Scourged by online scammers, tarot readers get their own platform

Impersonators love tarot readers. Regulators and social media companies don’t care. Mystic practitioners fight back with Moonlight, ‘software for witches’

Since tarot practitioner Rebecca Scolnick first began reading cards professionally in 2018, she has been impersonated more than 50 times on Instagram. The scams typically follow a similar pattern: someone creates an account that mirrors hers, using a nearly identical username and reposting all of her photos. The scammer then approaches her followers with enticing spiritual messages. “Hello beloved,” they usually begin. “Have you ever had an in-depth psychic reading before?”

Scolnick, who has more than 11,000 Instagram followers, regularly receives messages from her fans saying they have paid for a reading from someone who is not actually her. After years of being inundated with fraudsters and impersonators, she and many tarot readers like her, along with other mystical practitioners, are exhausted and frustrated.