AN ALICANTE woman paid €13,000 to a priestess who threatened a curse on her family if she stopped making payments to help her sick husband.
The alleged healer claimed to be a practitioner of the Santeria religion and was apparently based in the Dominican Republic.
The victim contacted the priestess via social media in a bid to improve her husband’s state of health.
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Santeria is a religious tradition with African and Caribbean roots which emphasises healing of illnesses as a spiritual concept.
The Alicante woman carried on paying for months but grew suspicious.
The priestess then exploited her by threatening to put a spell on her family to make them sick if the money dried up.
A friend of the client got alarmed about what she had got herself into and got the frightened woman to file a report with the Policia Nacional.
Operation Santa was launched in May when the woman admitted that at a moment of personal weakness, she believed that magic could reverse her husband’s deterioration in health.
The police heard that she was first charged for consultations, then for rituals of protection, ending up in larger payments- one of which was spent on a car.
Police inquiries confirmed that the phones used by the scammer were from the Dominican Republic which made it difficult to identify the person behind the con.
However, officers swooped on a man in Valladolid on November 19.
He was the recipient of the bank transfers and had an extensive criminal record.
The man was bailed after being charged with fraud and extortion.
The investigation remains open as to whether the fraudster was the man behind the scam or whether there was in fact a female associate in his native country.
The Policia Nacional has reminded people to be very cautious about anybody offering online spiritual services and to report even the slightest suspicion of fraud.
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