Acupuncturist's job was front for brothel

Jin Xiaomei applied for an acupuncturist's job only to discover it was a front for prostitution.

She fell into the poverty trap after separating from her husband and, needing to find work, answering a newspaper advert.

A professional nurse for 10 years before she opened her own beauty parlour in Shanghai, Ms Jin thought her experience would help her compete with other people seeking work in the acupuncturist's centre.

'It was not until I went up there I realised it was a massage parlour for men. It was unbelievable,' she said.

Ms Jin, 39, came to Hong Kong last year with her daughter, now two, to live with her husband.

Speaking fluent Putonghua but only halting Cantonese, she could not find work in either the nursing or beauty fields. 'I was hired by a beauty parlour here. But they only offered me $6,000 and half of that went straight for my rent,' Ms Jin said.