Driving traffic to community stores, transporting people to and from lectures by private car, pretending to be a famous doctor for consultation
Many elderly people have fallen into the trap of "exorbitantly priced prescriptions"
◆Wang and Mou used the idea that they could receive free rice and cooking oil for attending the health care class as a bait, and arranged a special car to pick up the elderly to attend the lecture. Zhou pretended to be a disciple of a well-known traditional Chinese medicine doctor and gave lectures to the elderly. In order to increase credibility, pre-composited photos of Zhou with famous traditional Chinese medicine doctors and other leaders were placed at the lecture site.
◆After the lecture, it was time for a one-on-one "consultation" session. Before taking the elderly to the "TCM clinic", Zhou already knew the elderly's disease, finances, who was in charge at home, etc., so he could "accurately" prescribe ointment at a price acceptable to the elderly. After defrauding the old people's money, the three of them divided the spoils.
◆Zhou lied that the ointment prescriptions were tailor-made for “one person per person”. In fact, he purchased the ointment prescriptions sold to the elderly from a pharmaceutical factory for only 50 yuan per bottle. The manufacturer of the ointment is not qualified to produce drugs. The ointments involved are all food grade and not medicines.
"Dr. Zhou's family has been a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner for several generations. He studied under the 'Red Wall Royal Physician' and is the attending physician of some big leaders." Under the recommendation and publicity of "famous medical lecturers", many elderly people fell into the "exorbitantly priced ointment" scam.
Recently, with the ruling of the second instance, four scammers who specially tricked the elderly into buying "exorbitantly priced ointments" under the guise of famous doctors' free clinics were duly punished.
A secret ginseng and antler premium store
Mou runs a high-quality ginseng and antler store at the entrance of a community in Baoshan District, Shanghai, and He serves as the store manager. On the surface, this is a store selling health care products, but in fact it has a hidden secret.
By chance, Mou met Wang. During the conversation, Wang revealed that he had a "good project" on hand - selling "ointment prescriptions" and having "famous doctors" perform consultations. Ointment, also known as ointment and decoction, is a commonly used traditional Chinese medicine dosage form in traditional health care in my country. Wang took a fancy to the ginseng and antler premium store run by Mou, thinking that opening this store at the entrance of the community would attract elderly customers. The two hit it off and decided to join forces to launch a "sky-high price ointment" scam specifically targeting the elderly.
Under Wang's guidance, Mou used the idea that he could receive free rice and cooking oil for attending a health class as a bait, and arranged a special car to transport the elderly to the lecture site arranged by Wang. Later, Wang asked Zhou to pretend to be a disciple of a well-known traditional Chinese medicine doctor and give lectures to the elderly. Photos of Zhou, synthesized in advance, with famous traditional Chinese medicine doctors and other leaders were placed at the lecture site. Mou was on the sidelines to build momentum for Zhou, saying that the registration fee alone for Zhou's medical treatment in other places was thousands of yuan, and today he would give a free lecture to the elderly to let them cherish the opportunity.
This rhetoric made some elderly people who came to listen to the lecture feel that they had come to the right place and found an expert. Even if some elderly people were more vigilant and asked Zhou whether he had a medical practicing certificate, Zhou was already prepared and produced a forged practicing certificate in advance to dispel the old man's doubts.
Diagnostic pricing is very accurate
After the lecture, there is a one-on-one "consultation" session. Wang asked Mou and He to clearly understand the old man's disease status, financial situation, who is in charge of the family, etc. before taking the old man to Zhou for medical treatment, so that they can subsequently defraud money. Wang first held back the old man by giving gifts and other means, and then Mou and He informed Zhou of the collected information.
Wang's intention is obvious: not only the "diagnosis" must be "accurate", but also the prescription pricing must be "accurate" - some elderly people can only accept ointment prescriptions priced at around 3,000 yuan, and it is easy to scare them away if the price is too high; some elderly people can accept ointment prescriptions priced at around 20,000 yuan, but if you only prescribe 5,000 yuan, it is a waste of a customer.
After understanding the basic conditions of these elderly people, Zhou began to formally "consult" them. The elderly were completely convinced when they saw that Zhou could "accurately" point out the problems in his body just by taking his pulse.
Later, some elderly people performed acupuncture and cupping under the guidance of Zhou. When black blood appeared in the wound, Zhou said: "Look at the black blood. It is full of dirt and toxins. If it is not treated, it will become more and more. If it is blocked in the heart, it will cause a myocardial infarction. If it is blocked in the brain, it will be a cerebral infarction. Our ointment is tailor-made for each person. You decide whether you want to buy it or not."
Zhou's statement frightened some elderly people, so they followed his instructions to place orders. Seeing that someone was willing to buy, Zhou pretended to write down some names of traditional Chinese medicine on paper, and then offered a price based on the psychological price that the elderly had collected previously. On the way back, Mou and others continued to fan the flames, saying that Zhou was very good and had a rare opportunity. Everyone should hurry up and pay for medicine to cure the disease. After the old people withdrew the money, they gave it to Mou, who then divided the stolen money with Wang and Zhou.
Some elderly people bought the medicine and took it for a while, but found that it had no effect and asked for their money back. Because they are afraid that the matter will be exposed, Mou and others will agree to refund the money and then continue to sell the recovered ointment formula to other elderly people.
Uncle Liu, who is nearly eighty years old, also attended this health lecture. Zhou said to Uncle Liu: "Your blood vessels are not good, and there is a lot of garbage in them. It will be very dangerous if you don't take care of them." These words frightened Uncle Liu at once. Seeing that Uncle Liu was getting nervous, Zhou said that if he wanted to recover, he would need to take the ointment for a year and a half, which would cost about 20,000 yuan. Uncle Liu readily agreed. After buying the medicine and returning home, the more he thought about it, the more something was wrong. He felt that he had been cheated, so he called the police on August 26, 2025. On September 2 of the same year, the public security organs opened a case for investigation.
"Private customized" paste recipes come from unqualified manufacturers
On November 25, 2025, the public security organs transferred the case to the Baoshan District Procuratorate for review and prosecution.
The public security organs found out that Zhou purchased these ointment prescriptions sold to the elderly from a pharmaceutical factory for only 50 yuan per bottle. After investigating the manufacturer, the prosecutor handling the case found that the manufacturer of the ointment did not have the qualifications to produce drugs, and the ointments sold to Zhou were all food grade and not drugs. In accordance with Zhou's request, the manufacturer put the words "one cream for one party" and "private customization" on the packaging.
"You don't even know the specific ingredients of the ointment, so you dare to give it to the elderly?" Faced with the prosecutor's question, Mou said: "We know that this ointment has no curative effect and will not have any consequences, so we dare to give it to the elderly. We only need to brag about its miraculous curative effects."
When reviewing the evidence, the prosecutor handling the case found that Zhou argued that he had clearly told Wang that he had no qualifications to practice medicine and prescribe medicine, but only had massage qualifications. He only provided massage services to customers, and the ointment was also a free benefit. This confession is obviously inconsistent with the confessions of other suspects. Therefore, the court returned the case for supplementary investigation and asked the investigative agency to find out whether the above situation was true.
The public security organs obtained evidence such as chat records and transfer vouchers between Wang and Zhou, which confirmed that Zhou’s excuse was inconsistent with the facts and that he participated in false publicity and pricing sharing of cream sales.
After investigation, Mou and others tricked 15 elderly people into buying ointment prescriptions provided by Zhou, with a total sales amount of 133,000 yuan. The court held that Mou, Wang, and Zhou all played a major role in the joint crime and should be recognized as the principal offenders; He was responsible for picking up the elderly, collecting money, receiving a fixed salary from Mou, and did not participate in the sharing of stolen money. He played a secondary role in the joint crime and should be recognized as an accessory.
On April 30, the Baoshan District Procuratorate filed a public prosecution against Mou, Wang, Zhou, and He. On June 17, after a trial, the court sentenced Mou and four others to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from three years and nine months to one year and six months for fraud, and each was also fined. Four people appealed against the first-instance judgment.
On September 29, the court of second instance issued a ruling, rejecting the appeal and upholding the original verdict. (Our correspondent Wang Yunyi)
