> Does this happen in the US?
Yes. All the time. Look at Minnesota.
> Easy to shut them down you’d think.
You’d think, but you’d be mistaken. Once the businesses get established they have money, and then they have all their brothers and cousins they brought in from the old country to help them run the business, and pretty soon you’ve got a large bloc of people with money and votes, and money and votes are like pheromones to politicians. Shut them down? No, they want to give them more money and encourage them!
I’ve read about the fraud in MN and CA it’s done on an industrial scale from those reports.
Audits and proper accounting are required and these businesses/shops shut down!