Gypsies who hand out fliers on the streets of West Hollywood can seem mighty trustworthy, we know; but when they start asking you to buy them gold bars and Mercedes Benzes, we'd hope your inner “This is a freaking scam” buzzer might start to go off.

Unfortunately for one L.A. 37-year-old, an Orange County psychic by the name of Lisa Debbie Adams allegedly plays the fear game better than Jafar's cobra stick:

Though Adams is pleading “not guilty” to grand theft and fraud in court today, she's accused of convincing her customer to drop a total of $200,000 on her services, telling the woman it was the only way to ward off an evil family curse.

Must have been one hell of a hex. O.C. District Attorney Matt Lockhart explains, via City News Service:

The woman was “kind of lonely and her love life was not where she wanted it,'' so she went to the psychic and Adams allegedly told her that for a fee she could rid of her of a curse she inherited while in her mother's womb, Lockhart said. …

Between June 2008 and August 2009 Adams allegedly directed the woman to withdraw money from an IRA and other sources, including as much as $96,000 once, Lockhart said.

At one point when the victim did not want to work with the so-called

psychic anymore Adams allegedly told her the woman's family would be in danger

if she didn't follow Adams' directions, Lockhart said.

The 2008-09 payout included $30,000 in gold bars, several credit cards, clothes, furniture, electronics, jewelry and a Mercedes-Benz.

Adams' Linked-In profile, which lists her company as “Lisa Adams Angel Messages” (how sweet!) reads: “I am a psychic reader specializing in self improvement and life coaching.”

Also, preying on the paranoid and loveless. But really — $200,000? Come on, people.

[@simone_electra/swilson@laweekly.com]

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