To think that (some) vaping shops and barbers are fronts ....

[crockofshite]

..... for dodgy dealings? There are so many of these shops in every high street, how can there be enough customers to support them?

Precisely the opposite.

The reason they exist is to launder money. A "barber shop" can say they trade mostly in either cash, which is untraceable, or card payments, which are laundered using "money mules". The phrase Money Mules refers to the moving of "dirty money" through an account belonging to a someone (usually a gullible teenager) and then sending it back to the criminals via a card transaction at their "barber shop".

Say I make 2k selling drugs, I send £100 to 20 different teenagers, then get them to transfer £20 on to another five accounts owned by me. I'm a real entrepreneur you see, I own five "barber shops" in the arse end of Wales.

That's why in some towns you'll find half a dozen of these places within half a mile of each other. Dodgy as hell, but on paper their accounts suggest that they're a very profitable little business.

The HMRC are interested in collecting Tax, not catching criminals. As long as the books all add up, the HMRC isn't interested.

Barber shops, vape shops, American "candy" shops, takeaways that are hardly ever open, phone repair shops. The list goes on.

See above . .

@crockofshite

The problem is that most will go "uninvestigated" as there is simply not the resource in the police or HMRC to carry out the investigations

There are loads of barbers in a town near me but they are always busy cutting hair so plenty of customers to keep them busy

I thought this was common knowledge. 👀 I, and most people I know have known this for YEARS... That's why many of them only take cash. Some of them are heavily involved in money laundering.

Have you only just 'got' this @crockofshite ? Oh well, better late than never.

What a pointless, twatty comment.

It's been widely talked about for years that these establishments are just fronts for 'other' activities.

I also think there is something dodgy going on with our local ice cream van company. They have around 8-10 vans which are out all hours and throughout the winter and sometimes you'll see 3-4 of their vans all in the same road!

My city centre is now riddled with these, no actual shops anymore because people shop online or go to the huge, very accessible shopping mall near the outskirts of the city.

My daughter went into the 'mobile phone repair and vape shop' , and was quoted an outrageous price for a simple screen issue. They had no intention of doing business with her.

However, it isn't just dodgy eastern Europeans. We have a couple of city centre pubs that are cash only, which makes no commercial sense, and a local ' cash is king ' chippy who are always posting on social media about how great cash is.

Both are owned by white British people, and couldn't be more obvious tax dodgers if they tried.

It is the scale of it now. Our local towns have just become shady, criminal underworlds. Very, sad times.

Chinese medicine shops .... Shelves heaving with dusty jars of herbs, never anyone in there, working or buying.

Gift shops full of soft toys and candles and twee crap ....... I mean, really?

There's absolutely no chance they're turning over enough legitimately to pay rates, rent etc.

The whole point of money laundering is that taxes are paid so that money is traceable as "clean" and can be used to purchase things. HMRC won't care about investigating if they are receiving their taxes.

Banks check for money laundering and HMRC check for tax evasion. A bank is not going to bother a dodgy vape shop unless the amounts being deposited are completely out of the norm. HMRC won't send tax inspectors over if they are actually declaring earnings and paying tax on them.

Behave, opening a thread doesn't mean it's the first time it's dawned on me.

So many nail bars and barber shops. Known for people trafficking.
Businesses run at a loss - barbers with one or two customers a day - money from drug sales put through the till to launder it and make the business seem profitable.
Not every nail bars and barbers but a significant number.
I won’t go to the nail bars and don’t need a barber.

Yes! We've been talking about 3 Turkish barbers that's popped up around here! 3! I never see any customers, but they're all still here 1 year later! I swear they're fronts for money laundering. One of them replaced an old barbers, who said the rent was too high to make enough profit. Crazy!

Money laundering, modern day slavery, immigration scams, identity theft, drug dealing....

Same years ago with ice cream vans

And tattoo parlours, nail bars, car washing...

Yes agree. My town small has a couple of vape shops complete with blacked out windows and a pair of nail salons situated next to one another. Must admit I find it all dodgy as hell.

Dessert cafe's round here. Never any customers in them.

So, given this is a known (and common) problem, what can ordinary people do and what regulations could be introduced to stop them opening in the first place?

I don't want to support organised crime.

Ice cream vans strongly connected with criminal gang activity in our region.

And in my naice middle class small town we have 3 Turkish barbers, a nail bar (which appears to be staffed solely by Chinese teens and tweens), and two dodgy kebab/grill places with no customers. Can’t buy decent tights, kids’ clothes or undercrackers anywhere though, loads of empty shops. It’s really bloody depressing.

We have 3 vape shops in our small town (around 8000 population). I never see anyone in any of the shops and I also struggle to see why more than one of these could survive in a town of our size under normal circumstances.

Also >makeshift gym - enters the chat< No signage just a few pieces of equipment and a punchbag. Probably so the criminal gangs can keep themselves agile and intimidating.

Obviously, the trend at the moment appears to be Turkish barbers & nail bars. The cash businesses, car washes etc often fronts for drug money cleaning. I mean how much fecking hair is needing cut off men’s heads?!!!