The Consumer Council on Thursday warned people to be careful about shopping at four Chinese pharmacies in Causeway Bay which it said have been ripping off their customers.

The watchdog said it has received dozens of complaints since 2021 involving misleading sales practices at City Medicine Limited and Medicine Palace Living Plaza on Lockhart Road, as well as at Global Medicine Company and On Hong Medicine Company in the Annex Land Building, Excelsior Plaza.

Some customers ended up paying 16 times what they expected for Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) after being charged by the tael instead of the catty, or by the mace instead of the tael. On average, their final bills came to almost HK$12,000.

"The signage of these CHM ingredients and dried seafood usually displayed the price prominently, but then labelled the unit of weight (e.g. per tael or per mace) in miniscule fonts or muted colours under the price in a way that was difficult to be discerned by consumers," the council explained.

"Furthermore, the fact that catty is a commonly used unit of measurement in the mainland makes it easier for mainland tourists to fall into these sales traps."

The watchdog said the pharmacies' staff would fail to give clear answers even if asked specifically about the cost of the goods and would refuse to cancel sales, saying the products had already been ground or sliced.

"Such sales malpractices might constitute the offence of misleading omissions and possibly be in violation of the Trade Descriptions Ordinance," the council said.

Tony Pang, vice-chairman of the council’s trade practices and consumer complaints review committee, said most of the shops' victims were tourists or mainland students, but locals should not lower their guard either.

“It’s really detrimental to the overall retail image of Hong Kong… We have to strengthen our consumer education, but also we need to stress that even local Hong Kong people will be affected by these malpractices,” he said.