amounts of money to save her marriage.
The victim handed over $225,000 from October 2003 to December 2005 after borrowing money from family and friends, taking out new bank loans and opening new credit cards.
Williams returned $22,000 of this to her victim, including $2000 so the woman could buy Christmas presents.
In mid-2005, Williams moved to the UK.
The victim, realising she had been scammed, went to police only to be told there was little they could do because the fraudster was overseas.
Williams returned to Australia to continue her con, defrauding a mother and her daughter in 2016 and 2017.
She received $73,400 from the daughter – who was in her 20s – to be blessed and remove a curse.
This money was ultimately returned after police became involved in 2017.
Williams also informed the woman’s 67-year-old non-English speaking mother she needed to bless her money to keep her son safe while he was working night shifts.
She received $22,000 in cash and seven gold coins worth $2000 each.
Only $10,000 and one gold coin was returned to the mother.
In 2020, Williams set her sights on her final victim, a financially struggling woman in her 50s who ended up being evicted from her home and living in her car as a result of the scam.
Being told she had brought an evil spirit to her psychic appointment, the woman eventually gave Williams $164,000.
Most of this came from the sale of the woman’s marital home in June 2020 after she separated from her husband.
Williams claimed the cash needed to be cleansed before it could be used to pay back debts to family and friends.
When pressed to return of the money, the psychic gave back dribs and drabs – $1000 here and $2000 there – eventually repaying about $13,000.
By mid-2024, the woman realised she had been scammed and notified police.
Williams was arrested at Sydney International Airport in August that year.Her husband Larry Williams was arrested over the fraud a day later.
But the 51-year-old had two fraud charges dropped, pleading guilty to recklessly dealing with $159,000 in proceeds of crime.
This amount was transferred to his bank account in June 2020 from the victim who had just sold her marital home.
In a recorded jail phone call, he admitted spending the funds on alcohol and gambling.
He was sentenced to 18 months in prison at Downing Centre Local Court in May and was immediately released.
