Dark truth behind UK nail salons where child slaves are forced to work by gangsters, here’s 12 signs you should look for
MILLIONS of women enjoy regular visits to High Street nail bars for a cheap and affordable cosmetic treat.
But behind the facade of many stores lies a dark and disturbing world of gangsters and modern slavery, the Sun on Sunday can reveal.
There are now 4,754 nail bars in operation in the UK — a rise of ten per cent in just a year.
And Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is deploying a 1,000-strong team to crack down on illegal immigration and criminals profiting from rogue nail salons and car washes.
The move has come after Vietnamese migrants became the largest national group crossing the Channel illegally.
Between 2022 and 2023, 553 of them headed here by small boat.
This rose to 1,262 from March to December 2023.
And in the first three months of 2024 there were 1,060 Vietnamese arrivals on small boats — more than any other nationality.
Often young women and children from Vietnam are then put to “work” in parlours by gangs where they are beaten and forced into prostitution.
Some staff are forced to labour for free to pay off “debts”.
Children’s charity Barnardo’s said in one case, a 15-year-old girl called Linh was split from her mother and trafficked across Europe and forced to work long hours in a nail shop for free to pay off the debt racked up by being smuggled to the UK.
She was beaten and not allowed to move without permission from the adult men there. She survived on rice and water.
Barnardo’s said: “This form of ‘debt bondage’ is a very common way in which children and adults who have been trafficked are controlled by traffickers.”
The number of Vietnamese citizens identified as victims of slave labour is at a record level, according to Home Office figures.
This year, 493 have been identified as potentially being exploited, accounting for 11 per cent of cases, according to stats compiled by the National Referral Mechanism, set up to monitor trafficked workers.
The Home Office said: “This was the highest number of Vietnamese nationals referred in a quarter since the NRM began.”
Criminal networks have been pocketing millions from Britain’s nail salons for almost a decade but now the numbers are rising.
‘A barbaric crime’
Andrew Wallis, CEO of anti-slavery charity Unseen, said: “The Modern Slavery & Exploitation Helpline continues to receive numerous reports of nail bars being involved not just in labour and sexual exploitation, but also in criminal activities such as money laundering and drug trafficking.
“Customers visiting these nail bars, which are often cash-only operations and cheap, may unknowingly be supporting these practices.
“If workers appear nervous, controlled or unwilling to engage, individuals should contact Unseen’s 24/7 Helpline.”
In one harrowing case, a 15-year-old victim escaped by fleeing to a nearby hospital.
The woman now lives in witness protection and is in fear for her life.
In 2016, police arrested nearly 100 people working in 280 nail shops in Edinburgh, London and Cardiff, as part of the Government’s Operation Magnify, which targets “risk” industries. Most of the 97 people held were Vietnamese nationals.
The Immigration minister at the time, Robert Goodwill, said: “Modern slavery is a barbaric crime which destroys the lives of some of the most vulnerable in our society.”
In a landmark case in 2018, three people from Bath were sentenced following the first successful prosecution in the UK for exploitation and enforced child labour under the 2015 Modern Slavery Act.
Viet Hoang Nguyen, known as Ken and 29 at the time, and his 23-year-old wife Giang Huong Tran, known as Susan, plucked Vietnamese girls from care and forced them to work in UK nail salons for free.
A search of her home found £60,000 in cash concealed inside a stuffed toy.
They were found guilty of child slavery charges along with third gang member Thu Huong Nguyen, known as Jenny, who was jailed for five years.
Viet Hoang Nguyen got four years and Giang Huong Tran was given a two-year prison sentence, suspended for two years.
They were arrested following a swoop on a nail bar in Burton-on-Trent, Staffs.
DI Charlotte Tucker, who led the Avon and Somerset Police operation, said: “The victims have had traumatic childhoods and were treated as commodities — forced to live and work in unsuitable conditions, with little or no pay, and enduring physical and verbal abuse.”
There have also been a number of other high-profile recent cases.
In January last year a “kingpin” at the centre of slavery linked to nail shops was arrested after spending six years on the run.
Van Than Nguyen, known as Jimmy, had been wanted for conspiring to move four teenage Vietnamese girls across the UK to work in salons.
He was arrested in Burton and jailed for five years.
The ordeal many of those forced to work in nail bars suffer is horrific.
One victim, a Vietnamese national, was just 15 when she arrived at a hospital in northern England six months pregnant.
She was infected with a sexually transmitted disease and showed clear signs of post-traumatic stress.
She had been sold to traffickers in Haiphong, in northern Vietnam, by an uncle who sent her by van across China and Russia before flying her to Prague.
There she was loaded into a lorry bound for Britain, where she was gang-raped by fellow Vietnamese migrants.
Describing what happened next, she said. “I was terrified — I had no identity papers and no clothes, and was scared of being raped and beaten.
Greater scrutiny of this has to be good for our members, who are trying to run legitimate businesses
Caroline Larissey, chief executive of the National Hair and Beauty Federation
“I just did what I was told.”
She was eventually moved into a nail shop and said: “I ended up working very long hours, earning just enough money for noodles each night.”
She slept on the floor at the back of the salon and was told she could not leave until she had paid back her uncle’s debt for bringing her to the UK.
She said: “I was raped and sexually abused by different men who would come around to the nail bar at night.
“I was only 15, but for a year I suffered sexual and physical violence.”
Caroline Larissey, chief executive of the National Hair and Beauty Federation, said it welcomes the new Home Secretary’s crackdown.
She said: “The number of nail bars has increased, according to our research, but our members are feeding back to us that business is incredibly tough.
“So you have to ask, what is going on here?
“The answer is that cash-only salons, not paying VAT, who often hire illegal immigrants or even people being trafficked, are rife and there is no monitoring.
‘MODERN SLAVERY’
“Greater scrutiny of this has to be good for our members, who are trying to run legitimate businesses.
“It’s easy for unscrupulous businesses to set up, and hopefully the Home Secretary’s action will help to stop this.”
One of the worst cases this country has seen was in 2019 when the bodies of 39 Vietnamese people — 31 men and eight women — were found in the trailer of a refrigerated lorry in Grays, Essex.
Four people — Ronan Hughes, Gheorghe Nica, Maurice Robinson and Eamonn Harrison — were sentenced for 39 counts of manslaughter.
Lesley Blair, CEO of the British Association of Beauty Therapy and Cosmetology, told The Sun on Sunday: “It can be easy for those running nail bars to use victims of modern slavery and exploit vulnerable people.
“In the Essex lorry tragedy, many were identified as having been assigned to work in nail bars.
“While the beauty industry continues to be unregulated and many consumers are still focused on finding the cheapest manicure, we feel it continues to be a significant problem.”
- To report concerns, contact Unseen’s modern slavery helpline 08000 121 700.
SIGNS YOU SHOULD LOOK FOR
- STAFF are tired, withdrawn, or don’t take breaks
- THEY look young
- SEEM on edge or afraid, particularly around the boss
- DO not speak English
- LIVE above the nail salon
- BECOME distressed when handling money
- DO not engage with other team members
- WORKERS are unkempt, with poor personal hygiene
- YOU only pay in cash, prices are very low
- MANAGER doesn’t let staff touch money
- STAFF don’t appear properly trained, reluctant to build relationships
- YOU don’t recognise any of the nail brands