The Hawaii Office of Consumer Protection is notifying victims of aggressive cosmetic salespeople that they may be entitled to join a class-action lawsuit aimed at recouping money spent on unwanted purchases.

Bickerton Law Group, based in Honolulu, is suing a group of businesses and individuals that plaintiffs say have engaged in alleged unfair and deceptive trade practices through pushy sales practices at stores in Honolulu and on the neighbor islands.

“OCP is closing its investigation as a means to encourage participation in the pending class action,” said William Nhieu, a spokesman for the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.

Cosmetic businesses often target elderly women by offering free sidewalk samples of skin care products that are supposedly age-defying. Once the unsuspecting customers enter the business, they’re often brought into back rooms where they’re given skin treatments and pressured into buying products.

That’s what Rosemarie Incrovato, 66, the lead plaintiff in the case, says happened to her. The Oregon woman was visiting Waikiki by herself in 2018 when she passed by a cosmetic store and got lured in by a salesperson. Four hours later, she left the store with a laser device, skin care products and a $13,000 charge to her credit card.

“They pressure you into doing stuff you don’t want to do,” Incrovato said. “I told them no numerous times.”

Several women interviewed by Civil Beat in recent months told similar stories. They say they were strong-armed into handing their credit cards over in exchange for getting out of the store with a pile of expensive creams, lotions and devices purporting to reverse wrinkles, remove age spots and rejuvenate skin tone.

“It did tighten my skin but for all I knew it could have been egg whites,” said Incrovato.

Honolulu First Circuit Judge Dean Ochiai certified the class action last month. His order allows people who believe they were harmed by the cosmetic vendors between April 2, 2018 through Jan. 16, 2024 to be eligible to join the suit.

The plaintiffs must have made a written complaint to the Hawaii Office of Consumer Protection regarding one or more transactions with the cosmetic businesses. Or they need to contact the Bickerton Law Group and explain what happened to them.

Honokaa resident Diane Scheurell plans to sign on.

“I’m out over $18,000,” she said in a phone interview on Thursday.

The Big Island resident bought an array of skin products and infra-red devices during a dizzying experience involving high-pressure sales tactics at Sericin Plus, a Waikiki cosmetic shop, in March 2022.

Once she got home, she tried to return the products and get her money back. She said she begged for a refund from Victor Mazliah, the person Sericin Plus referred her to and who is a named defendant in the lawsuit.

“I’m elderly. My mother died of Alzheimer’s. I said to him, ‘If this was your mom, what would you want?’” Scheurell said.

Her pleading fell on deaf ears. No refund was forthcoming.

Reached by phone on Thursday, Mazliah declined to comment and hung up.

Mazal Group is also a defendant. A person who answered the phone at the Chatsworth, California, company declined to give their name but took a message requesting comment.

Lawyers for the defendants have filed court papers denying the allegations.

Alleged victims are just starting to learn about the lawsuit. Some, like Scheurell, expressed relief that someone is finally doing something about what has been a longstanding and frustrating problem in Hawaii.

“It’s about time. This should have been investigated more throughly a long time ago,” she added.

Scheurell said she believes state investigators did what they could but were outgunned. She’s grateful a law firm is now involved.

“We’re ecstatic,” said Scott Wise, a Colorado resident.

Wise’s wife Sherry ended up spending more than $4,500 at La Belle Ame, a cosmetic store that operated on Front Street in Lahaina before the Aug. 8 wildfire that destroyed much of the historic town.

Sherry had no intention of spending thousands of dollars on cosmetics but felt trapped and browbeaten by the salespeople who wouldn’t let her leave the shop until she gave them her credit card, he said.

The Wises were unable to persuade the store owners to refund their money.

Attorney Bridget Morgan-Bickerton said her lawsuit is intended not only to help people recover treble damages, meaning three times the amount of their lost money. It’s also to send a powerful message that the unscrupulous practices like those used by predatory cosmetic businesses have no place in Hawaii.

“We have sought an injunction as part of our relief and our complaint and we’ll see where that goes. That is certainly a remedy that probably every plaintiff, everyone in the class, would certainly want to pursue and hopefully win,” she said.

Under Hawaii law, businesses must post an explicit “no refund” sign if that’s their policy, something Morgan-Bickerton said is absent from the cosmetic businesses named in the lawsuit.

“Our suit undermines their entire business model. You can’t operate the way they do and not screw people over,” Morgan-Bickerton said. “It’s a scam.”

Predatory cosmetic businesses are known to operate in resort communities in many parts of the world. It’s a shadowy, multibillion-dollar industry that has been the target of the FBI and U.S. prosecutors.

Thought to be based in Israel, the industry recruits newly released military draftees to sell expensive skin products to middle-aged and elderly women, according to published reports and leaked cables from U.S. diplomats.

State Sen. Angus McKelvey, whose district includes Lahaina, said he’s grateful that the situation will go before a judge. He tried to tackle the problem through legislation but the bills didn’t pass. He hopes that people who’ve been defrauded get their money back and that the businesses are permanently shut down.

A jury trial in the Hawaii class-action lawsuit is set for July 2025.

Read the complaint: