Psychics have been part of popular culture for hundreds of years. These individuals typically claim to have extrasensory perception that allows them to predict the future, see into someone’s mind, or uncover information believed to be hidden.
Whether you think they’re telling the truth largely depends on your belief system. Some people assume psychics are scam artists whereas others believe they really are capable of seeing things the average person cannot. Three Frisco residents unfortunately learned the harsh truth of one phony psychic and lost a total of $2.5 million to her years-long scams.
Bridgette Doreen Evans, who operated under the alias “Jolene Travis,” worked alongside partner Vinnie John Uwanawich to swindle vulnerable individuals out of money in exchange for “love readings” and “curse cleansings” between 2021 and 2024. Federal prosecutors researching the case for an indictment found that Evans and Uwanawich targeted these people who were going through divorces and other difficult personal matters.
The official indictment indicates that Evans was aware she did not possess psychic abilities and that all of the rituals she performed on behalf of these people were made up with the sole intention of taking their money. Part of the indictment reads, “In fact, as Evans and Uwanawich well knew, Evans was not a psychic; the victims were not ‘cursed’; and Evans and Uwanawich did not intend to return the property and, with the exception of a few small re-payments designed to lull the victims, never did so.”
Evans would most often tell people their problems stemmed from “karmic debt,” and she built up trust with them by saying she could telepathically speak with their loved ones or angels to help remove these curses. She asked for cash, jewelry, gold, and other valuable items in payment for her services; she claimed the money would be returned once her rituals were done. She and Uwanawich never repaid these victims. $119,000 was actually directly deposited into one of Uwanawich’s bank accounts.
For special agent W. Mike Herrington of the FBI Seattle Field Office, this indictment shows how “the schemes may change, but the greed driving them does not.” Herrington said, “This case is yet another demonstration of how fraudsters exploit vulnerable situations to gain their victims’ trust, even creating fake identities in an attempt to evade accountability and further schemes that last years.”
To put it into perspective, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center logged $929 million in losses from romance fraud cases during 2025. It’s an unfortunate trend that’s impacting people well beyond the city limits of Frisco.
Evans requested millions of dollars from her victims
When one of Bridgette Evans’s victims told the psychic about their romantic woes, Evans used the individual’s vulnerability against them. As the indictment against her states, “Evans reported that the ‘angels’ told Evans the ‘curse’ was tied to money, which meant Victim 2 could clear the ‘curse’ only through a ‘money cleansing’ involving the transfer of funds to Evans. Evans said the ‘cleansing’ would take 14 days, and that Victim 2’s relationship issues would be fixed after that ‘cleansing.”
One individual wired over $2.1 million to Evans to buy gold coins Evans said she needed to complete her cleansing ceremonies. She was then able to con that same person into selling their home by stating the property itself was cursed. In total, Evans gained $2.5 million from her three victims, with another sending $86,000 via electronic payment platforms and another providing Evans with access to their credit cards. A $100,000 loan was also taken out on Evans’s behest. The funds were used to purchase cars, hotel reservations, luxury goods, jewelry, gold coins, airline tickets, and vacation rentals.
To make matters worse, Evans continued her ruse even while she was incarcerated on unrelated psychic fraud charges in Florida. Her Texas victims were told “Jolene Travis” was “with the angels” or “at the altar” when Evans was, in fact, in prison and unable to communicate. Thankfully, this week both Evans and her partner, Vinnie Uwanawich, were arrested. The couple has been charged with multiple counts of mail fraud, wire fraud, and with the conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.
If they’re convicted, Evans and Uwanawich could both face up to 20 years in jail for these federal charges.
This article first appeared on Good Info News Wire and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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