74 people were arrested. Essential oils at sky-high prices were of inferior quality. Nine massage parlors in Shanghai defrauded hundreds of elderly people of more than 12 million yuan.
They package massage parlors as so-called "health management centers" and pretend to be "experts" and "miraculous doctors" to create health anxiety for the elderly, and then trick the elderly into purchasing "exorbitantly priced" essential oil massage treatments to commit fraud. Recently, Pudong police successfully busted this elderly-related fraud gang and arrested a total of 74 people involved.
At the end of 2023, Aunt Wang, who lives in the Zhoujiadu area of Pudong, Shanghai, accompanied by her family, nervously walked into the Zhoujiadu Police Station of the Pudong Branch of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau to report a crime, saying that she had encountered a scammer. After some communication, the police learned that when Aunt Wang was picking up her children from school, she received a leaflet from someone, which said, "You can experience a foot massage for free when you come to the store to make yourself healthier."
Aunt Wang is old and inevitably has some minor problems. She came to this "health management center" with the mentality of giving it a try. In the following more than a year, Aunt Wang recharged 220,000 yuan four times to purchase high-priced essential oil massage and health treatments on the recommendation of masseurs and "experts" in the store. It was not until Aunt Wang recently went to the hospital for a physical examination that she discovered that the so-called essential oil massage had no therapeutic effect.
Another victim, Ms. Tang, a domestic worker, also spent 200,000 yuan on the "Health Management Center" in two years. "I had my feet done at the beginning. Later, the store clerk said they could check my body for free. As soon as they checked, they said that my body was blocked here and there." After being brainwashed by masseurs and "experts" in the store, Ms. Tang bought a nearly A 10,000-yuan essential oil massage health course: “They took turns telling me that if their minor ailments are not cured now, they will get some kind of cancer in the future, and it will cost more to go to the hospital.”
In fact, when Ms. Tang told the police about her experience, it was not because she realized she had been defrauded, but because the police found her first during the handling of the case.
At the end of last year, Pudong police launched an investigation after receiving the call from Aunt Wang and found that hundreds of elderly people had been defrauded. "Most of the elderly didn't realize they were being cheated. It was only when we found them that they realized they were being cheated. Most of them believed it." Guo Yanjun, a police officer from the Nanquan Road Police Station of the Pudong Public Security Bureau, said that many elderly people used their savings for many years to cheat their children without telling them. Recharge to purchase high-priced essential oils recommended by the "Health Management Center".
The therapeutic device that criminal gangs claim can detect toxins in the body is just an ordinary atomizer
Essential oils sold to deceived elderly people at sky-high prices are all inferior quality.
Through return visits and combinations, the Pudong police successfully identified a criminal gang headed by Xu Moumou, Qu Moumou and others who used inferior essential oils to defraud the elderly out of their money. At the end of March this year, the task force was divided into more than ten arrest teams and carried out concentrated arrest operations in Jiading, Yangpu, Pudong and other places in the city. They successfully arrested 74 people involved in the case and seized essential oils, account books, and scripts for committing crimes. A large number of physical certificates such as customer information.
After the criminal suspects arrived at the case, they confessed that they had a clear division of labor and opened nine directly-operated massage parlors in the city. They specially distributed advertisements and leaflets targeting the elderly near supermarkets and schools, and used free foot baths and massage experiences as "gimmicks" Guide people into the store. During the experience, the masseur kept working hard and talking constantly, making insinuations about the old man's financial and physical conditions, exaggerating and fabricating the victim's disease, causing the victim to feel fearful and purchase low-quality essential oils at nearly a hundred times the inflated price. As everyone knows, these "high-end essential oils" that often cost tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands are actually just cheap and inferior products.
According to preliminary verification by the police, since 2022, the gang has used this method to defraud more than 12 million yuan in illegal profits, with more than a hundred victims. At present, eight suspects involved in the case have been arrested by the procuratorate, and the remaining suspects have been subject to criminal compulsory measures in accordance with the law. The case is under further investigation and trial.
