Olena Kurylova, 12,000 hryvnias, and the police: how the “psychic’s” consultation ended

“— He was blown to pieces. He’s not all in one pile. You won’t… get him. You’ll get scraps and bits of DNA—he was torn to shreds.

— But we buried him. I was at the identification.

“I don’t believe it.”

Psychic Olena Kurylova

For this and other “advice” regarding her personal life—which Olena hadn’t even asked for—she paid Kurylova 12,000 hryvnias. During the conversation, the so-called “psychic” was drinking something from a cup, and her behavior and speech showed clear signs of severe alcohol intoxication.

None of the “clairvoyant’s” answers hit the mark. Instead of apologizing, Kurylova kept wriggling out of it, got tangled up in her own thoughts, lost track of the conversation, and eventually just told the client to “f**k off.” However, even in that state, she managed to give Olena a few “magical” pieces of advice:

“Take some salt, take a half-liter jar, and fill it with salt. Take a church candle and read Psalm 90 every day. Listen to me carefully—I’m reading this to you so that everything will happen for you and everything will work out. I can read it; I can do anything.”

That marked the end of the esoteric part of the story, and entirely mundane events began.

From a demand for a refund to an accusation of “extortion”

After this consultation, Olena Krasvitna did not demand anything extraordinary from Kurilova. She simply wanted her 12,000 hryvnias back for a service that had obviously been provided improperly. The woman turned to Natalia Yakovleva, the creator of the “Psychics’ Razor” project, for help.

The investigators drafted an official letter for Kurilova. In it, they described the circumstances of the consultation, asked her to refund the money paid, apologize to the client, and compensate her 20,000 hryvnias for emotional distress—money that Olena had planned to spend on psychotherapy. Excerpts from the video recording of the session were attached to the letter.

But Kurylova chose a different way to respond. She did not offer another ritual, did not begin to “remove negative energy,” and did not attempt to resolve the conflict using her special abilities. Instead, she filed a report with the Podil Police Department of the Kyiv City Police Directorate, claiming she had been subjected to pressure and “extortion” by unknown individuals.

The police opened a case against the customer

Following Kurilova’s statement, Oleksiy Semenchuk, an investigator with the Podilsky Police Department, opened a case under Part 1 of Article 355 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (“Coercion to Fulfill Civil-Law Obligations”). In private conversations with witnesses and journalists, the investigator also mentioned the possibility of reclassifying the case under Article 189 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (“Extortion”). Olena Krasvitna and journalists from the “Psychics’ Razor” project received summonses to appear for questioning in Kyiv.

However, attorney Vasyl Kharchuk emphasizes that there are no grounds for either charge in this case:

“Kurilova is a sole proprietor, a business entity that provides certain services. Accordingly, the person receiving these services is a consumer. If the process itself is recorded while these services are being provided, this cannot in any way be considered a video containing private or confidential information. A client’s request for a refund for a service provided improperly is a means of protecting civil rights, not a crime. The threat to make the video public is not covered by Article 355 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.”

Article 355 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine concerns coercion involving threats of violence or destruction of property, neither of which was present in the request. Article 189 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine covers extortion through the threat of disclosing confidential information about a person’s private life, whereas in this case, the issue concerned a video recording of the sole proprietor’s professional activities during a paid consultation.

When a client contacts the police regarding substandard service, law enforcement typically declines to intervene and refers the matter to civil court. With Kurylova, however, the opposite occurred: her complaint turned into a criminal case against the consumer.

Natalia Yakovleva drew attention to this reaction from law enforcement:

“When the investigator spoke with us, he told us exactly this: ‘How can you demand a refund from a fortune-teller? You have to go to court for that.’ In other words, he was trying to convince us that in such cases, you can demand a refund or some form of compensation for emotional distress only through the courts. But that’s not true. You can demand a refund by any means not prohibited by Ukrainian law. Both negotiations and correspondence via messages are among these methods. And going to court is also one of these methods. So you see how it works in a one-sided manner—it’s just this suggestion to go to court.”

The problem is that for someone who has already lost money and is under stress, legal proceedings are financially and emotionally overwhelming.

“Going to court isn’t free. It requires significant financial investment because you need to hire a lawyer. This person paid 12,000 to see a fortune-teller, and then, to file a lawsuit, they have to pay—I don’t know how much—probably around 30,000. And it’s not even certain that the court will rule in their favor.

People in distress go to fortune-tellers. They’re in a vulnerable psychological and emotional state. And then they have to endure a year—or even two years—of court proceedings. My point is that the law enforcement agencies that refer cases to court know full well that no one will actually go there. The police don’t help; they can’t protect people from these scammers in such situations. And no one will go to court. That’s all.”

A regular human court instead of the “astral plane”: how the case ended

For Natalia Yakovleva, the story with Kurilova only confirms the rule she herself has established: the “magical” abilities of pseudo-psychics end where real problems begin. When faced with difficulties, “witches” turn not to higher powers, but to the police and the courts.

“Magic… is powerless. This is yet another confirmation that magic doesn’t exist. Because there were, well, a lot of curses directed at me and threats of hexes. But look, I’m alive and well, living my best life.

Witches resort to ordinary, somewhat underhanded human methods. Things like pressure or attacks through law enforcement agencies or through the courts. I went to court against one witch and won the case. It’s quite strange when a person says she’s a witch, yet files a lawsuit in a regular court. Not to an astral court, not to higher powers, but to an ordinary human court. And she loses it. That’s the magic they possess. And it doesn’t work,” Natalia Yakovleva told UA.News.

Natalia Yakovleva, author of the investigation

Ultimately, under pressure from legal arguments and public scrutiny, the case involving Kurilova reached a procedural conclusion. Natalia Yakovleva, the author of the investigation and host of the “Psychics’ Razor” channel, reported that following her appeal, People’s Deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak submitted an inquiry regarding the Kurylova case to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. According to her, the criminal case has now been closed. Kurilova returned 11,950 hryvnias to Olena Krasvitna (minus a 50-hryvnia bank fee). The criminal proceedings under Part 1 of Article 355 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine were closed due to the absence of a criminal offense. Law enforcement officials apologized to the participants for the unfounded summonses and pressure.

Krasvitna never received the 20,000 hryvnias in moral damages, and no public apology followed from Kurylova.

Profiting from the War

Olena Krasvitna’s story is not the first—and certainly not the last. The demand for such services is sky-high. But the problem isn’t that people are “gullible.” It’s that her son called before heading out to his position—and she hasn’t been able to reach him for a week now. It’s that the commander declared him “missing in action,” while his comrades saw a drone strike hit his position. It’s that his comrades called and messaged: he’s dead, but his body is missing.

In the hellish mix of despair and hope, when forced to wait, a person needs at least some kind of answer, some certainty right now. This is precisely when those who are ready to turn this pain into their own profit appear. Quite a few “enterprising” individuals have suddenly discovered magical abilities within themselves and are shamelessly preying on the most horrific aspects of war. The dead, the missing, and the prisoners of war—these are the most painful issues for Ukrainian families and the most lucrative opportunities for various “seers.” Anyone who positions themselves as “endowed with power” considers it their duty to profit from this hell: selling an amulet “to protect against bullets” for soldiers or a talisman against missiles and “shahids” for civilians. Natalia Yakovleva emphasizes that the groundwork for this has been laid for years:

“This belief was formed long before the full-scale invasion. It was shaped by people like Gordon, by shows and programs like the ones on STB TV about psychics. Without any disclaimer that this is fiction—for example, that these phenomena are unscientific.”

The full-scale war has turned this into a veritable money-making machine. Scammers offer their “services” to those who are at their most vulnerable, and people only think to check reviews after they’ve already been swindled:

“I haven’t yet come across a single victim who would say, ‘Before going to a session, I looked up reviews about this psychic.’ Everyone checks the reviews after they’ve already gotten themselves into trouble. After the fact.”

Kurylova, Maria Tykha, and Veliyar: Who Else Will Be Featured on “The Psychics’ Razor”

That’s exactly why “The Psychics’ Razor” views these stories not as private conflicts, but as part of a vast market of deception. Olena Kurilova is far from the only person implicated in these investigations. At one point, the project thoroughly exposed the activities of the witch Maria Tykha. After the evidence and relevant complaints were submitted, her client base dwindled significantly, and the myth of the “almighty witch” was dispelled under the weight of the facts. Among those exposed by the investigators is the magician Veliyar, who also built a business on people’s misfortunes.

Now, people are writing en masse to Natalia Yakovleva and the “Psychics’ Razor” team about other figures who continue to peddle promises and amulets. Among the nicknames and names the investigators are already looking into are: Viola Mirabilis (the Southern Witch) and Kherson-based “expert” Yar Linsky. 

Why a simple warning isn’t enough

A standard warning is unlikely to work here, because a person in a state of despair is willing to give up anything for the slightest glimmer of hope:

“Of course, you can issue a warning. It sounds very simple: ‘Fortune-tellers are con artists—don’t trust them.’ But it sounds so trite. No one who believes in the supernatural and wants to use such services will pay any attention to that warning.”

The incident involving Kurilova clearly showed what lies behind the high-profile names of esoteric practitioners. Instead of help, the person received an insult, and instead of an out-of-court settlement—a criminal investigation. But the fact that the funds were returned and the case was closed proves that the only things that really work against pseudo-magicians are publicity, legal literacy, and critical thinking.

Read us on Telegram and Sends