I had my palm read for free on Instagram and then was blackmailed for £12,000 with threats from dark spirits.

I had just split up with my long-term girlfriend and was feeling particularly depressed. I was devastated by the breakup and had trouble sleeping.

I tried everything I could to get a good night’s sleep (exercise, drink and medication) but nothing helped. My job as a freelance market researcher was suffering and, at 30, I had never felt so bad.

It was during one of those long sleepless nights, scrolling through social media on my smartphone, that I came across a clairvoyant on Instagram.

It was the early hours of a miserable, cold October day and I still remember the rain pattering on the window of my one-bedroom flat in Guildford, Surrey, where I had moved after we split up.

The advert offered an online palm reading service. I don’t believe in fairies at the bottom of my garden, but my ex-girlfriend had become interested in the power of the supernatural and, oddly enough, I took this as a sign to try out palm reading.

This and the fact that the ad said it would be free.

I gave my email address and immediately received a message asking me to send high-definition photos of each hand, taken with my phone.

In return, the clairvoyant – who never shared his name but described himself as a shaman – would help me make better decisions about love, money and health.

As naive as it may sound, the mere idea of ​​finding solutions to all my problems at a time when I felt so vulnerable took a weight off my shoulders.

But above all, it was the prospect of being able to get some much-needed sleep once I figured out what to do with my life that made me agree to read it.

Since I’m on such a popular social media platform, I assumed everything was fine. I sent the photos of my left and right palms and the next day I received a message from Instagram expressing concern for my health.

Apparently the life line around my thumb indicated trouble, and the broken heart line and the grooves along the line predicting money fortune suggested tough times.

But she assured me that these were just predictions, for a future that could be changed.

The response seemed genuine and supportive, and the palmist was willing to help, but said they couldn’t afford to do it for free.

When the clairvoyant told me that the next session would cost £50, I thought it was worth every penny.

She had already described my life as chaos just by looking at the pictures of my palms, so I transferred the money online as she asked. I must confess that at this point

I totally fell in love with “psychic solutions” and enjoyed being able to share my problems with a stranger.

After struggling with my relationships and financial worries, it was a relief to finally find someone willing to listen.

Over the next few weeks I built up a friendly relationship with this clairvoyant, exchanging text messages via WhatsApp in exchange for more money.

In return, I received advice like, “Follow your heart” and “Don’t make hasty decisions, but try to find a solution yourself.”

In retrospect, this was nothing more than simplistic nonsense, but at the time it was what I wanted and needed to hear.

Alarm bells should have started ringing after a month of consultations (sometimes two or three times a week) when the palm reader offered to cast a spell to protect my finances.

I didn’t feel comfortable and explained to her that I couldn’t afford to pay any additional charges. It was at that point that she suddenly turned on me and threatened that if I didn’t pay, they would cast curses and dark spirits on me, as well as my family and friends.

The threat of curses sent a chill down my spine. Among those nasty messages was one warning that a spell would be cast to make my ex-girlfriend lose her mind.

WhatsApp messages started arriving daily, sometimes in the middle of the night. It was a nightmare.

The extortion seemed so real to me and I was so angry that I agreed to hand over £900 to make the problem go away.

Of course, this turned out to be another big mistake. I was then told that to prevent the spirit world from harming me, I would need to continue paying the psychic in subsequent lawsuits.

It sounds ridiculous, but at the time it was very believable. My faith in spiritual guidance was exploited by criminals; I can see that now.

But the fact that during that time I suffered from insomnia and often did not sleep for periods of two or three days at a time, affected my ability to make rational decisions.

The warnings I received were unpleasant and personal, and made it even more difficult for me to sleep.

In total, over £12,000 was taken from my High Street bank account until I had nothing left. The bank never contacted me to inform me that I was the victim of a possible scam or gave me any warning.

Even after I realized what had happened, she didn’t seem interested in helping me. It was only when I ran out of savings (I had to ask her for the money 22 times to do so) that the psychic stopped bothering me.

Fortunately, at that moment my mental state began to improve. Only then did I realize that I had been scammed and that I was the unwitting victim of an unpleasant scam.