Inside the Illicit Massage Industry

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Across the country some 23,000 to 25,000 women are estimated to work in illicit massage parlors, which provide a front for the commercial sex industry. Those who investigate the trade say that sex-traffickers often exploit vulnerable undocumented female immigrants from Asia who perform sexual services for male customers at the parlors.

There are almost 200 unlawful erotic massage businesses in Massachusetts alone, and about 7,000 nationwide. The industry creates around $2.8 billion in annual revenue, according to a study by researchers at Texas Christian University.

Phillip Martin, senior investigative reporter at WGBH News, in collaboration with the New England Center for Investigative Reporting, has been looking into the lucrative business of erotic massage parlors in Massachusetts and elsewhere for a new series, and discusses the challenges that law enforcement face when it comes to prosecuting the alleged sex-traffickers behind them.

A former sex buyer, now in recovery, revisits Boston's Chinatown where he sometimes frequented erotic massage parlors. He says such establishments are all over Massachusetts.

(Meredith Nierman/WGBH News )

(Credit: Emily Judem/WGBH)