Some coffee shops in the southern province of Ca Mau, advertising themselves as 'special cafes', are fronts for brothels.

A “special coffee" shop in Ca Mau City 

Nearly ten of these cafes can be seen along Nguyen Trai Street, Ward 9 of Ca Mau City. From the outside they look like regular businesses with just a few motorbikes parked out front. But in fact they have large parking areas inside.

When the reporter visited such an establishment in Ward 9, at around 7pm, he saw around seven customers waiting to be served by the 'waitresses', who were sitting on their laps.

Customers range from students to workers to husbands, said one employee.

As best as the reporter could tell, most of the waitresses were aged between 30 and 50.

The price for a cup of coffee and some attention from the waitresses was about VND50,000-70,000 (USD2.38-3.33). For more inclusive services the rates go up.

That night the reporter saw four customers within two hours, who went to nearby guest houses.

Recently the police have been paying more attention to these coffee shops, especially in Ward 9, catching a number of sex workers.

These establishments use a number of tricks to get around prosecution. Many of the workers are only under verbal contract, so that, in the case of inspection, the owners can say that the waitresses are not actual employees.

Penalties for running such a business range from just VND100,000-VND300,000 (USD4.76-14.28), so many of the workers continue after being caught.