That client was me. He had given me all his personal details at that point, seemed known to the clinics and hadn't given me any indications for me to be suspicious. But knowing what I know now, I would not have done what I did.This is a scary scenario. There was one post where the client actually wire transferred thousands of dollars to Brian's bank account to pay the clinic in cash. When you see people doing this kind of stuff you automatically assume that this person must be truly trust worthy.
EXPOSING THE DARK TRUTH OF BRIAN THE TRANSLATOR - PLASTIC SURGERY NIGHTMARE AT DEESSE
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Thank goodness he did not book it and run, or didn't happen after his disgraceful downfall. Now you can tack on international wire fraud and tax evasion in addition to illegal brokering to his criminal offenses.
Beware of Love Bombing
Did he do all that over-the-top, going out of his way, copy & paste wordy replies, and over explaining text messages, calls and voicemails? What might have been misunderstood as sincere, is actually called "love bombing." How he is one of the "good guys" in a sea of bad people. If you had suspicion he'll use that tinder swindler line, "it's my enemies, coming after me." It's a technique conmen and narcissistic sociopaths use to gaslight and frame them as a selfless servant, victim, and disarm and misdirect your better judgement from their true motives and intentions.
It is emotional manipulation disguised as affection and attention and can influence a person or a watchful audience by demonstrations, displays or word of mouth about their selflessness.
In the context of PS scam translators they do this in their 1:1 or in the group chats they create. This was the same thing Henry did in infamous "View PS Help Chat," and has been re-adopted by translators creating their own help chat group chats. A red flag for instance would be them dong a pseudo-go-fund me for someone stuck in an airport. What looks like selfless act could also be a bold business risk and flex to make people think you're a real hero to get their trust, or if blows up a real victim to get their sympathy. It's worked and people go out of their way to protect these conmen.
They also bank on romanticized notions tourists who consume K-dramas have about Korea, Korean people, and especially Korean men. Another red flag of narcissistic conmen is if they vainly and conceitedly parade their f-boy studio headshots in their marketing channels like they are some kind of a rent-a-oppa. They are trying to tap into that notion.
I wonder if it ever occurs to people to ask themselves, "Why is a middle-aged Korean man so vested in the beauty and problems of foreign women?" If they live in Seoul and have all these financial obligations, how are they going to meet them by humbly earning 25,000 won an hour as a freelancer?
I am so sorry that this happened to you and it must of taken a lot will power to have share your experience and to warn others to be more cautious. Thank you for sharing with the community.
Thank you for warning others about this! I was considering hiring him, but not anymore. I hope this will deter other translators from doing the same thing!
By the way, I've heard that brining a translator to the consult will automatically increase the prices of surgeries because the clinic will have to pay commission to the translator. I'm thinking of hiring a freelance, and I'm wondering if this is still the case or if it's only with a translator from an agency. Could someone please help me?
By the way, I've heard that brining a translator to the consult will automatically increase the prices of surgeries because the clinic will have to pay commission to the translator. I'm thinking of hiring a freelance, and I'm wondering if this is still the case or if it's only with a translator from an agency. Could someone please help me?
Which agencies or medical tour guide (preferably female) do you recommend? Specifically, ones that aren’t affiliated with any clinics. I’m avoiding ones that make you choose the clinics they are partnered up with. I know which clinics and doctors I want. I just need an agency or person to guide me to the clinics and places I need to go to, translate during consultations if clinic does not have English translator, airport pickup/drop off, order food, and other simple tasks that I may run into, and maybe even complicated tasks in rare instances. All these things sound very simple, but it could be very stressful if someone is traveling alone in a foreign country where they don't speak the language. Basically, what a Korean friend or relative would do, but I don’t have a Korean friend/relative to rely on, so I’m gonna have to hire someone.
If I had a friend or relative to go with me, then I wouldn’t mind getting lost and figuring out things for the first time.
However, since I’m going alone, I need someone or an agency to make the process smooth, efficient, and safe.
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I cannot totally agree with this about agencies. I first thought I won't write anything on this thread although I had a few doubts and questions I wanted to be answered because I had a few contradicting experiences but I decided to write a comment and share a bit of what I experienced because of some worrisome misguiding information. I have no intention of bashing or defending anybody, simply sharing what I have experienced and my opinions since that is what this community is about.
I first started my research on plastic surgeries in Korea during the pandemic but not that devotedly at that point. I finally joined this purseforum last year and started my plastic surgery adventure seriously since then, had my facial contouring and eye surgeries at Braun this year, March. I have contacted two of so called agencies and two of private translators, all that are commonly mentioned in this forum and kkt group chats. By the time I reached out to these agencies and translators, I already have done quite a bit of research on the clinics and doctors, I already have contacted quite a few of them, I already had quite some clinics on both of my shortlist and blacklist with some quotes from them. This being said, the reason I didn't go with the agencies is that they immediately started recommending a very few clinics and these clinics were either on my blacklist as a factory or foreigner oriented clinics, or were clinics that I have never heard of. Nothing wrong with new clinics and I was actually looking for some new names but when I tried to research on these clinics, I didn't find them appealing to me. More than anything, I already had some quotes from two of the clinics that were mentioned by these agencies, and the quotes these agencies gave out were significantly higher.
For the translators, I ended up going with Brian after talking to both of the two translators I have contacted and it is very ironic for me to write this because joojooyoung96's post was one of the reasons I have contacted him first. I feel awful that she had to experience what she has experienced and I am still grateful for all the contributions she has made since I benefited a lot from her brave and selfless experience sharing. Honestly, I am quite confused myself at this point because I know what I have experienced but things seem very contradicting, even opposite at certain points. For example, one of the reasons I went with Brian from the start, is because he was very reluctant about recommending clinics. I kept insisting on it, I told him it is just for the reference and that I am aware it would be fully my responsibility at the end of the day since I would make my final call myself. I believed that he definitely would know more and better about Korean plastic surgery and the clinics because of his experience in his profession so I just wanted his insights as well. Since he first refused to say any clinic names himself first, I gave him a few on my list to ask for his opinion on them and he could provide very helpful information about those clinics. Then he finally gave quite many clinic names saying his own clients had their surgeries from them but he kept emphasizing on me researching on those clinics myself and what clinics I want to book for consultations would be totally up to me. But yes, Deesse was one of the clinics he mentioned. Few of the clinics he gave out were already on my shortlist and I looked into the other clinics myself as well. He didn’t give out just the names but he explained good and bad things about each clinic so it made me feel well informed. And once again, more than anything, I already had some quotes from these clinics, and for those new clinics he has mentioned, I actually contacted them directly myself to ask for quotes after hearing about them from him. All of them were in the range of the approximate quotes he gave to me and at the end, with the clinic that I finally chose for my surgeries, he could get some discounts so I ended up paying less than the quotes I initially got from them before reaching out to him. I am not saying he is or isn’t connected with any of these clinics, honestly I wouldn’t know. Call me selfish but all I know is I cannot complain because I asked the clinic for the quotes of my surgeries myself first, compared them with the information I gathered from kkt chats, and I ended up paying less than that with him trying to get some discounts in front of my eyes after the f2f consultation. Maybe some tricks I missed are hidden in this process but I already knew I wouldn’t be able to negotiate like that myself so I cannot help feeling I got some good help.
What got me most confused with after reading the thread would be f2f consultations and choosing my last clinic part. I ended up booking 3 clinics for the consultations Deesse being the second one to visit on that day. I chose two clinics that were already on my list and Deesse. Although I included Deesse as well because I liked what I saw after researching about the clinic myself, it is true that I first heard about the clinic from him and some reviews here but I believe some of those reviews are from his clients as well. I have talked to two reviewers who wrote about this clinic and after talking to them and hearing them speaking highly of Brian and the clinic, I felt more reassured. I guess this has blurred my judgement a bit because after having the f2f consultation at Deesse, I was already sold. So when the consultant was trying to close the deal and offering some discounts making it sound like it is one and only special deal that I could get only if I put down my deposit right then, I told Brian I would like to proceed. But it was Brian who has put a break there for me and talked some senses into me. He told me it wouldn’t be too late to decide after seeing the last clinic might as well since it was already booked and asked the clinic to hold that good deal until the end of the day. After visiting Braun, I really liked the clinic and doctors as well. It was a tight call with different strong points. Braun’s quotes were lower and could offer an earlier surgery date. These wouldn’t be the prior reasons to pick a clinic for me but they sure were winning points when I liked both clinics almost equally. After the last consultation, Brian and I sat down at a café and discussed all the pros and cons of each clinic we visited together. When he first stopped me from the deposit with Deesse, to be 100% honest with you, it would be a lie if I say that thought of “is he affiliated with Braun?” didn’t cross my mind for a slight second. Although it was a clinic that I included on my list myself even before talking to him, I read some comments like “Braun & Brian” from this forum and group chats so it made me think that way for one second. But when we were talking about all the clinics at the café, he just went over all the points with me and didn’t try to sell any of the clinics to me leaving it to me to choose my favorite clinic. So if you read this far, you can see why I feel confused. Deesse was more expensive and I was already all for putting down the deposit but he stopped me from jumping into a rushed decision. It didn’t seem like he was selling Braun over Deesse either, it genuinely just felt like he wanted me to go over all my options first so that I could make the best decision. I was planning on paying him for the day regardless but who knows, he might have thought it was a less translation pay for him if I ended up not visiting the last clinic because he charged according to either hours or number of clinics we were visiting together. And since I paid less with the clinic I chose at the end than what I would’ve paid if to go alone, since I probably would have paid the initial quotes the clinic has given to me when I contacted the clinic myself before talking to him, I cannot really say he ripped me off. Honestly, I would’ve been less shocked or confused if somebody said he is somehow affiliated with Braun. Not because I would agree or anything, since I couldn’t find anything suspicious from my own experience, but at least it would make a bit of more sense to me because he stopped me from rushing into Deesse and I ended up picking Braun as my final clinic.
For after the surgery, he told me from the beginning that he charges only for the times he is there which will be the surgery day and the day after the surgery to help me get back to my hotel from the clinic, and on my last stitch removal day when I see the doctors. And I didn’t mind it because I agreed that translation or communication would be minimal during other occasions. I visited the clinic 4 times after the surgery during my stay and he actually stopped by once more on my second visit which wasn’t one of the days he said he would and didn’t charge anything for that day. It is true that he didn’t do much at this time because the clinic had its own translators and it was just some cleaning and laser, but I still found it nice of him. He picked up my meds and pumpkin juice for me, I thought what he provided were sufficient enough and the charges were reasonable but I heard some agencies provide all the pick ups with rides and accompany you for each visit. I had some high expectations for Brian because some people I have talked to told me that he did all the extra, “beyond and more” and that is how I felt about him too until him helping me back to my hotel after my surgery part, but to be fair, there wasn’t anything fancy or special about his after surgery care. This is just based on solely what I have experienced and I am not complaining because it isn’t like he didn’t do what he was supposed to, I’m just saying there wasn’t anything that fancy or special about it.
I wrote so much longer than my initial plan and although I started off saying I am not trying to bash or defend anybody, I already know some people will accuse me of anti-agency, Brian promoter and etc. You can see all my posts and will find out that I have been gathering the information I need from here for quite some time now, always showing my appreciation to the ones who deserve it, and although I had my surgeries in March of this year, I have never posted a review or thread to promote any specific individuals or clinics. I was quite happy with overall experience and the results so I just went back to my life and my life has been quite busy after coming back since I had to make this 19 day Korea trip work. I actually never had an intention of writing a review, even when I first read this thread because I thought anything that might sound even slightly positive about Brian or any translators might offend joojooyoung96 and that would be the last thing I would want to do when she is unfairly suffering from what she doesn’t deserve. But I started feeling uncomfortable when the whole thing seems to be somehow leading to pro-agencies and anti-translators.
Just like joojooyoung96 or any other users of this forum have right to share their experience, and since those brave and good hearted actions helped me through my adventure, I am sharing my experience as well. I am not saying all the agencies are bad, I am not saying Brian or any translators are good, I am simply sharing what I have experienced since I am a bit confused myself too. And lastly, I really received not only valuable information but also good positive energy from your reviews when I was first researching for my adventure, joojooyoung96! I am still grateful for this and I still believe that I made it successfully thanks to you. Please don’t feel guilty or too stressed about your previous review or actions, you didn’t know and you only had good intentions. And people like me still benefited a lot from it. So thank you! XOXO
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Thank you Sonya for sharing your experience! I think both of your experiences are valid. It's so interesting how people perceive things to be so different. I'm grateful for both Sonya and Joojooyoung for contributing to the wealth of knowledge on this forum 
It helps people come to their own conclusions.
It helps people come to their own conclusions.
Hi there,
why do you need a translator while there are English speakers in the clinics? The translators might speak English well, but do you think s/he will be able to express your desire and concern to the doctors as you are?
For instance, I don't like my puffy eyes, s/he understands you but maybe the word "puffy" doesn't exist in Korean or it has a bad connotation and then s/he says to the doctor, the patient wants you to remove the fat. Since the doctor thinks that your concern about removing fat which that might not be the issue for your puffy eyes and simple procedure can be done actually. I am just taking an example. If the English translator in the clinics has basic communication skills, do you thing those translators have more skills and why don't they work there? that's just my harsh question ... sorry for being so harsh about the translator unless they have lived in English-speaking countries then yes use them otherwise, don't waste time and money.
Totally agreed! and 30K? seriously! lack of doing research for oneself before spending a chunk of money.
It's must be a joke! no wonder Mr. Brian has more brains now because of how easy to do scams and fraud under a translator's umbrella! he has no business to be an agent yet you all treated him as one. I wonder ... how many desperate clients here.
There! you are wiser in this case and I completely don't understand these people use a translator and pay a translator fee yet, they expect this translator to be an agent?! seriously!
If we don't speak Korean, then find clinics that provide English speakers if there are none don't just don't go there PERIOD. That means that clinics welcome natives, how easy and simple to understand.