Recently, the Ministry of Public Security and law enforcement organs in Zhejiang Province and other provinces have cracked down on a criminal group that cheated Chinese tourists under the guise of overseas medical treatment, according to an editorial in the Legal Evening News.
The criminal group lured Chinese tourists by offering them free tours overseas. Once they were abroad, the guests were offered a free medical check, only to be told they had a serious ailment, such as cancer. They were then charged large sums of money for treatment for these non-existent diseases. Police said that in total, these people were scammed out of nearly one billion yuan (US$145 million). Police have arrested 130 suspects involved in the scam.
The Legal Evening News editorialized that the fraudsters took advantage of people's panic and anxiety when they are told they have a serious disease. Most people have a little knowledge of cancer and they automatically believe that medication produced overseas is safe and advanced.
Apart from strengthening punishment and standardizing tourism in terms of overseas medical treatment, the public should be alerted to these types of scams. Health authorities should do more to educate people about cancer so people do not panic when they hear the word.
The government and academic institutions should organize medical experts and scholars to increase research on cancer prevention and anti-cancer drugs to enhance people’s confidence in cancer prevention and treatment in China, the editorial said.
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