Another doctor's stamp, a rhinoplasty and several corrective operations: Tehran police seal an Aqdasiyeh office and jail the 'cosmetic surgeon'

In Iran doctors practise under registration with the Medical Council, and a registered doctor's stamp and credentials are what give prescriptions and operation records their authority. The stamp is therefore the thing worth stealing. A case announced by Tehran's criminal investigation police in September 2026 showed how one borrowed stamp was enough to put a woman on an operating table.

According to Mehr News Agency, reporting on 10 September 2026, Colonel Moslem Mirahmadi, deputy for combating forgery and fraud at the Greater Tehran Criminal Investigation Police, said a complaint had been referred by the prosecutor's office of Tehran's District 26. A woman had been introduced through an acquaintance to a man who presented himself as a cosmetic surgeon. He performed a rhinoplasty on her without the required licence, using another person's medical stamp and credentials. She developed complications, underwent several further operations and was left with serious damage to her nose.

The Student News Network (SNN) and Mashregh News carried the same police account. Investigators traced the man to an office in the Aqdasiyeh area on Dolat Street and arrested him there at about 4pm on 26 August 2026; the office was sealed. A second person, who had been acting as the anaesthesia provider for his patients, was identified and arrested and their workplace sealed by judicial order. SNN reported that both confessed under questioning. The associate was released on bail and the main suspect was sent to prison pending further proceedings. Two doctors linked to the office were summoned and questioned. The suspect's real qualifications were not stated, and the police did not name either suspect.

The mechanism was a real doctor's identity attached to a fake one. The stamp and credentials gave the paperwork a genuine doctor's name and number; the referral through a friend replaced the register check a stranger might have made; and an anaesthesia provider willing to work for an unlicensed surgeon completed the illusion of a clinic. Mirahmadi's advice, quoted by all three outlets, was to verify a doctor's identity, speciality and licence before any procedure, especially surgery or cosmetic work, and not to rely on advertisements, referrals or social-media pages.

For students and families the Tehran case is a reminder that a stamp proves only that a stamp exists. Medical councils in Iran, India, Pakistan and elsewhere publish registers searchable by name and number; match the name on the stamp to the person in front of you and to the speciality claimed. Be especially careful with cosmetic surgery arranged by word of mouth, ask who will give the anaesthetic and where they are registered, and if the answers are vague, walk away.