The barbers, car washes and salons employing illegal workers across Britain as they are slapped with fines of up to £225K
Fade Zone Barber and New Style Barber in Bodmin received penalties totalling £90,000, according to the latest Home Office figures.
Officials regularly 'name and shame' companies who have been employing staff with no right to work in the UK, revealing the wide extent of the country's 'dark economy'.
The ability to work without papers has been cited as a major pull factor in drawing illegal migrants to Britain - prompting officials to hike fines to £45,000 per worker and carry out more raids on firms suspected of breaking the rules.
New figures show 12 barbers across the UK were fined between October and December 2024, making the sector one of the most common employers of illegal migrants.
But car washes featured even more prominently, with 38 receiving fines and two - Clean Car Centre Hand Car Wash in Coventry and Bubbles Hand Car Wash in Edinburgh - hit with huge fines totalling £180,000 each.
Three beauty salons received fines totalling £125,000, with convenience stores, restaurants and vape stores also among the worst offenders.
But the business that received the highest fine of £225,000 was Kukki Glazing Ltd, a home renovation service based in Smethwick, West Midlands.
Fines who hire an illegal migrant can be given a civil penalty of £45,000 per worker for a first breach, up from £15,000. Repeat breaches can incur a £60,000 fine, up from £20,000.
Last year, police busted an Eastern European crime syndicate who smuggled 12 migrants into the UK before making them work illegally at car washes.
One migrant was forced to live in an unheated garage without a roof before being put to work cleaning vehicles for no money, with his captors - who included 47-year-old Czech man Zdenek Drevenak - exploiting his 'desperation' not to be deported.
Another case saw a couple force more than 40 Slovakian 'slaves' to carry out nearly £1million worth of work for free at their car wash in Southmead, Bristol. Maros Tancos and Joanna Gomulska, both 46, were jailed for a total of 25 years.
Employers have been required since 2008 to carry out 'right to work' checks on their staff, and risk a £60,000 for every person found working illegally.
But these checks only apply to people who are classified as employees, with companies who used self-employed workers exempted.
This means that anyone in the 'gig economy', which now covers about 1.6million people, can work with far less scrutiny.
It previously emerged that migrants living in taxpayer-funded asylum hotels – including those who arrived by small boat – are securing work as fast food delivery riders within hours of entering Britain.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said he had found evidence of asylum seekers breaking rules which bar them from working while their claim is processed by the Home Office.
Emma Brooksbank, an immigration partner at Freeths, recently claimed that gig economy companies like delivery apps were 'largely unregulated' and had 'no real incentive to clean up their act'.
'The simple fact is that gig economy companies do not know who is using their app, and who is engaging with their customers under their brand name, making illegal work easy, effortless, and undetectable, which acts as a draw for illegal migrants to continue to arrive in small boats from France,' she said.
Ms Brooksbank called for the Government to start holding delivery companies responsible and heavily fining them for 'facilitating illegal work'.
Zdenek Drevenak, 47, was part of an Eastern European gang who smuggled 12 migrants into the UK with the promise of a better life before stealing wages they earned washing cars
The poor conditions in Tancos and Gomulska's flat are likely being replicated in scores of other locations across the UK
Concerns have also been raised about criminals using High Street businesses such as barbers, car washes and salons to launder money.
More than 750 barbers opened in the UK last year despite a broader retail downturn - raising suspicions that some are being used by gangs.
A series of raids were carried out earlier this year as part of Operation Machinize - a crackdown on gangs using barber shops for fraud, money laundering and selling illicit goods.
Police seized more than £500,000 in dirty cash and arrested seven people after swooping on 33 premises in May.
Detective Sergeant Adrian Bray from the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit said: 'Barbershops and other cash-intensive businesses like vape shops, nail bars, American-themed sweet shops and car washes are often used by criminals to launder the proceeds of their crimes.
'Their aim is to mix legitimate funds and criminal profits to hinder investigations into their criminality. We know they are also adept at exploiting vulnerable people to work in their businesses.'
The raids were carried out by the regional police forces, alongside Trading Standards, Home Office Immigration Enforcement, HMRC and other partners in the first co-ordinated action of this kind.
According to the NCA, £12billion of criminal cash is thought to be generated in the UK each year, which is typically smuggled out of the country or integrated into the legitimate financial system through money laundering techniques.
Among the raids undertaken in Rochdale, Greater Manchester Police found some of the staff at mini-marts were Kurdish, Iraqi or Iranian asylum seekers, who were working in the UK illegally.
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