Hong Kong women pay up to $10,000 in weight-loss craze

HONG KONG - Hong Kong women are paying up to $10,000 for dubious weight-loss programmes as a craze for dieting sweeps the city, a news report said Monday.

Dieters in the wealthy city are being talked into placing large deposits for programmes which they are told they will recoup after they have slimmed to a target weight, the Hong Kong Standard reported.

One woman was talked into paying out $10,322 while another woman who earns only $1,290 a month was made to pay a “deposit” of over $5,800 until she lost 13.6 kg.

However, even when women slim to their target weights, the companies often refuse to return the deposits, saying they have breached conditions by missing diet classes, the newspaper said.

Others claimed to have been threatened and even attacked by staff when they tried to back out of contracts, according to a group of women lodging official complaints against the practices.

More than 30 women supported by a legislator have now lodged claims against the weight-loss companies with the Hong Kong Consumer Council, the newspaper said.

Obesity levels in the former British colony have soared in the past 30 years, with nutritionists blaming sedentary, workaholic lifestyles and a trend towards Western-style fast food diets.