It has been discovered that nail salons are being used as fronts for bordellos in the UK. The Daily Mail reports that the number of nail salons in the UK have expanded remarkably; in the last year alone the number of nail salons increased with 20% and now amounts to thirty thousand. Manicures are cheap and the demand is great for these inexpensive and quick treatments. However, there is a gruelling backside to these businesses; cases of illegal immigrants working under dismal conditions and even being forced in to prostitution and drug use have been reported.
A large group of illegal immigrants in the UK are from Vietnam, and more children are trafficked to the UK from Vietnam than any other country. In the past three years, 254 potential cases of child trafficking have been identified in the UK. Shockingly, the demand of children in the sex-industry is one of the underlying causes; the high demand means than human traffickers can make more money off young girls.
The nail industry workers may be especially targeted as although many of the immigrant workers may lack a formal education, they are already trained in the specifics of the nail trade; cheap and relatively short courses in the nail trade are being offered all across Vietnam. Human traffickers approach the trained workers and offer them jobs in the UK and elsewhere, jobs that then turn out to be substandard, non-existing or entirely different.
Customers at nail salons are now encouraged to ask manicurists about their training and qualifications and to always report suspected cases of human trafficking.