A beautician who was threatened with legal action over a botched filler job discovered the customer had swiped images of ‘infected’ lips from the internet in a con for a refund.
Pamela Jacuniak, 29, a business owner and aesthetic practitioner, performed the routine injection at her salon in Warrington, Cheshire, on Saturday.
But three days later the client, known only as Katrina, complained she had been hospitalised due to the fillers and threatened legal action if she did not receive a full refund of £100.
The shameless customer even sent a photo of a horrifically swollen and bruised pout along with her bank details, claiming her lips were ‘destroyed’.
Pamela Jacuniak (pictured), 29, a business owner and aesthetic practitioner, performed the routine injection at her salon in Warrington, Cheshire, on Saturday
However Ms Jacuniak, 29, grew suspicious over how quickly the supposed infection had appeared following the treatment.
After searching ‘dermal fillers lip infection’ in Google Images, the practitioner found what appeared to be the exact same picture Katrina had sent – making her believe the whole infection was a ‘scam’.
Confronting her customer, Ms Jacuniak invited Katrina to meet her to see the damage for herself, before revealing she’d been caught out and telling the cheeky client ‘nice try’.
Ms Jacuniak, who has owned a salon for two and a half years, is now sharing the ‘scam attempt’ in a bid to urge practitioners to be careful of similar tricks.
She said: ‘When I found out it was [fabricated] and she was just trying to get some money from me I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
‘I was angry, but I felt much better as well because I [had been] worried for her.
The shameless customer even sent a photo of a horrifically swollen and bruised pout along with her bank details, claiming her lips were ‘destroyed’
‘It’s the first time a person has messaged about an infection, so that’s why I was very nervous about it, and I felt like something isn’t right, that’s why I googled it.
‘I would never give her a refund unless I see her. I have to see the girl if something isn’t right, and that’s why I sent her a message asking if I could see her lips.
‘Maybe she got the idea [of trying to trick me into giving the refund] from her friends, I don’t know.’
In her initial complaint, the customer immediately tried to use the threat of legal action to scare Ms Jacuniak into giving a refund quickly.
Sending the image of the ‘infection’, the client said she had ‘absolutely destroyed’ her and that she had been in hospital all night.
She then demanded to send her refund her money back or her solicitor would be in contact, adding ‘OMG I cnt believe what u hv dun to me.’
Ms Jacuniak queried why Katrina had not followed the after-care instructions she provided and asked to visit her so she could see the infection.
After searching ‘dermal fillers lip infection’ in Google Images, the practitioner found what appeared to be the exact same picture
But the disgruntled client did not take kindly to the offer of a visit and continued her rant, demanding Ms Jacuniak refund her money.
Ms Jacuniak grew suspicious that Katrina was refusing a home visit, so she googled ‘dermal fillers lip infection’ and the same image she was sent appeared in the results.
It had come from another story about a lip job leaving a patient with a painful infection, so Ms Jacuniak screenshotted the search on her phone and sent it to her cunning client.
After sending the picture, Ms Jacuniak wrote: ‘I love to meet with you as the picture you send me is downloaded from the Internet.
‘I am going to report you for a scam. Nice try’
The woman retorted: ‘Dunno wat ur on about but (thumbs up emoji).’
Ms Jacuniak replied: ‘The picture you send me is not yours, you download it from Internet. Its [a] scam!’
The practitioner insisted everything went to plan with the injection of 1.1ml of dermal filler, but she noticed her client was acting strangely.
Ms Jacuniak said: ‘She was a bit weird when she came to me, but I told her everything about the risk, about swelling, the after-care and stuff like this. She sounded quite happy.
‘She was different than the other girls [who come into my salon], but maybe just nervous.
Ms Jacuniak explained how worrying a genuine message like this from a customer can be for people in her industry
‘But all the time she was touching her lips and she took around 100 pictures straight after the treatment.
‘She was asking all of my other [customers] if their lips are fine and [checking] there [was] nothing wrong with them.
‘When she left the salon there was nothing wrong with her lips and she was happy.
‘Usually [my customers] just let me know the same day, or they send a picture and say ‘I’m swollen quite a bit and I’m worried about it, is it normal?’, but she just sent me these messages after three days.
‘[When I received the images I thought] it was weird because infection would usually happen around 10 days after the treatment, not three or four days.
‘It takes time before your lips are infected. It’s not day by day.
Confronting her customer, Ms Jacuniak invited Katrina to meet her to see the damage for herself, before revealing she’d been caught out and telling the cheeky client ‘nice try’
Ms Jacuniak explained how worrying a genuine message like this from a customer can be for people in her industry.
Pamela said: ‘You’re always shocked when you see a message like this and you think ‘oh, did I do anything wrong’.
‘Then you’re just thinking about that person, ‘maybe I really harmed her’ and ‘maybe it’s my fault’.
‘In the end, this lady just tried to claim some money from me.’
Ms Jacuniak shared details of the scam attempt online to warn others not to fall for these types of messages, and she’s heard it’s a common problem at this time of year.
She said: ‘I’ve received some messages on my Instagram that it’s pretty normal before Christmas time, people doing stuff like this.
‘One of my clients had a similar situation with a lady but it was about the nails, not the lips, but she did her nails and ended up in this situation.
‘I just want to warn everyone because if it happened to me, it might happen to everyone else as well in future.