By happy coincidence I happened to come across AN 4.193 on ‘conversion magic’, and to my mind offers a lovely perspective on the subject at hand.
By my estimation, the whole sutta has relevance here, but I’ll just draw out the following detail:
When [the Buddha had given a discourse], Bhaddiya the Licchavi said to the Buddha: “Excellent, sir! … From this day forth, may the Buddha remember me as a lay follower who has gone for refuge for life.”
“Well, Bhaddiya, did I say to you: ‘Please, Bhaddiya, be my disciple, and I will be your teacher’?” “No, sir.” “Though I speak and explain like this, certain ascetics and brahmins misrepresent me with the false, baseless, lying, untruthful claim: ‘The ascetic Gotama is a magician. He knows a conversion magic, and uses it to convert the disciples of those who follow other paths.’”