How to spot an astrology scam

The pattern

Police cases and the government's cyber-crime warnings describe the same steps again and again:

1. A free or cheap first reading, often found on social media.
2. A frightening "flaw" in your chart: a dosha, a curse, black magic, even ghosts.
3. A ritual, a gemstone or a "shanti" puja that costs money - and then another, and another.
4. Pressure: a deadline, a warning to keep it secret, a threat of what happens if you stop.

Reported cases include a woman police constable in Bengaluru who lost over 6 lakh rupees to "rituals" for flaws in her horoscope (2025), and an IT analyst in Delhi who lost nearly 3 lakh to staged rituals against "negative energy" (2025).

Warning signs

• A guarantee: "this will surely fix it".
• A deadline: "you must do it within 24 hours".
• "Do not tell your family."
• A promise to cure illness, or to bring a child, through a ritual, mantra or stone.
• A gemstone that must be bought from them, without a laboratory certificate.
• The price keeps rising, and each payment reveals a new problem.
• A threat of harm to you or your family if you stop paying.

What the texts actually say

• No classical text we have read requires a paid ritual. The texts scale every rite to what a person can afford, and their own remedies are prayer, simple gifts and right conduct.
• The texts list a gem for each graha as one of its attributes, and give gems away as gifts. The oldest instruction to wear a gem against a graha that we could find is in a book printed in Calcutta in 1881 - and even it contradicts today's lists.
• The "doshas" are common by construction: for example, one couple in three shares a nadi, and half of all pairs have a "bad" bhakoot. Our Kundli and Matching pages show how common each one is, and the exceptions the texts themselves give.

Ask before you pay anyone

1. Which text and verse says this? Can I read it?
2. How many people have this same "dosha"? (Check it on our Kundli page.)
3. Will you write down exactly what you promise, and refund me if it does not happen?
4. Why must it be done now, and why only by you?

The law in India

• Giving astrological advice, and ordinary puja and prayer, are lawful.
• The Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954 bars advertising a talisman, mantra, kavacha or other charm as curing or preventing disease, or as helping conception.
• Maharashtra (2013) and Karnataka (2017) punish using claimed supernatural power to frighten people or to make money from "miracles"; both exempt astrology itself.
• The Consumer Protection Act 2019 and its guidelines forbid misleading claims and pressure tactics such as false urgency.

General information from our research notes, not legal advice.

If you have been cheated

• Keep every message, payment receipt and phone number.
• Report online fraud at cybercrime.gov.in, or call 1930 (24×7).
• You can also file a police complaint for cheating.
• If this is weighing on you, Tele-MANAS gives free, confidential support in 20 languages: call 14416 (24×7).

How this site protects you

Everything here is free. We sell no rituals, stones or consultations, and nothing here asks you for money. Your birth details stay on your phone. Every rule shows the text it comes from, how common it is, and what the evidence says - so you can decide for yourself.