Makes me think of this video about cold-read 'psychics' starting to believe their powers are real. When the grifter starts to believe their grift, they're called a shut-eye.

I’d suggest the opposite:

Grifts are most effective when the grifter is a true believer. Charlie Kirk, for example.

It is still a grift regarding the people who fall for it, the grifter just has deceived one more person. There’s plenty of swindlers with bonkers ideas (especially in the esoteric and occult scene) who believe at least partially in their own stuff. They still have that glib tongue, shrewd calculated way of roping people in and an instinct for the money that makes them much more similar to a fully calculated, machiavellian grifter as people typically picture them (think moustache-twirling villain, but with swindling) than to the honest rube who just happens to be able to make a little money on the side with it.

Though, from what I observed among the people who are into this (had a parent get into it hard for a couple years, it was shoved down my throat, which is why I’m allergic to it now, but I met a whole bunch of these people, and several grifters and semi-grifters), I gotta say, people who only see them from the outside generally overestimate the machiavellianism of the small-scale grifter in that branch. A few are full-scale classic charlatans/swindlers. Most of the others are on a sliding scale between these and their suckers, and are often suckers of other grifters in turn. Unlike more cynical grifts, with this stuff, they’re mostly much less strategic than people tend to think, believe a lot of it and have their heads up their asses themselves in many ways, so the lines are actually very blurry. I’d say the main difference between grifters and suckers in that area is business-savvy.

On the other end of the spectrum, there’s plenty who sincerely believe, genuinely want to help people, genuinely think they’re helping by "cleansing their aura" or whatever nonsense, but absolutely lack the business sense of a grifter. They don’t even want the money a lot of the time. Many of them even feel it’s shameful taking it and either do their thing for free through word of mouth, so never build a snake oil business from it, try to but fail, because they care more about lore and connection than money (and don’t plan to scam people but genuinely believe their own BS), or take only symbolic sums on people’s insistence, so make only a pittance from it.

They may nonetheless give up their regular jobs, because they sincerely think they’re doing something worthwhile, getting good feedback from their "clients" makes them happy, and so they want to devote themselves to (whatever it is that they’re doing), because they get a satisfaction and sense of meaning out of it that they lack in some standard office job.

(In some ways, psychologically, they occasionally even may help, e.g. by listening to people whom no one else hears out, validating them and offering some comfort and safe space to them, or helping stressed people relax and sleep better, which is what actually restores them, and so on.)

Some are in it primarily for attention and admiration, have figured out a spiel to get it, and if skilled at social engineering, may build kind of a little cultish circle around themselves, or even grow big. They tend to be on the narcy side and are mostly after supply, but may still have a terrible business sense, or renounce money as dirty, unwholesome and below them, so no classic swindlers. They’re kind of grifters in a lot of behaviours, but grift primarily or exclusively for popularity and power, not for money.

They can be harmless airheads who just want a lot of praise and validation, or can be highly toxic, dangerous, abusive individuals with cult leader ambitions. I rate them as a subtype of semi-grifters. May overlap with classic grifters and transition into one over time, if they see how much money they can make and are tempted, or if someone coaches them on the business part and convinces them there’s no shame in tricking people into emptying their pockets for you.

Some are really just in it for the thing itself and the people they think they’re helping, though and want neither money no fame, i.e. good but misguided people (who can nonetheless do terrible harm, depending on their beliefs). People in the scene will often insist to give them money, because they can be extremely naive, even by that scene’s standards, and very selfless, so they’re not good at making money in regular ways, either. It’s just not important to them.

Sometimes it’s a saviour complex/codependency (so a more covert version of the attention-addicted group). Others are legit that kind and giving, but usually also very sheltered, naive, innocent and gullible, almost like children. Not necessarily dumb or simple-minded, just very trusting, sometimes to the point of almost no self-preservation instincts.

I suspect a lot of them are neurodivergent and end up in that scene because they’ve been looking for a warm, welcoming bubble where they can be their true quirky self and live out their compassion, sensitivity and joy in taking care of others, and be taken seriously, instead of ridiculed, so they latch onto that magic stuff, because there’s a lot of people like them, or who like and admire them.

Unfortunately, they’re very easily taken advantage of. Not just in the classic eso sucker way, but also as a sockpuppet for classic charlatans who see their potential pull on regular suckers, because they radiate genuine faith in the thing, kindness and joy.

If they somehow get popular and lots of people start throwing money at them, it’s usually others doing the business part and promo for them who urge them to take it and try to profit off them, but this type of person is just a pawn being used by the actual grifters in the background. It’s a pretty sad thing to watch, because they really just have good intentions, fell for this stuff, think they found a way to do good and are being used.

From the outside, all these can appear indistinguishable from ordinary grifters of that bend (albeit perhaps unsuccessful ones). Functionally, they’re doing the same thing, as far as the sucker is concerned, and are perceived all the same. It’s like the difference between classic grifters and legit businesspeople (or those who aren’t really cut out to be businesspeople but would rather just do the thing itself and interact with people in a meaningful way, who hate they have to deal with the money aspect of it and are terrible at it), except there is no legit type of business in this branch, because it’s all bogus.

So if the grift isn’t defined by selling bogus but only by full intent to sell it/knowledge that you are, then yeah, these sorts wouldn’t be grifters. But they’re still doing damage, even if they don’t consciously mean to. And as I said, the lines are blurry, because apart from these honest, naive, selfless types, there’s a loooot of people with grift-ish kind of mindsets in that scene, and a lot of grifters who believe at least in some of that stuff and are suckers for others in turn.

It’s all kinda jumbled. And they can be very hard to distinguish from one another, unless you know them really well, because they all go for that airy-floaty self-presentation. It’s a really interesting field to observe different types of grifters in action, though.

Lots of people follow the grand old tradition of the charlatan without even knowing it…