Widespread Fraud in Swedish Hair Salons – These Are the Most Common Scams

There is significant fraud in the Swedish hairdressing industry, according to the unsurprising findings of a tax authority inspection. The fraud includes distorting competition.

Between March and October 2023, the Swedish Tax Agency checked cash registers and employee registers at 92 hairdressing companies. Three out of ten were fined a total of 570,000 SEK. The most common reason was that the Tax Agency’s test purchases were not registered in the cash register.

From September 2023 to April 2025, the agency also investigated 47 hairdressing companies where undisclosed revenues and salaries amounted to 15.1 million and 8.8 million SEK, respectively. This resulted in additional taxes and fees of 12.4 million SEK.

In many cases, customers paid via Swish to the representatives’ or their relatives’ private bank accounts. Deficiencies were also found in the bookkeeping of several companies. Several of the investigations have also resulted in the Tax Agency filing criminal reports for accounting and tax offenses.

Reclaiming Support

Additional measures have involved sending notifications to other authorities when there have been suspicions of erroneous payments from welfare systems, resulting in, among other things, the recovery of support payments from the Employment Service.

“Many of the visited companies have been fined. There are undisclosed salaries, and the representatives make private withdrawals or pay salaries to employees without reporting it,” says Christoffer Blomqvist, coordinator of the inspection at the Tax Agency.