Hong Kong health officials on the case of beauty salon accused of HK$5 million treatment scam
Minister says the department is checking whether staff have posed as health care workers
Health authorities would help police determine if staff at a beauty salon arrested in a suspected HK$5 million cancer treatment scam used illegal medical procedures, health minister Dr Ko Wing-man said on Thursday as more details emerged on the patients.
“It depends on how they presented themselves to the clients ... and whether they carried out any procedures which could be construed as medical procedures,” said Ko, adding that evidence would be reviewed by the health department and police.
On Wednesday, police arrested 11 women who were accused of cheating seven patients suffering cancer, skin disease and depression out of HK$5 million in total by offering “treatments” they were told could cure them.
Ten have been released on bail pending further investigation. The 11th suspect, surnamed Chiu, was still being questioned on Thursday night. None of them had been charged.
The six women and one man were given oxygen-inhalation and infrared light treatments at the beauty salon in Causeway Bay and told to carry a magnet at all times. They were asked to sign a declaration that they would not receive other treatment or take other medicine.
They became suspicious when their health got worse. A police source with knowledge of the case said two of the seven victims, who suffered cancer, died last year, months after being treated. A woman with blood cancer paid HK$750,000 for treatment at the beauty centre in April last year but died in July, the source said.