20% of Italians consult them, a turnover of 6 billion euros

It is a phenomenon that is growing more and more, particularly via social networks.

The request for consultations with clairvoyants, magicians and occultists involves qnearly 12 million people. VSannoy 20% of Italians turn to visionaries every year, expenses on average of 500 euros each.

These are the data ofthe latest report from the Anti-Plagiarism Observatory, which, ten years after the previous one and on the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of the association, returned to collect and present the data of a growing phenomenon also thanks to social networks and the Internet. In fact, 90% of consultations take place online and only 10% in person. In most cases, those who are addicted to these practices also have other addictions.

“In thirty years – explain the national coordinator, Giovanni Panunzio, and the president, Alfredo Barrago – we received approximately 28,000 reports, we collect a thousand per year, almost all anonymous, but the underground economy is definitely more important. Loneliness and the ease with which social networks allow you to get closer and know everything about people make the phenomenon even wider. Often there are even those who use avatars and, after collecting the money, he disappears.

A turnover of 6 billion euros

According to the report, considering an average annual expenditure of 500 euros per client, the total annual income of magicians and occultists is 6 billion, including 5.5 for telephone or online consultations. With a very high fraud rate: only two customers out of 100, the report notes, declare having received an ordinary tax document, 55%, an anonymous receipt, 44% nothing.

As for the clients, 68% are women and, the report still notes, faced with possible scams, threats, circumventions, rituals of a sexual nature, abusive practices of the medical profession and mental manipulation, only 3% of the victims file a complaint . At the regional level, Piedmont has 1,200 magicians, clairvoyants, healers, mediums, with 85,000 clients and a cost of 50,000 euros per year for in-office consultations.