Romanian aesthetician Adina Alberts said on Tuesday that she was the one who notified the Romanian College of Physicians (CRM) about her suspicions related to pretense plastic surgeon Matthew Mode, who was exposed as an impostor on Monday.

Alberts said she notified the CRM in late October or November and that it took several months for the organization to react, during which the false doctor continued to operate in Romania.

“I observed him in the operating room and we also had several talks. In terms of medical conversation, the man is brilliant, he easily deceives you when you talk to him,” Adina Alberts said, according to Mediafax. She added that by talking to him, she had no doubt that he was a plastic surgeon.

However, her suspicions appeared after watching him in the operate. “I and my nurses realized that something was not right,” she said.

Doctor Matthew Mode is actually Matteo Politi, an Italian from Venice who only graduated 8 grades and used to work as a parking valet. In 2011, he was also convicted in Italy for pretending to be a plastic surgeon. Several years later, he moved to Romania, where he started the same scheme and even got to perform surgeries on patients at four private clinics in Bucharest.

The false surgeon apparently managed to get a medical rubber stamp with the help of an employee from the Public Health Direction (DSP), according to the institution’s representatives. He used that to convince the private clinics that he was a doctor.

Matteo Politi reportedly left the country before the scandal hit the media. However, a TV station in Romania managed to contact him by telephone on Tuesday evening. He said he hired a lawyer to help him get the medical rubber stamp, according to Mediafax.

editor@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Dr. Matthew Mode Facebook page)