NYC Fortune Teller Accused of Scamming Working Mom Out of $87,000

A 43-year-old mother of two who works as a hotel room cleaner is accused of being defrauded of $87,000 by a traveling fortune teller from Manhattan with a dubious past.

According to court filings, Pamela Ufie, 28, was detained Thursday night close to Bryant Park and charged with two charges of fraudulent accosting and one count of grand larceny.

Private investigator and former NYPD officer Bob Nygaard, who alerted local police, claims that the crystal ball scammer deceived her victim into giving up thousands of dollars in an operation that began in 2023.

Nygaard said, “This is the fourth time I’ve helped the cops with Pamela Ufie. She’s a self-proclaimed psychic who preys upon vulnerable people and steals from them.”

According to him, the most recent instance is a typical variation of the fortune teller scam.

According to the PI, on April 11, 2023, the victim was strolling around Times Square after work when Ufie came up to her and informed her that she had a “darkness” on her.

According to Nygaard, the victim initially gave Ufie $100. She was then informed that the so-called clairvoyant needed to conduct additional “research.”

According to the investigator, Ufie told the victim that if she did not assist in lifting what she called a “generational curse,” her kid would die.

Nygaard, a Nassau County police officer, added, “Ufie also told the victim that she and her son would die if she didn’t help lift the darkness.”

As money being the source of all evil, the accused thief told the victim that the only way to break the curse was to give her money, which she and others would purify before returning, he claimed.

However, the victim lost the money she had saved in the hopes of one day purchasing a home for her family because the money was never returned.

According to Nygaard, the fleecing continued until October 26, 2023.
At her arraignment on Friday, Ufie entered a not guilty plea.

“She is presumed innocent and all the evidence will be presented in the courtroom,” Albert Dayan, her attorney, stated.

Nygaard claimed that in order to convince authorities to detain the alleged scammer, he had to take a plane from his Florida home to the city.

The retired police officer contacted 911 after spotting the fake fortune teller Thursday afternoon close to the main branch of the New York Public Library, which is located next to Bryant Park, a location she reportedly enjoyed visiting. When officers arrived, they made the arrest.

He said that it marked the end of his more than two-year research.

Nygaard claimed to have been involved in all four of Ufie’s cases, including the initial one close to ten years ago, in which her mother-in-law was charged with orchestrating a similar plot.

According to police sources, the fake psychic has been arrested twice for grand theft in 2021 and 2022 and has had other run-ins with the law in 2023.

According to Nygaard, who specializes in these kinds of schemes, he has assisted in the recovery of $12 million for victims while working on fortune teller cases with federal investigators and police agencies from 12 states.

He claimed that he frequently runs into law enforcement officials, including police officers and prosecutors, who are unaware that using psychic abilities is frequently prohibited.

He stated, “People go into a police precinct and they’re told it’s a civil matter, it’s a civil matter, it’s a civil matter. But it’s not a civil matter, it’s a criminal one – there is a law on the books.”

In fact, it is against the law in New York to accept money in order to engage in “occult powers.” Fortune telling is a class B misdemeanor that carries a maximum jail sentence of 90 days. But, according to Nygaard, the law is rarely upheld.

He claimed that too frequently, in these situations, law enforcement seemed to place the blame on the victim. However, after being duped by the clairvoyant con artists, he has witnessed people from all walks of life seek him assistance.

“I had a guy that was a rocket scientist, a teacher, an NYPD cop even,” he stated. “It’s not a matter of education or intelligence. What law enforcement doesn’t realize is that anybody – anybody – will fall victim to a psychic scam if you’re in a vulnerable moment in your life.”