He has been instrumental in the arrest and conviction of numerous psychics, helping their victims obtain justice including financial restitution amounting to millions of dollars.

He is also an outspoken critic of the inconsistent prosecution of this type of crime across the United States, and advocates for prison terms for convicted psychics, rather than merely forced restitution to their victims.

[1] Intending to follow his father into business, Nygaard moved to Dallas where he majored in entrepreneurship at Southern Methodist University, and graduated in 1983.

[2]: 22:00 In 1987, Nygaard moved from transit to street patrol in New York's Nassau County,[3] and in 1991 he was assigned to investigate home-improvement scams targeting the elderly.

[4] After his time on the police force, Nygaard said he just wanted to "sit out the rest of his days on the beach, lounging around tiki bars".

[1] Regarding working as a PI, Nygaard said, "I relished being able to finally wear clothes that reflected my own personal style, like fedoras and trench coats.

I had been restricted to wearing a police uniform for more than 20 years, and my personal style just coincidentally blended perfectly with my new life's work".

[1][6] At a happy hour, Nygaard met two women in the medical profession and regaled them with stories about how he had outsmarted con artists and helped their victims.

Despite having gathered this evidence, the authorities refused to press charges against Marks after she agreed to return all the money to the group of victims Nygaard had uncovered.

[8][9] On August 11, 2018, CBS first aired episode 3 of season 1 of its show Pink Collar Crimes, titled "The Psychic Didn't See Him Coming".

[13] Each woman became emotionally dependent on their psychic and were defrauded out of tens of thousands of dollars, but then sought the help of Nygaard to obtain justice.

[18][19] Over Nygaard's objection, Delmaro was offered a plea bargain including a sentence of less than one year, with no requirement to pay restitution.

[21] In 2016, Gina Marie Marks, using the pseudonym Natalie Miller, convinced a Maryland woman that she had bad energy around her which she could fix.

[24][25] In 2018, CBS aired an episode of its show Pink Collar Crimes documenting Marks' criminal activities and her pursuit by Nygaard.

[26] In 2017, a woman from Washington reported that she was defrauded by Linda Marks, who was operating a fortunetelling business north of Seattle, when the psychic claimed to be helping her with "spiritual cleansing and destroying evil energy".

Nygaard located Marks, leading to her arrest in Mount Vernon on charges of first-degree theft by deception; she was initially held on a $75,000 bail bond.

[27] On September 6, 2019, Sherry Tina Uwanawich (aka Jacklyn Miller), a self-proclaimed "Gypsy healer", was sentenced to 40 months of incarceration by a U.S. District Judge in Florida, and ordered to pay restitution to Nygaard's client.

If there's one thing that I've learned from years of specializing in investigating confidence crimes it's that anyone can be scammed by a professional con artist when going through a vulnerable time in his or her life.

[28]Nygaard says that when people report to law enforcement that they are victims of psychic fraud, they are often told that it is a civil matter, and are turned away.

[31] But despite his success with high-profile convictions, Nygaard says he still often encounters resistance by law enforcement when he presents them with the evidence of psychic fraud.

'"[7][21] Nygaard says that while the NYPD and the Manhattan prosecutor's office are generally supportive, the situation in South and Central Florida is very different.

Regarding this Nygaard said, "I'm so happy that Derek contacted me because he opened the door, so to speak, to a whole new group of like-minded people..." This led to Nygaard's invitation to speak at DragonCon as part of the convention's Skeptic Track, of which he said "Realizing what a great opportunity it would be to help spread the word about psychic fraud, I immediately jumped at the chance to participate."