<div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-0"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-ac37hb evys1bk0">For nearly a year, prosecutors in Pennsylvania said, a man and woman selling their services as psychics had convinced one woman to keep paying them to lift a curse that kept her from being happy.</p><p class="css-ac37hb evys1bk0">Using deceitful tactics, the authorities said, the two got the woman to give them about $596,000 in cash and property. They also took luxury items from her and another client, including concert tickets, Airbnb reservations, clothes and gift cards. Their earnings added up to more than $600,000, the authorities said.</p><p class="css-ac37hb evys1bk0">On Oct. 9, the two soothsayers, Steve Nicklas, 40, of Jenkintown, Pa., and Gina Marie Marks, 52, of Huntingdon Valley, Pa., were arrested on various charges, including corrupt organization, conspiracy, theft by taking and fortunetelling, which is a crime in Pennsylvania, <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.montgomerycountypa.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/6280" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">according to the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office</a>.</p><p class="css-ac37hb evys1bk0">It was unclear if either had lawyers but both had posted bail, according to court records.</p><p class="css-ac37hb evys1bk0">The two had persuaded clients that they had been cursed and that they could help them shed their jinxes if they paid, according to the authorities.</p></div><aside aria-label="companion column" class="css-ew4tgv"></aside></div><div data-testid="Dropzone-1"></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-1"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-ac37hb evys1bk0">The main target of the scheme, the woman who was convinced that she was cursed, was a longtime customer of a shop offering psychic readings and other fortune readings, Jenkintown Psychic Visions, Detective Jonathan Kelcy, an investigator for the prosecutor’s office, said in a criminal complaint filed in criminal court in Montgomery County, Pa.</p><p class="css-ac37hb evys1bk0">When that client, who is not named in court records, called the business in September 2022, Ms. Marks answered the phone and identified herself as Naomi, stating that she had taken over the business from the previous owner and offering to give a reading over the phone, the investigator said. 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