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Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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

196 replies

crockofshite · 24/02/2025 23:05

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

OP posts:
quantumbutterfly · 25/02/2025 10:04

ASockofFleagulls · 25/02/2025 09:26

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!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow_ice_cream_wars

Mr Whippy with a flake anyone?

maudelovesharold · 25/02/2025 10:06

FallOfTheHouseOfUtterlyButterly · 24/02/2025 23:12

I mean, isn't that well known?

Nail bars are often fronts for human trafficking and these little shops are often fronts for money Laundering and drugs...

😱 not well known to me, before I read this thread! But thinking about it, I don’t know how my small city supports so many barbers, nail shops and vape stores…

JoM8 · 25/02/2025 10:06

I knew about most examples given but not all. God, isn't it depressing: the proliferation of crime right on our doorsteps and nothing we can do about it. But I suppose it's right down the list of priorities when we have the problems we do with things like violence against women and knife crime.

They are absolute eyesores too. The once quite nice town I grew up in looks a right shithole now with all these crappy sweet shops and vape shops.

MimiGC · 25/02/2025 10:09

The so-called Turkish barbers are rarely Turkish (more likely to be Albanian apparently). They describe themselves as Turkish because actual Turkish barbering has a good reputation.

maudelovesharold · 25/02/2025 10:12

And here was I thinking that they were all being very enterprising, starting up small businesses to make an honest living!

AestheticallyChallenged · 25/02/2025 10:16

Business rates and rents are too high for most legitimate small businesses to survive in town centres. The dodgy businesses must pay their rate and rents so the councils and private landlords are happy. Backhanders may be involved too. Police don't have the resources to tackle it either apparently, or don't want to.

Trainstrike · 25/02/2025 10:17

CheeseNPickle3 · 25/02/2025 09:51

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.

As said above, Crimestoppers reports with accurate descriptions of the people and vehicles you think are involved.

Dotjones · 25/02/2025 10:23

Yes it's common knowledge, the police are aware but either don't care or don't have the resources to tackle it. It's difficult for them because a lot of these businesses are run by non-white people therefore if they crack down on them they will be accused of racism. You might say "it's just a bit of coke" but the trouble is it all feeds into a system of organised crime. These vaping shops/barbers/phone shops/corner shops are just the public facing entry point.

mondaytosunday · 25/02/2025 10:27

There was a hat shop on our road. A few dusty hats in the window, in a fairly low rent area (I was a uni student). I mean they weren't even really trying.

JudgeJ · 25/02/2025 10:29

maddening · 24/02/2025 23:10

There are lots of businesses they may be the front for dodgy dealings

You've nailed it there!

LIZS · 25/02/2025 10:32

AestheticallyChallenged · 25/02/2025 10:16

Business rates and rents are too high for most legitimate small businesses to survive in town centres. The dodgy businesses must pay their rate and rents so the councils and private landlords are happy. Backhanders may be involved too. Police don't have the resources to tackle it either apparently, or don't want to.

They might pay a month or two but then wait for default and eviction notices by which time they can do a flit and move on. There was a "charity shop" scam operating in east Midlands recently.

bookmarket · 25/02/2025 10:41

SuffolkBargeWoman · 25/02/2025 08:39

@bookmarket
Who do you think would do the checks? The only potential person would be the landlord. They're hardly in a position to investigate the financing and business plan of a tenant, even if they wanted to risk losing the let!

I guess I think, in the way that supermarkets aren't always allowed to open up right next to each other.

Do businesses open up in town centres not have to go through the council in anyway? Are there no planning restrictions on new businesses occupying prime location shops in town centres?

Is it like this in other countries? I suppose it goes on and always has done. It's the fact our town centres are completely taken over by these businesses. The poster above is right. Our town centres are now just overrun with seedy organised criminal gangs. The footfall in mine has dropped hugely day and night.

Badbadbunny · 25/02/2025 10:53

BottomlessBrunch · 24/02/2025 23:11

Of course they are - add to this some nail bars/beauty salons, 'aestheticians', some takeaways and dessert places, they're the usual suspects.

And some of the multitude of Turkish barbers, mobile phone accessory shops, hand car washes, vape shops, ethnic speciality food shops, american candy shops, dodgy fast food/kebab shops, etc.

Even "normal" looking sandwich/pie shops and convenience stores are sometimes used for money laundering - certainly the ones that never seem to have any customers, yet a shop full of stock, that seemingly no one ever buys.

It's all about "shops" with low costs of sale, i.e. labour only places like nail bars, massage parlours, turkish barbers, or those like mobile phone accessory shops where they can fill a shop with stock for a few thousand pounds by buying a container load of cheap Chinese crap. Same with sandwich/pie shops - very low cost of stock, i.e. a counter full of cheap stuff from aldi for £100. Same with convenience stores - fill it with cheap unbranded soft drinks, crisps, etc., and you have a "full looking" shop at not too much money!

It's just common sense. When most "genuine" shops are closing down on a daily basis, isn't it a bit strange that others which never seem to have any customers seem to survive, and not only that, but seem over-staffed, and usually a brand new Merc or BWM parked on the pavement right outside??

Labour intensive places like hand car washes, nail bars, massage parlours, fast food kebab and pizza shops, etc., can also be modern slavery, sometimes with the workers living in squalor above the shop in bunks or in sleeping bags on the floor.

Badbadbunny · 25/02/2025 11:09

WaneyEdge · 25/02/2025 08:51

There was a shop here that had been closed for ages. Former beauticians, woman who ran it gave up after a bereavement (I think). Had workmen inside building counters and shelving etc. Shop signage put up, saying it was a vape shop. Stayed shuttered for a couple of months, never opened.

Now a (genuine) hairdressers. Just odd to spend all that and never even open the door!

Ah! The old shopfittings model of money laundering. This is where money is transferred at a higher level among the criminal gangs. One money laundering front owner engages another dodgy firm for many thousands of pounds worth of shopfittings - the work is done, but probably using cheap materials and cheap/illegal labour, so say £20k is paid over for £2k worth of work, so a "net" transfer of £18k from one gang to another. All looks legitimate on paper as a bank or HMRC wouldn't really bat an eye on an invoice for £20k for a shopfitting job which is pretty normal - could easily be a lot higher too. The guy paying the money can knock £20k off his "business" profits to reduce the taxes he has to pay on his fake money laundering income from one of his other shops. The guy receiving the money has made a "profit" of £18k on which he pays tax, but of course, he could also "sub contract" some of the "work done" to another gang, with a "bill" of £18k for £2k worth of work, so he pays no tax as he's passed along the "profit". And so it goes on. Usually in tandem with selling shops between them to, again, legitimately pass money around between gangs. Some shops are repeatedly being bought/sold/refurbished, but never open for very long, if at all. The criminals really know how to play the system.

Shame that HMRC, police, trading standards etc are so far behind the curve with it all. It's only when people die that they show any interest. The Morecambe Bay cockle picking disaster was close to where I lived at that time. We all knew it was dodgy and dangerous months before it happened. Loads of illegal vans/pick ups being driven around dangerously (police ignored them). Onlookers could see how dangerous it was with the slaves clearly visible from the promenade some days literally running back to safety when the tide was coming in. People were writing to the local newspapers, People were writing to the council, the MP, etc., but nothing at all was done. Then when those poor souls died, it was nothing but hand-wringing from the police, the MP, local councillors, etc., all claiming they didn't know anything about it. Lying hypocrits the lot of them. I wrote to the MP telling her what was happening, but got a generic nonsense letter back. Then she's on TV saying no one knew what was happening. Lying sod!

PontiacFirebird · 25/02/2025 11:26

AestheticallyChallenged · 25/02/2025 10:16

Business rates and rents are too high for most legitimate small businesses to survive in town centres. The dodgy businesses must pay their rate and rents so the councils and private landlords are happy. Backhanders may be involved too. Police don't have the resources to tackle it either apparently, or don't want to.

And this is the real cause. High streets can often only support chain shops, charity shops or dodgy fake shops. There is no appetite in this country to support genuine small and independent business, so high streets get shitter and more criminal ridden, which creates the effect of fewer and fewer people using them. It’s killing our towns.
It’s countrywide and there will be solutions but those would need to come from the councils, and by extension the government probably.

Tomikka · 25/02/2025 11:32

Project Heyrick covers cross government collaboration and sharing of numerous data sources, including HMRC, DVLA, councils, immigration, the police, NCA etc
The wider aim was to tackle modern slavery, but in doing so data analysis from various sources could flag up patterns - eg DVLA are interested in expired vehicle tax and MOTs, HMRC are interested in whether a businesses tax return follows a valid pattern, Border Force / immigration are interested if someone has overstayed / breached their visa, the police interested in crime, the NCA in organised crime etc
Putting together their information for analysis can flag a pattern of the low risk issues that they may not individually get to among priorities but when together could indicate something worse and a definite interest

At one of the presentations on the project the police representative was asked if they had issues with warrants to attend - that was a no. They could attend just as another bystander and/or ‘to keep the peace’. Then if an offence is identified they can act

https://uk.nttdata.com/news/civil-service-to-adopt-data-driven-approach-to-tackle-cases-of-modern-slavery-across-the-uk

If you have a suspicion then report to any of the applicable services - even if nothing occurs due to one report / suspicion, it puts a marker on the radar and could be building upon other reports/flags

NewToAllThisStuff · 25/02/2025 11:38

I have never heard of 'American Candy Stores'. I am in a suburb of a major city.

Do they still exist? are they literally called 'American Candy Stores'??

sparrowflewdown · 25/02/2025 11:47

Tomikka · 25/02/2025 11:32

Project Heyrick covers cross government collaboration and sharing of numerous data sources, including HMRC, DVLA, councils, immigration, the police, NCA etc
The wider aim was to tackle modern slavery, but in doing so data analysis from various sources could flag up patterns - eg DVLA are interested in expired vehicle tax and MOTs, HMRC are interested in whether a businesses tax return follows a valid pattern, Border Force / immigration are interested if someone has overstayed / breached their visa, the police interested in crime, the NCA in organised crime etc
Putting together their information for analysis can flag a pattern of the low risk issues that they may not individually get to among priorities but when together could indicate something worse and a definite interest

At one of the presentations on the project the police representative was asked if they had issues with warrants to attend - that was a no. They could attend just as another bystander and/or ‘to keep the peace’. Then if an offence is identified they can act

https://uk.nttdata.com/news/civil-service-to-adopt-data-driven-approach-to-tackle-cases-of-modern-slavery-across-the-uk

If you have a suspicion then report to any of the applicable services - even if nothing occurs due to one report / suspicion, it puts a marker on the radar and could be building upon other reports/flags

Oh come on. it is going on in every city and town across the UK. The Government need to monitor this with Police and Border Force etc - not it's citizens. If the average Joe Bloggs is aware of it, I am 100% sure those that could stop this are aware.

bookmarket · 25/02/2025 11:49

NewToAllThisStuff · 25/02/2025 11:38

I have never heard of 'American Candy Stores'. I am in a suburb of a major city.

Do they still exist? are they literally called 'American Candy Stores'??

Some of them are even allowed to call themselves 'candy and vapes'

Abhannmor · 25/02/2025 11:51

Alex Drake · 25/02/2025 00:11

Customs & Excise doesn't exist anymore, it's now HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and Border Force. Both of which have been absolutely decimated in staff numbers over the last 10 years, more so on the Customs and Excise part.

I am ex C&E then HMRC. They do still have task forces which look at the cash business which are a front for criminal activity, of course they do, and will likely have intel on most. I used to be part of 'distruptive' visits which were multi agency and designed to be quick hits to drive these particular businesses to close. Others might be left for evidence gathering for bigger cases. They can only do so much with limited resources though, and resources are so depleted...

Revenue and Customs also under Brexit related pressure. A mate who retired a couple of years ago has been asked to return to help with tariffs. I'd imagine he's not alone.

Sweet shops are certainly proliferating . Never see anyone in them...

BobbyBiscuits · 25/02/2025 11:54

With vape shops they do actually sell a tangible product, so it would be more difficult to wash dodgy cash through. But obviously still possible.

With barbers it's easy because they can just lie that they do ten haircuts per barber per hour but there's no proof. Other than cash. Which they won't be declaring.

Nearly all the barbers near me seem legit, they've been around a long time and do seem to be doing decent business. But this is quite an upmarket area and very central. I can see it as a growing issue across the UK in towns where legit businesses are closing left and right.

Badbadbunny · 25/02/2025 12:06

@Tomikka

If you have a suspicion then report to any of the applicable services - even if nothing occurs due to one report / suspicion, it puts a marker on the radar and could be building upon other reports/flags

When it's so obvious, the authorities need to be proactive and deal with it themselves, not rely on random members of public to make enough reports. Police, council workers, civil servants, etc are out and about in their private lives (and when working) so should be opening their eyes and making reports themselves!

Our town had two massive cannabis farms on our High Street. One in an old derelict bank, the other in an old derelict Boots shop. There was a distinct "smell" from both for years. Everyone knew what was going on. Yet the police and council "claimed" they didn't know. So, all the police officers who walked past those buildings daily didn't notice?? Come off it? What about the council officers who'd have to walk past for numerous other reasons?

The authorities need to stop hiding behind excuses and start being proactive.

Badbadbunny · 25/02/2025 12:08

@BobbyBiscuits

With vape shops they do actually sell a tangible product, so it would be more difficult to wash dodgy cash through.

They'll be happy to throw away out of date/damaged stock as they'll be buying cheap crap in bulk from China. Chucking out old stock is just another "cost of doing business" like utility bills, rent, etc. That's why it's always the shops selling cheap stock that are used (or like you say, labour only). Same with convenience stores selling dirt cheap unbranded crisps and soft drinks and sweets, or cake/sandwich/pie shops selling cheap wholesale junk or whatever is on offer from Aldi.

Womanofcustard · 25/02/2025 12:23

The councils must want them to stay open - they’re the only ones paying business rates

Bitteralmond · 25/02/2025 12:26

I know of at least one hairdresser and one Chinese herbalist in my town that are a front for prostitution. No one cares, sadly.

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