Woman illegally performed beauty treatments for customers in hotel, Admiralty flat

Dominic Low
The Straits Times
May 6, 2021

A woman with no qualifications as a medical practitioner performed beauty treatments including a nose threadlift on customers, a court heard on Thursday (May 6).

Malaysian Tan Shu Min, 26, pleaded guilty to one count of doing an act as a medical practitioner without being registered and with no valid practising certificate.

She also admitted to three counts of importing health products into Singapore without a licence and one charge of illegally importing a poison.

Ten other charges - eight for importing health products without a valid licence and two for illegally performing acts as a medical practitioner - will be taken into consideration during sentencing by District Judge Adam Nakhoda.

The court heard that Tan lived in Malaysia but decided to provide beauty treatments in Singapore to boost her income.

She started advertising beauty services, such as botox treatments and nose threadlift procedures, on social media platform Instagram in January 2019.

Tan would search the Internet for photos depicting people before and after they had gone for beauty treatment and post them on an Instagram account.

The court heard that a customer contacted her in the same month and they agreed to meet at Genting Hotel Jurong.

Tan then entered Singapore, checked into the hotel on Jan 24, 2019, and brought the woman to the room three days later.

She then performed a nose threadlift procedure, which included inserting threads into the bridge of the nose.

Tan gave the woman oral medication, which she claimed contained antibiotics, after completing the procedure.

She was paid between $400 and $600 for the treatment and left Singapore on Jan 29.

Tan later returned to Singapore and rented a room at a unit in Admiralty, where she received two customers on May 27, 2019.

The court heard that she injected gel into a customer's face and applied facial cream on the other.

She was arrested later that day.

A search uncovered various health products and two syringes containing lignocaine, which is listed as a poison.

Tan is expected to be sentenced on May 28.

Those who import health products illegally face a two-year jail term or fines of up to $50,000, or both, for each offence.

Tan could also be jailed for up to a year or fined up to $100,000, or both, for illegally doing an act as a medical practitioner.

Importing a poison without a valid licence can bring a jail term of up to two years, fines of up to $10,000, or both.