Moscow cops bust €680 000 'psychic' scammers

Moscow - Moscow police said Tuesday that they busted a group of dubious folk healers and psychics who made at least 50 million roubles (€680 000) through various frauds, including selling a farmer a 2.5-million-rouble "dagger of power" to help his crop.

Police detained 20 members of the group during a raid on their office in a Moscow hotel, according to a statement on the Interior Ministry's website.

The group called themselves the International Association of Parapsychology and Healing, and collected money for dubious medical procedures, including treatments for cancer and drug addiction, the statement said.

Police have opened a case into large-scale fraud, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The group has been implicated in more than 100 criminal acts, the statement said.