The skincare scheme that led to consumer complaints, lawsuits and a federal investigation

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It's a familiar experience for anyone who has walked through an American shopping mall: A friendly salesperson approaches with a free sample of skincare cream, offering the promise of younger-looking skin. As you pass, they launch into a stream of chatter — a compliment on your handbag or a question about what's in your shopping bag. It's the kind of encounter that shoppers often walk away from without a second thought.

But behind this familiar mall ritual, NPR uncovered something far more costly: customers hit with thousands of dollars in charges they never authorized and products they didn't want and can't return.

In Michigan, an elderly man with dementia was charged $42,000 for skincare products and devices. His family didn't realize the situation until his credit score dropped, his son told NPR.

In New Mexico, a spa employee sold a woman a $30,000 red-light therapy device. She alleged in a lawsuit that he also charged $78,000 for what he said was sales tax without her consent.

In Hawaii, a disabled woman was shown to the back room of a spa for a "free" facial. The salesperson took her walker, she wrote in a complaint to the state, and refused to let her leave for hours until she spent $2,600.

These stories share a common thread: The stores they visited have contracts to buy skincare products from Mazal Group, a California-based company managing dozens of brands sold in thousands of stores worldwide. And those brands are all owned by one family.

Over the past year, NPR spoke with more than 50 people impacted by this enterprise, including customers who say they were taken advantage of, their family members and former employees. This investigation draws from state and federal court lawsuits, hundreds of online reviews and nearly 500 consumer complaints that NPR obtained from agencies via Freedom of Information Act requests. NPR staff visited stores selling products from Mazal Group in Virginia, Maryland and California, as well as the company's Chatsworth, Calif., headquarters.

NPR's investigation finds that stores selling skincare products purchased from Mazal Group have routinely pressured shoppers, including older adults and people with disabilities, into buying expensive skincare products and services they did not want, could not afford or tried to refuse. The business model that a decade ago federal agents called a "credit card overcharge scheme" is active today in malls and shopping districts from Honolulu to Annapolis, Maryland.

Some store and kiosk operators have faced more serious legal consequences than consumer complaints. Federal agencies have investigated individual operators for employing young Israelis on tourist visas to sell these products, resulting in more than a dozen guilty pleas for visa fraud and money-laundering schemes. NPR reviewed social media posts and messages indicating that some stores connected to Mazal Group continue to employ salespeople on tourist visas today. The government hasn't brought similar charges for a decade, and Israel's admission to the U.S. Visa Waiver Program in 2023 has remov

Though Mazal Group and the family behind it have publicly shifted responsibility for any wrongdoing onto individual store owners, NPR obtained documents that show their brands suggest stores sell products at abnormally high markups while adhering to a strict refund policy set by the group. And a lab test commissioned by NPR raises questions about whether some of the products they sell contain the ingredients their labels promise.

Orogold Cosmetics is a skincare brand linked to consumer complaints across the United States. The brand also operates internationally, like this Hong Kong location in Causeway Bay. SCMP Photo/SCMP via Reuters Connect/X07425 hide caption