Illegal Botox and fake doctors: the rise of clandestine aesthetic clinics alerts the police

BarcelonaThey had 2,400 followers on Instagram, from where they offered for the same price a shot of botox and another of hyaluronic acid in the lips so that they would look plumper. The account published offers and saving bundles, and there were plenty of responses and comments from clients apparently satisfied with the aesthetic treatments received. But it was all a deception. The clinic was not a usual premises, but an apartment, and it was not advertised on the street as a medical center. Inside, hanging on the walls, were several diplomas, all fake. The botox they injected had no medical guarantee, and the person administering it had no medical training.

After a year of investigation, the Civil Guard has dismantled three clandestine aesthetic clinics, located in Reus, Valencia, and Alicante. Furthermore, at the home of the main person under investigation, who has been arrested, they found a warehouse of illegal drugs, which had not passed the European Union's guarantees. These aesthetic medicines were not only injected in their clinics, but were also distributed to other European countries, especially the United Kingdom and Lithuania. In total, the agents have seized 1,248 vials of botulinum toxin (simplified as botox) and 382 syringes of hyaluronic acid.

Clandestine clinics that promise aesthetic treatments at a lower price are proliferating due to the success of promotion on social networks. "Aesthetic treatments are booming, especially among young people," stated the delegate of the Spanish government in Catalonia, Carlos Prieto, at a press conference this Wednesday morning to explain the operation that has allowed the group to be dismantled. In fact, the delegate indicated that aesthetic operations have increased by 200% in the last 10 years and that 2% of clients are currently minors.

The Civil Guard has been trying to tackle these clandestine clinics for a few months, as explained by Lieutenant Colonel Jordi Verger, head of the Civil Guard command in Tarragona. "All people who legitimately want to have an aesthetic treatment must ensure they are well aware of the clinics they are addressing," warned Prieto. So far, no victims have been detected – people who have suffered medical sequelae from the treatments – due to the activity of this criminal group. But the investigation is not over yet.

Cyberpatrolling on social networks

Social networks were the seed of this police investigation. Captain David Herreras, head of the organic unit of judicial police of the Civil Guard in Tarragona, explained that while they were doing cyber-patrolling – constant monitoring of the internet, social networks and the deep and dark web to identify criminal activities–, they detected a clinic in Reus that promised aesthetic treatments at very low prices. On social networks – which they no longer have active – they showed the drugs they used, and this led the Civil Guard to confirm that they came from China, that they were not approved, and that they were also used in two more clinics, one in Burjassot (Valencia) and one in El Pilar de la Foradada (Alicante).

Everything was very suspicious: the clinics were in apartments and behind them there was no company or self-employed person. Furthermore, they confirmed that the supposed doctors had no qualifications. That is to say, it was also a case of professional intrusion.

All this led to an operation beginning on April 8 that ended with the arrest of the main leader. There are also three other people being investigated. It was a band that was on the rise, trying to expand its business, and that made more than 2,000 shipments of aesthetic medicines each year.

All the merchandise was moved from a warehouse in Alicante, located at the home of the group's leader, which had been active since at least 2017. All customer payments were in cash – the Civil Guard seized more than 4,000 euros in bills – and they are now investigating whether they were laundering this income in any way. In addition, besides using materials without guarantees and having them administered by unqualified people, they also threw all the chemical waste into the street garbage.