Almost 30 alleged members of a hospital scalping gang were arrested in Beijing on Saturday, as police step up efforts to crack down on the practice.
The scalpers were believed to be booking appointments using false identities through the customer hotline or via an app run by the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau. They would then sell tickets to patients at the hospital, charging them incredibly high rates.
This particular group mainly sold tickets for appointments at the Air Force General Hospital. The scalpers reportedly created a WeChat group, which they dubbed “Dragon’s Chamber” to communicate with each other. Of the 29 arrested, 14 were ultimately detained.
Scalpers like these have long capitalized on Beijing’s healthcare system, which requires patients to purchase tickets in order to see specialists or get medications or treatments. Because appointments at many of Beijing’s hospitals are in such high demand, scalpers are buying up massive amounts of tickets and charging extremely high rates to helpless hospital-goers. According to CNN, citizens should be able to purchase tickets themselves for RMB300. However, scalpers are hawking them for a whopping RMB4,500.
The issue of Beijing’s notorious hospital scalpers made international headlines in January after a video of an outraged woman was released online. The video depicted a woman railing against scalpers after she was unable to purchase a hospital ticket for her paralyzed mother. The two had traveled hundreds of miles to get to the hospital and spent an entire day standing in line only to come up emptyhanded. The viral video caused Beijing police to step into action and arrest 12 scalpers back in January.
The local police are now cracking down on Beijing’s infamous hospital scalpers once again, arresting 29 and ultimately detaining 14. According to a report in the South China Morning Post, the investigation uncovered that they used apps to sell tickets to clients. Apparently thousands of tickets were available for purchase through the app every week.
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