A health center in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province used “free foot wash” as a bait, leading a 58-year-old woman step by step into a high-cost consumption trap. The victim, Ms. Guo, ended up spending over 170,000 yuan on health treatments, with over 100,000 yuan coming from spending and online loans. After depleting her savings, she had to rely on working as a cleaner to repay the debt, with a monthly repayment of about 4,000 yuan. Despite the health center being “under investigation,” it continues to operate as usual.
Guangdong Radio and Television recently reported that due to enjoying a free foot wash, Aunt Guo in Guangzhou ended up spending over 170,000 yuan on health treatments, with over 100,000 yuan spent using “hua bao” (a mobile payment platform). After exhausting her retirement savings, the staff at the health center guided Aunt Guo to use “hua bao” and borrow online loans, even asking her to keep it a secret from her children.
According to Aunt Guo’s recollection, the staff at Fushuntang took her to other health centers multiple times for free “examinations”, pressing certain areas and claiming she showed signs of an impending stroke, warning that without proper treatment, she might become paralyzed.
To quickly repay her debt, Aunt Guo found a cleaning job, having to repay 4,000 yuan monthly.
The reports mention that family members have filed complaints with the relevant authorities, but the implicated Fushuntang Health Management Center continues to operate normally.
The Yangcheng Evening News reported that on June 2, they learned from the Liwan District Market Supervision Bureau that they have initiated an investigation into the related illegal activities and are currently in the investigation phase.
On the same afternoon, reporters from the Yangcheng Evening News visited the Fushuntang Health Management Center on Longjin West Road in Liwan District, only to find that the storefront signage had been removed. However, the staff responded, saying, “Can’t we renovate? We just changed the sign,” while also stating that they are still open to the public. When asked further about the investigation status, the staff replied, “We can’t answer any questions.”
According to QCC information, the company registered at the Fushuntang’s location is Guangzhou Fuyantang Health Management Co., Ltd., with Yang as the legal representative and a registered capital of 30,000 yuan, established in May 2023.
Regarding this incident, a commentary from Jimo News expressed that Fushuntang’s operating model is extremely misleading and harmful. Using free trials as bait, creating health panic with phrases like “prelude to a stroke, will become paralyzed without treatment” to induce repeated recharges. After draining the savings of the elderly, they directly instigated them to open hua bao accounts, take out online loans, and even deliberately requested they keep it secret from their children, cutting off avenues for seeking help. This process precisely targets the information vulnerability and fear of illness in the middle-aged and elderly, setting traps step by step, similar to common fraudulent practices.
The article points out that even after the exposure of the incident and complaints from family members, the implicated Fushuntang store continues to operate normally, which is puzzling. Guangzhou Fushuntang’s business scope is non-medical health care and lacks medical qualifications. The stark contrast between the elderly burdened with debt working and the indifferent operation of the store exposes not only the slow response of grassroots supervision but also raises doubts about the intensity of the investigation by the public.
The article also mentions that Aunt Guo’s ordeal is not an isolated case, with similar health scam incidents being frequent in recent years, stemming from vague classification and lenient punishment.