The scam used by an 'international beauty clinic' in Nghe An to extort money from customers.
Despite advertising very cheap services on social media, the actual cost at these beauty clinics is often much higher. Using manipulative tactics and putting customers in a difficult position, many reluctantly pay tens, even hundreds of millions of dong. Furthermore, many of the services performed by these establishments violate regulations and involve unlicensed medical practice.
Signs of violation
On July 4th, Ms. NTT (45 years old, Yen Thanh district) reported that she had just received a refund of 18 million VND from the Mayo Clinic beauty clinic branch in Nghe An (No. 12, Nguyen Phong Sac Street, Vinh City). Ms. T. is one of many people who recently filed a complaint against this beauty clinic with the Inspectorate of the Department of Health for shady practices and deceiving customers.
According to Ms. T., on June 14th, after seeing an advertisement on social media offering a treatment for a dark spot for only 499,000 VND, she went to this beauty clinic. However, in reality, upon entering the Mayo Clinic, the staff informed her that the service had increased to 1 million VND.
Since I had already traveled all the way from my hometown to the city, I reluctantly agreed. But when I went up to the second floor, preparing for the treatment of my dark spots, another group of staff members started giving me advice. These people began manipulating me, speaking in a sweet, persuasive way. They analyzed my facial imperfections, saying things like "bad feng shui" and so on, drawing me in. Then they advised me to get a nose job, eyelid surgery, and injections for smile lines. They said that just injecting two strands of Korean collagen into my nose would be enough for a natural look, costing 14 million VND but offering a discount to 10 million VND. That's why I agreed to go through with it.”
Ms. NTT (45 years old, Yen Thanh district)
Ms. T. was then taken to the 4th floor to have two collagen threads injected into her nose. “However, after the two threads were injected, my nose looked very unbalanced. At this point, the staff advised me to have two more single-cell collagen threads injected to make it look better. They put me in a difficult position; if I didn't have those two more threads injected, my nose would look much worse than before the procedure. So I had to pay another 18 million VND to have those two threads injected,” Ms. T. said.
Because she didn't have enough money, after getting a nose job, Ms. T. decided not to get injections for her nasolabial folds or have her under-eye bags removed. However, at this point, the staff said that they had already applied the medication, and if she didn't get the procedure done, her skin would sag. "Hearing the staff say that, I hesitated and reluctantly agreed. So, from my initial intention of only treating dark circles at the advertised price of 499,000 VND, I ended up paying them 39.5 million VND," Ms. T. added.
According to Ms. T., the staff at Mayo Clinic engaged in many shady practices during the beauty treatment process. “Upon entering the clinic, they immediately separated my family members from me before beginning the consultation in a private room. The treatment lasted almost a whole day, but they still wouldn't let me leave to meet them, probably fearing my family would interfere. Inside the room, they told me to leave my phone elsewhere, claiming there was no signal. Meanwhile, the four staff members around me were able to make calls normally. When I was short of money, they instructed me to call relatives to borrow money, and even warned me not to mention that I was borrowing money for the nose surgery,” Ms. T. recounted, adding that during the first consultation, the staff guaranteed an 80% effectiveness rate, but during the actual treatment, they said it was only 30%. To date, after two treatments for dark spots, Ms. T.'s dark spots remain unchanged.
After returning home, feeling cheated, Ms. T. filed a complaint against Mayo Clinic with the Inspectorate of the Department of Health. “I demand a refund of 18 million VND for the two additional collagen injections. According to their initial commitment, I only needed the first two injections to achieve a natural look, so I agreed. But after those two injections, my face became unbalanced, forcing me to get two more,” Ms. T. recounted.
According to our investigation, the Mayo Clinic branch in Nghe An is not licensed to practice medicine. They are only permitted to perform simple, non-invasive cosmetic procedures, including injections, laser treatments, and prescriptions. However, like many other customers, Ms. T. stated that she received collagen injections in her nose, had her eye bags removed and stitched, and was subsequently prescribed medication.
On July 3rd, after the Nghe An Department of Health Inspectorate intervened following the complaint, Ms. T. also had a discussion with the Mayo Clinic. “On July 3rd, I went to have the stitches removed after they stitched up my under-eye bags. But at that point, they denied stitching anything, saying they were afraid of being fined for using laser treatment. After almost half a day, they finally admitted it and returned 18 million VND to me, but on the condition that I withdraw my complaint and not provide information to the press,” Ms. T. recounted.
The thrilling story of "rescuing" a relative from a beauty clinic.
In Nghia Dan district, Ms. Pham Phuong Th. recounts that she still feels scared whenever she remembers the time she "rescued" her mother from Medic Skin Beauty Clinic (238B Tran Phu Street, Vinh City). According to Ms. Th., in August 2023, after getting her hair permed, her mother, who is over 70 years old, clicked on an advertisement page for Medic Skin Beauty Clinic because she was interested in hair care. Afterward, a female employee from the clinic called and enthusiastically advised her, causing her to take a bus from Nghia Dan to Vinh City.
“I don’t know how they persuaded her, but at 5 am she woke up to take the bus, and the staff warmly greeted her at the bus stop. After examining her, they told her she had a dangerous fungal infection on her scalp, saying that if left untreated, her scalp would peel off, and they urged her to register for a 35 million VND treatment immediately. Then, by some invisible force, they manipulated her into calling around to borrow money at exorbitant interest rates, promising that “once you borrow the money, we’ll help you pay it back,” on the condition that she not tell her children,” Ms. Th. recounted.
After hearing that their mother was borrowing money at exorbitant interest rates, Th.'s siblings tried to contact her but couldn't reach her. Instead, staff at the beauty salon answered the phone and said, "Your mother has finished her treatment; she can only come home when she has the money to pay back the debt." When Th. asked for the specific address, they didn't say anything and hung up.
According to Ms. Th., it took an entire afternoon, using all her connections, even reporting to the police and asking the telecommunications company to locate her mother's phone, but to no avail. “Finally, we had to ask relatives in Nghia Son commune to call and trick them into believing we had enough money to lure them into taking my mother back. At first, they were hesitant and insisted on receiving the money upfront. But we cleverly tricked them, so they hired a taxi with a female employee to escort my mother back to our hometown to get the money. As soon as we arrived, we detained them and called the police,” Ms. Th. recounted.
According to Ms. Th., after the treatment, her mother returned home in a dazed, dreamy state, unable to remember where she had gone or why she had borrowed money from people. However, when questioned by the local police, the female employee claimed she "didn't have any documents," and when contacted by phone, the beauty salon denied sending an employee to take her mother home to get the money, stating that she had only "asked someone to take her home" on a journey of over 100km.
Ms. Ho Thi Hoa, Head of the Health Department of Vinh City, stated that Medic Skin Beauty Institute had previously been fined by the Vinh City People's Committee. Specifically, on May 12, 2023, Medic Skin Beauty Institute was fined a total of 22.5 million VND for providing beauty services to customers outside the scope of its granted business license, as stipulated in Clause 2, Article 6 of Decree No. 98/2020/ND-CP dated August 26, 2020, on regulations for administrative penalties for violations in commercial activities, production, trading of counterfeit and prohibited goods, and protection of consumer rights.
This includes a fine of 7.5 million VND, along with 15 million VND representing illegal profits obtained from providing cosmetic services to customers outside the scope of the granted business license.
