POP-UP nail bars and car washes are being staged in key Scottish towns to help consumers learn to spot signs that the worker serving them is a victim of human trafficking.
As many as 150 potential victims of the global trafficking trade were identified in Scotland last year.
The figure marks a rise of 52 per cent in just three years.
Cases include under-18s discovered staffing the country’s beauty industry, with raids also carried out on car washes in Glasgow and Lanarkshire in December.
Last month the Scottish Government published a nation-wide map showing trafficking has been identified in communities from Orkney to Dumfries.
Cases were also found in Inverness, Fort William, Livingston and Stonehaven.
And while trafficking can take many forms, including forced labour or practices similar to slavery, authorities fear the myths about the practice persist.
Recent research found 70 per cent of people associate the crime with sexual exploitation alone — meaning victims forced into other economic areas such as construction and fisheries may go unnoticed.
And with many connecting the practice to big cities alone, the pop-ups are designed to highlight that the problem is closer to home than most believe.
The campaign, backed by Police Scotland and the charities Migrant Help and Trafficking Awareness Raising Alliance (TARA), will see the awareness-raising exercises staged over a six-day period.
Organisers have chosen Aberdeen, Ayr, Falkirk and Kirkcaldy — all places where victims of human trafficking have been identified in the past five years.
Warning signs can include workers being withdrawn, scared and unwilling to talk to customers, or appearing unkempt, badly nourished, or controlled by another person.
Justice Secretary Michael Matheson said: “Human trafficking is a complex crime which involves adults and children being traded and exploited for personal benefit. It is an abuse of human rights which causes victims lasting physical and psychological damage.
“We want to make people aware of the different industries in which human trafficking can happen so we can start to effectively tackle this crime and stop this abhorrent abuse of human rights.
“I would encourage anyone who has concerns to report them to help bring human trafficking to an end in Scotland.”
The news comes two days after 11 members of one family were jailed for modern slavery offences in England.
The UK Human Trafficking Centre found the Rooney family had taken 18 men to sites in Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and London illegally.
Nottingham Crown Court heard they were homeless and had mental health problems and had been promised work, money and shelter.
However, they were instead kept in squalid conditions and subjected to violence and mistreatment.
The victims were made to labour in the family’s driveway resurfacing business seven days a week and denied food and drink.
One man had been forced to dig his own grave and the family members were jailed for a total of 79 years.
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