Shop owner and beautician held over allegedly phoney ultrasound machine

A beauty parlour owner and a beautician were arrested by customs for allegedly using a counterfeit ultrasound beauty machine on customers.

Some believe that ultrasound treatments can tighten the skin and stimulate the making of collagen in the body. An ultrasound machine produced by a famous American brand can cost hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong dollars, according to customs.

Its team conducted a test-buy operation on April 29, in which an undercover officer tried the ultrasound facial treatment at a beauty parlour. It was a follow-up to a complaint made to the bureau, which accused the parlour of claiming to offer treatment using the US device but actually employing a "lookalike" machine.

A 30-year-old shop owner and a 25-year-old beautician were arrested in the operation. They are suspected of using false descriptions during the sale of beauty services to a customer, contravening the Trade Descriptions Ordinance.

Both were on bail pending further investigation.

Yeung Wing-yan, customs' divisional commander for investigating unfair trade practices, said a counterfeit machine could cause skin burns or permanent damage.

"The genuine machine comes with a real-time analysis of the skin - derma, fat and muscle - facilitating beauticians' operation of the machine," she said.