A man and a woman have been jailed after threatening an undercover policeman at a so-called clip joint in Soho, central London. Had he been a genuine customer, he would have been another victim of what is a well-established scam.

…

The scam involves customers, often foreign tourists, being enticed inside hostess bars with false promises of “adult entertainment”, Westminster Council explained.

The bars, known as clip joints, employ women to stand outside or near their premises and bring the customers in for a small charge, in much the same way as other licensed bars and clubs employ staff to hand out leaflets promoting their offers.

Once inside the clip joints, customers are served soft drinks, usually by a pretty young woman.

But when the customer goes to leave, they will usually find themselves faced with a charge of several hundred pounds for having been in the woman’s company.

If they refuse to pay, the customer may be threatened with violence by bouncers or frog-marched to a cash machine and forced to hand over cash.

The authorities believe it is a greatly under-reported crime as many victims are too embarrassed to admit they have been caught out. Sarah Bell, BBC.

I can’t help thinking they got what they deserve, inside they expected to find abused women to satisfy their needs instead they found a woman who abused them to satisfy her need – I can’t feel a lot of sympathy – but no I don’t condone their behaviour.