A young woman has shared a disturbing account on social media of applying for a receptionist job at a beauty salon in Tsim Sha Tsui, warning others after she was allegedly lured into a situation she believed involved sexual exploitation.
In a series of posts on Threads on Monday (Jan 5), the woman said she responded to an online job advertisement marked “urgent recruitment,” which offered part-time receptionist work with an hourly wage ranging from HK$80 to HK$100.
The listing required only junior secondary school education, no prior work experience, and promised benefits such as overtime pay and birthday leave.
According to the woman, her unease began during the interview when staff asked to photocopy her Hong Kong identity card under the pretext of “making a registration.” She was then persuaded to consider a different role as a “beauty apprentice,” with a much higher pay rate of up to HK$188 per hour.
Believing there was no harm in trying, she followed the staff into a room inside the premises. She described the space as unusually large, which heightened her discomfort. The situation escalated when she was presented with a school uniform and told it was intended to help “attract customers.”
Alarmed, she said she made an excuse to go to the bathroom and seized the chance to leave the salon. She later wrote online that she was “still trembling” while recounting the experience.
In exchanges with other netizens, the woman said the building’s atmosphere reminded her of Chungking Mansions. While the reception area appeared normal, she claimed that beyond a door was a large staff area divided into several hotel-like rooms that were dimly lit, with sealed windows, creating what she described as an unsettling environment.
Some netizens commented that massage parlors suspected of offering prostitution operated on the building’s fourth floor. The woman later said she learned that the so-called “beauty apprentice” role involved massaging clients for short sessions, as well as sauna and gua sha treatments, with wages paid in cash, raising further suspicions.
Many online users condemned the salon’s practices, saying that requiring uniforms to attract customers was highly irregular. Others warned that photocopies of identity cards could be misused for illicit loans and urged her to report the matter. The woman later confirmed that she had filed a police report.
Her post also prompted another netizen, who had an interview scheduled at the same location the following day, to cancel the appointment. Many praised the woman for sharing her experience, saying it helped raise awareness and potentially prevented others from falling victim to similar schemes.
Reporters on Tuesday found that the recruitment advertisement still appeared in cached search engine results, although the link on the job platform indicated that the listing had since been removed.
