Inside an unlicensed beauty salon that hired students to perform liposuction on clients - Photo: Ho Chi Minh City Police.
The Ho Chi Minh City Police Investigation Agency has shared some information regarding the "customer fraud" case that occurred at the unlicensed beauty salon Ho.pital SW (address: 49B Cao Thang Street, Ban Co Ward, Ho Chi Minh City).
The agency also discovered that the Ho.pital SW facility, owned by Nguyen Thi Huong (32 years old, Go Vap ward, Ho Chi Minh City), was operating illegally.
Use 30 fanpages to attract customers.
According to investigators, the facility specializes in liposuction and filler injections. Despite being repeatedly fined and ordered to cease operations, the owner defied the orders and continued operating in a sophisticated manner.
Lieutenant Tran Hong Quan, an officer from Team 4 of the Ho Chi Minh City Police Investigation Agency, stated that the establishment only accepts clients through social media and does not accept clients in person. The premises are almost always closed, only opening when receiving clients, making the investigation process quite difficult.
"The perpetrators target customers who want liposuction and cosmetic procedures at low prices, and they often don't want to disclose information, so the investigation process faces difficulties in collecting information from the victims," Mr. Quan said.
According to Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Luong Y, an investigator at the Ho Chi Minh City Police Investigation Agency, the defendants purchased existing fanpages with high engagement rates, then renamed them to fanpages of famous cosmetic surgeons in order to impersonate these doctors and advertise their cosmetic surgery services. The investigation has so far identified approximately 30 fake fanpages used by the defendants to attract customers.
The advertising posts are mostly copied from the advertisements of reputable beauty salons, then edited and posted on their own fan pages.
"Through investigation, we discovered a new tactic: the perpetrators staged and created videos about liposuction surgery by pureeing pumpkins and papayas to create fake fat, using this fake fat to film promotional clips about liposuction procedures. In reality, it was all staged; there were no real people or real procedures involved."
The advertisement led many people to believe in it and seek out liposuction.
"It's noteworthy that this facility hires medical students who are interns and do not have licenses to practice cosmetic surgery to directly perform liposuction on clients, which is a prohibited practice in the medical field," Mr. Y said.
According to Mr. Y, the verification results determined that all medical supplies at the facility lacked verifiable origin, posing a high risk of complications and medical accidents for customers.
"Role-playing" as a famous doctor performing surgery.
These irregularities were exposed by the police. Previously, the Ho Chi Minh City Police Investigation Agency had initiated a case, indicted the suspects, and temporarily detained Nguyen Thi Huong, Nguyen Minh Khai, and Duong Tan Long (marketing staff at Ho.pital SW) for investigation into the crime of defrauding customers.
Despite not having a license to operate a medical clinic or any licenses for cosmetic surgery, Huong still directed her staff to perform liposuction services for more than 500 customers from January 2025 to the present, earning nearly 10 billion VND in illicit profits.
Meanwhile, Nguyen Minh Khai (32 years old, residing in Tan Son Nhat ward, Ho Chi Minh City), the person who directly performed the liposuction, admitted that he was only in the process of learning and practicing to obtain a cosmetic surgery practice certificate.
Khải confessed that he was hired by Ms. Hường to perform liposuction procedures starting in April, and for each liposuction procedure, Khải was paid 8% (equivalent to approximately 800,000 VND).
During his time working for Ms. Huong, Khai "played the role" of a famous cosmetic surgeon named Long and advertised himself as "head of department at Cho Ray Hospital," "director of Asia Hospital," etc., to attract customers.
And even when undergoing liposuction, many customers still believed that the masked man was a real doctor, unaware that it was a fake "Dr. Long."
Advertisements for liposuction are rampant, with a mix of genuine and fake claims.
With just a few searches for keywords like "abdominal liposuction" or "rapid weight loss" on social media, hundreds of fan pages and groups will appear with all sorts of enticing advertisements: painless liposuction, no scarring, and a fraction of the price compared to hospitals. The accompanying images often show dramatic before-and-after transformations.
In reality, many of these clips are staged to deceive viewers. Numerous websites even impersonate famous doctors, using images and logos of major hospitals to build trust with customers.
These advertisements often target people who want to lose fat quickly, at low cost, and keep their personal information confidential.
Simply by leaving a phone number or sending a direct message, users are immediately offered a range of "huge promotional" service packages by consultants. Many beauty groups have even become places to share and link to unlicensed establishments, making it difficult for users to distinguish between legitimate and fake businesses.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/thu-doan-lua-moi-o-co-so-tham-my-chui-20250909222906214.htm
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