In a bizarre twist of criminal ingenuity, a gang in Yichang, Hubei province, central China, successfully executed an elaborate extortion scheme targeting beauty clinics. The fraudsters, led by two individuals surnamed Qian and Xu, who themselves owned a floundering beauty clinic, concocted a plan to feign medical emergencies using mydriatic eye drops to simulate blindness. This ruse, which exploited the vulnerability of clinics operating without formal qualifications, netted them over one million yuan (about US$140,000) within a span of four months.
Qian and Xu’s financial struggles with their own clinic led them to this path of deception. Discovering that mydriatic eye drops could be used to mimic eye injuries, they gathered a nine-member team, each trained in specific roles to execute the scam efficiently. The drops, typically used to dilate pupils for eye examinations, became their tool for simulating blindness during cosmetic procedures, specifically hyaluronic acid injections, popular for their skin rejuvenation benefits.
The scam unfolded in several stages. A team member would first contact a clinic, posing as a customer seeking facial treatments. During the procedure, they would discretely administer the eye drops to themselves, subsequently claiming injury and vision loss. The scammer would then decline medical examination at a hospital, opting instead to demand compensation from the clinic directly. Faced with the threat of legal action and reputational damage, many clinic owners felt compelled to settle the matter financially, paying amounts between 40,000 to 100,000 yuan to avoid further consequences.
From August to November 2022, this tactic was repeated across approximately 20 beauty clinics, amassing a significant sum, which the gang divided among themselves and used to cover their own clinic’s losses.
The scheme, however, did not go undetected for long. Once discovered, the case was brought to court, where the 13 involved were found guilty of extortion. They received varying prison sentences, ranging from nine months to 10 years, and were fined amounts between 2,000 and 50,000 yuan.
This case, as reported by Procuratorial Daily, the official media outlet of The Supreme People’s Procuratorate of China, has sparked widespread shock and discussion on mainland social media. Users expressed astonishment at the gang’s audacity and raised concerns about the lack of medical qualifications in many beauty clinics, highlighting a significant oversight in the industry’s regulation. This incident serves as a stark reminder of the inventive lengths to which fraudsters can go, exploiting loopholes and vulnerabilities in less regulated sectors.
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