Hospital consulting firms use social media to trick men into paying dearly for, often unnecessary, treatment at private hospitals. (Photo : YouTube)
Hospital consulting firms are relying on social media to trick men into paying dearly for, often unnecessary, treatment at private hospitals that specialize in male health, particularly sexual health.
Such companies train marketers to impersonate medical practitioners when talking to people via social media, including WeChat or Tencent QQ. An ex-employee of a Beijing-based hospital consulting firm, Fang Hui, told Beijing Times that these medical impostors persuade patients to see doctors at private hospitals.
Fang's former employer operates under the Yingcai Hospital Management Group (Yingcai), which is allegedly an enterprise specialized in medical investment, clinical medical services, and hospital management on its official website.
Yingcai's director said that the consulting firms train their workers in different strategies of selecting possible patients and the expertise to communicate with them, the Global Times reported.
Fang said, "They use social networking apps, including WeChat, Tecent QQ, and Momo to find potential patients and use various profile pictures on their accounts to attract different groups of people."
A market can run up to 30 accounts on WeChat, and Zhang Li (pseudonym), an employee at Yingcai, has six phones to operate over 50 accounts at the same time.
According to Chen Minjia, an employee at a hospital consulting firm, they also use "marketing accounts on QQ" to contact latent clients, which could add 200 to 300 people to their friend list daily and send them messages automatically.
Zhang said, "Using pictures of beautiful women doctors or nurses can attract men who are seeking affairs and when they start a conversation the marketer will guide the discussion toward health, including sexual health."
For instance, the consultant can entice a man by telling him that intercourse should last for 15 to 30 minutes and point out that the patient suffers from premature ejaculation, while utilizing medical terms to earn credibility.
However, a number of doctors specialized in male health assert that the duration of intercourse varies based on individual experience and the environment.
