It's called "free plastic surgery", but it's actually a "beauty trap"
Wuhan Yuexiu Hospital's medical beauty fraud routine begins
Reporter Tanaka Quan
Heart of beauty in everyone.
Under the over-exaggerated "appearance economy", "appearance anxiety" plagues many young people.
This has allowed some medical plastic surgery hospitals to see "business opportunities" and hype about false advertisements for free plastic surgery to trick young women into "staking the bait."
Soon after signing the agreement, they found out that they had been cheated and had taken online loans on their backs.
Recently, Wuhan police cracked a case of medical beauty fraud.
In the case, some victims sold their mobile phones to repay the loan, or even took a few jobs, and some even experienced depression.
According to the police handling the case, in less than a year, the fraud gang had “sales income” of nearly 10 million yuan.
I thought I picked up the "big bargain"
Li Xiaoran, a "post-90s" from Guangxi, was one of the victims of this case. She told reporters about her experience of being deceived.
At the end of last year, Li Xiaoran accidentally swiped a short video of plastic surgery on his mobile phone.
In the video, a model with facial features shared in detail the entire process of her rhinoplasty surgery, and said that she would answer questions online as "sisters".
Li Xiaoran, who loves beauty, originally had plastic surgery ideas, so he contacted the model and asked him about plastic surgery.
The model then recommended Wuhan Yuexiu Cosmetic Surgery Hospital to Li Xiaoran.
She introduced that Yuexiu Hospital is currently doing a limited-time discount campaign, launching 20 free plastic surgery places nationwide.
"As long as the agreement is signed, Yuexiu Hospital will only charge the customer's medical examination and anesthesia fees, and tens of thousands of dollars in plastic surgery fees are free. If the customer comes from a foreign country, the air ticket and bus ticket are all reimbursed, and he can also be a model for the plastic surgery case."
Li Xiaoran said: “At the time I thought I had picked up the'big bargain', so I flew to Wuhan on December 25, and the hospital came to pick me up at the airport. During the interview, the doctor said that my nose was too round and it would be worse after rhinoplasty. Look better."
When the sales staff of Yuexiu Hospital put forward the cost of 30,000 yuan for plastic surgery, Li Xiaoran had a question, and the sales staff quickly explained: "Anyway, you don’t pay, it’s all paid by the hospital. As long as you apply for a loan of 30,000 yuan on the online loan platform, The principal of the loan will be repaid to you by the hospital in 24 installments. It is enough to use the rebate to repay the loan every month. You only need to pay the interest money, which is equivalent to free plastic surgery."
After speaking, the sales staff showed Li Xiaoran the return records of other customers.
Li Xiaoran, who has never had a loan experience, was a little worried at first.
However, the sales staff recruited so-called "professionals" to teach Li Xiaoran on the spot to handle loan procedures on the online loan platform.
With the help of "professionals", registration, card binding, and application are completed quickly.
At the same time, Yuexiu Hospital also signed an agreement with Li Xiaoran.
"At that time, I only glanced at the agreement. I can get the rebate after completing 2 tasks every month. One is to recommend 2 female friends to the sales staff every month, and the other is to share my daily life in the circle of friends. Photo." Li Xiaoran said.
In January 2021, Li Xiaoran received a rebate from Yuexiu Hospital and repaid the loan for the month on time.
In February, although Li Xiaoran completed the task, he did not receive the refund.
"I felt very strange. When I contacted the salesperson again, the other party said that he had resigned." Li Xiaoran said distressedly, and the remaining loan could only be repaid by himself.
Get up early to work a few jobs for the repayment
At the beginning of 2021, the Wuchang Branch of the Wuhan Public Security Bureau received a number of reports of deceiving consumers from Yuexiu Hospital on Zhongbei Road, Wuchang District in the backstage of "Ping An Wuchang".
The informants all said that they had undergone plastic surgery in this hospital, and after completing the task as required by the agreement, they were suddenly stopped from the promised rebate and carried an online loan.
The police combed through the clues of the report and found that the reporters were all over the country, mainly young girls with relatively little social experience.
"Some girls were deceived and couldn't repay the loan and sold their mobile phones; some didn't dare to tell their family members that they would get up early to work a few jobs in order to repay the loan. Another girl suffered from depression and was treated in the hospital. "The policeman Li Qiming said.
After the victim Zhang Xiaoying arrived at Yuexiu Hospital, she received a loan of more than 50,000 yuan through an online loan platform for plastic surgery. A few months after the operation, she did not receive any rebate from the hospital.
"I consulted Yuexiu Hospital many times about the situation, but the other party'kicked the ball'. At first, he said that it was a financial delay. Then he said that the shareholder changed. Then he said that the relevant person in charge had resigned. Finally, he said that the friend I recommended did not come to Yuet. Xiu Hospital does plastic surgery."
Zhang Xiaoying, who was not economically well-off, was unable to repay the loan.
Under multiple pressures, mental depression appears.
There is a secret behind the plastic surgery hospital, and it is likely to be suspected of medical fraud.
Li Qiming said that on the surface, Yuexiu Hospital is a regular hospital, providing customers with normal procedures for plastic surgery, but behind the scenes it mainly relies on fraud to make money illegally.
"Different from the illegal dens that deliberately hide their tracks, this hospital rents the golden facade on the first floor of a high-rise office building. The decoration style is high-grade and the professional facilities are complete. On the eye-catching wall, the hospital business license is available. The hospital also specializes. A notice was posted on handling cosmetic disputes, stating that the hospital regulates its operations and that if disputes arise due to surgery, they can be resolved through legal channels." Li Qiming said.
Recently, on the basis of preliminary investigations, the Wuchang District Bureau closed the network in due course.
12 persons involved in the case including Wang, Xia and Peng were arrested.
The business is so hot that you have to wait in line for surgery
Why do "regular hospitals" take risks and touch the bottom line of the law?
In June 2019, the shareholders of the original Yuexiu Hospital wanted to transfer the hospital.
The suspects Xia, Wang and Peng took over the hospital.
In order to make quick profits, in May 2020, they launched a "free plastic surgery case model" false campaign, which immediately received results.
"At that time, there were not many customers in the formal plastic surgery hospitals, but Yuexiu Hospital was so hot that it had to queue up for surgery and achieved sales income of nearly 10 million yuan in a short period of time." Policeman Liu Songtao said.
According to reports, the scam gang targets groups that need to correct their image, such as etiquette, models, and hosts, as well as groups of young women who are eager to love beauty and have limited economic conditions.
The gang used a unified swindling technique to post false advertisements such as "hospital fully funded plastic surgery expenses" and other false advertisements on the Internet, attracting people to "snap the bait", and sell more high-priced plastic surgery projects to victims when they receive face-to-face consultations.
Liu Songtao said that Yuexiu Hospital constantly brainwashed the victims and asked them to pay for the operation through online loans.
If the victim is a student, the hospital will also ask "professionals" to guide the victim on how to pass the loan review when applying for an online loan.
The hospital said that as long as the task is completed monthly after the operation, the hospital will repay the payment on time and use the rebate to repay the online loan every month.
"It seems that you can enjoy the plastic surgery without spending a penny." Liu Songtao said that when the victim cannot receive the rebate after the operation, and seeks a theory from Yuexiu Hospital, Yuexiu Hospital will think of various ways to shirk it.
(Some interviewees in the text are pseudonyms)