An unlicensed clinic in Nghe An is accused of overcharging customers.

Tricks to extort money from customers.

On April 27th, Ms. PTT (37 years old) expressed her concerns after using services at the Traditional Medicine and Dermatology Clinic in Vinh Phu ward (Nghe An province). Ms. T. was even more upset after spending a large sum of money on surgery, only to find out that it was an unlicensed clinic.

"I spent a large sum of money on eyelid surgery because I believed the words of those who called themselves doctors here. They boasted about having performed surgery on many clients, guaranteeing their reputation and so on. But now I've discovered that after the surgery, they even left some sutures in my eyelids, and now it will definitely leave scars," Ms. T. said angrily.

The woman stated that she had previously seen advertising posts on Facebook from "DLTM – Traditional Medicine Clinic HT"She contacted them and on March 30th, was directed to this 'clinic' at 112B Tuệ Tĩnh Street (Vinh Phú Ward) to treat her postpartum armpit odor."

Initially, the clinic's social media advertisement stated that the treatment for underarm odor cost only 499,000 VND. However, when Ms. T. was directed to the clinic, the staff there said that the price was only for one unit of medication for injection.

"After the examination, the person who identified himself as Dr. Hoang said that to completely cure the condition, I would need multiple injections and advised on a treatment package costing 13 million VND. They were very enthusiastic in their advice, so I agreed and was instructed to pay upfront and then receive an anesthetic injection. But after the anesthesia, they made me wait for almost half a day. About 3 hours later, another person, also claiming to be Dr. Thi, came to see me, continued the examination, and concluded that my condition was severe. They said that to completely cure my underarm odor, I would need a 26 million VND treatment package, as the initial package wouldn't work," Ms. T. recounted, adding that because she had already paid 13 million VND upfront and was afraid of not being able to get a refund, and had already traveled a long distance and waited for a whole day, she reluctantly agreed to the 26 million VND treatment.

She was then taken into a room by someone who called himself "Doctor Thi," who injected her with an unknown substance, claiming it was a treatment for body odor. Thinking that paying 26 million VND would solve the problem, Ms. T. was then lured by these people into using additional services.

“Initially, they said that injections would completely cure my underarm odor. But after I paid and received the injections, they said that if I only received injections without hair removal, the effect wouldn't be significant. At that point, I had already paid 26 million VND for the injections, and now, as they said, it would be pointless to stop, so I reluctantly agreed,” Ms. T. said, adding that she then had to let these staff members remove the hair for 3.5 million VND, even though the market price is less than 100,000 VND.

Not stopping there, after the hair removal treatment, Ms. T. was then advised to undergo a folliculitis treatment package costing 25 million VND. “They continued to pressure me, saying that injections and hair removal alone weren't enough; to completely cure it, I needed to treat the folliculitis. I disagreed because the cost of treating folliculitis was too high, but they insisted, saying they had just gotten permission from their superiors to reduce the price for me, leaving only 12 million VND for the folliculitis treatment. After thinking for a while, I reluctantly agreed,” Ms. T. recounted.

Furthermore, during the treatment process, Ms. T. was advised by staff to have lower eyelid surgery at an initially agreed-upon cost of 13 million VND. However, after paying the money, during the surgery, the staff informed her that the amount only covered the removal of eye bags and the left corner of the lower eyelid, not the entire lower eyelid surgery.

“They advised me that I would have to pay an additional 8 million VND to have my entire lower eyelids surgically removed, but by then the procedure was already incomplete. They left me with no other choice. During the treatment at that clinic, there were times when I insisted on stopping, but they said the agreement had already been entered into the computer and couldn't be stopped. They insisted I continue, giving me no option,” Ms. T. recounted.

In total, before leaving, Ms. T. had to pay this "clinic" nearly 62 million VND, even though she initially contacted them only for treatment of underarm odor at the advertised price of 499,000 VND. No receipt was given during the payment process. However, what angered her even more was that the services provided by this "clinic" did not deliver the promised results. After nearly a month, her underarm odor had not subsided, and her eyelids still had undissolved sutures. Regarding folliculitis, the "doctor" initially promised to remove the dark spots after treatment, but Ms. T. has now discovered that there has been no change.

"I contacted them to ask why my dark spots weren't going away, and they said I had to buy another treatment package. I'm really scared of this clinic," Ms. T. said.

The clinic is not licensed.

After receiving a complaint from Ms. PTT, reporters from Nghe An Newspaper and Radio and Television followed her to this "clinic" to investigate the truth. There, according to the reporters' observations, there were about 6 employees working, including 2 wearing white lab coats and claiming to be doctors. Outside was a sign that read "International Export Institute - Traditional Medicine and Rehabilitation Clinic". This was different from the name the "clinic" advertised on Facebook, despite having the same address.

When working with Ms. T, the people who identified themselves as "doctors" initially claimed that the money was agreed upon and correct for the services she had used, and therefore refused to return it. However, after the reporter introduced themselves and asked whether this "clinic" was licensed to operate, these people began to change their attitude.

The man who introduced himself as "Dr. Le Xuan Hoang" said that he was the manager of this "clinic" and also the person who directly advised Ms. T. Besides "Dr. Hoang," there was another person present who was also a "specialist doctor with a professional license."

Regarding the operating license, Hoang admitted that he did not yet have one and stated that "the application is being reviewed and is being prepared for approval." He also said that he previously worked at the main facility in Hanoi and had been assigned to manage this facility for the past three months.

After Ms. T. questioned the clinic's lack of a license to practice, yet still performing injections and eyelid surgery on her, while also boasting about its reputation, the clinic began to compromise and offered to refund some of the service fees that Ms. T. had not yet used. Accordingly, after discussing with his superiors, "Doctor Hoang" returned 31 million VND to the customer, but requested that she promise "not to report to the press."

After receiving information from reporters, a representative from the Nghe An Department of Health stated that they had checked and confirmed that there are no clinics with that name operating under that name in the province. At address 112B Tue Tinh, there is also no registered or licensed medical facility. “Leaving aside the fact that the sign in front says 'clinic,' even invasive procedures like injections or eyelid surgery require a license from the Department of Health. But at this address, after checking, there is no such license. Regarding signs for people to identify licensed clinics, they usually display their license number on their signs. If a sign says 'clinic' but doesn't show a license number, there's a 99% chance it's an unlicensed clinic,” the representative said.

From an advertised price of just 499,000 VND to nearly 62 million VND, Ms. PTT's story reveals a meticulously orchestrated "baiting and price gouging" scheme. Even more concerning, all of this took place in an unlicensed facility, where individuals posing as "doctors" brazenly performed invasive procedures on clients' bodies. When the line between beauty services and illegal activities is blurred, if not detected and dealt with promptly, how many more victims will fall into a similar trap?