A new theory has emerged to solve the mystery of homes targeted in red paint attacks across quiet UK neighbourhoods. Residents of Chingford Road in Walthamstow, London, were the latest victims, where at least a dozen homes were daubed on March 13 with bright red paint across windows, bricks and cars, before culprits returned five days later to repeat it.

Distressed families said they had to clean their homes at least twice to get it all off, while others received paint-splattered anonymous letters claiming there was a brothel on the road, without evidence. The word ‘brothel’ was also painted in black on one home, echoing other incidents across the UK where the same word was spray-painted, with various misspellings. Residents, councillors and police officers have suggested various motives behind the nationwide attacks, including it being a “very bad” imitation of street artist Banksy, a strange social media trend, or copycat criminals.

However, a criminologist has now linked it to Chinese gangs after masked men were caught on CCTV spraying red paint on a house in Acton, west London, and the word ‘brothel’ on the floor.

In the video posted by London Centric, they were recorded speaking Mandarin, which, according to Oliver Chan, an associate professor of criminology at the University of Birmingham, is key to understanding what might be behind the attacks.

He told the Mail that red paint attacks go back as far as the 50s in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and parts of South-East Asia, where Chinese criminal gangs would use it as a warning to those who’ve fallen behind on debts.

Chan explained: “This vandalism is not being done for fun and is clearly a warning of some kind, so it’s not a massive leap to suggest it is linked to war between rival gangs.”

He added that there was a 55% increase in recorded cases of ‘red-paint vandalism’ from 2017 to 2021 in Hong Kong.

Labour MP Stella Creasy has raised concerns over the Walthamstow vandalism with the policing minister, Diana Johnson.

She said: “It’s deeply troubling that this kind of incident has been reported around the country, but there’s no central co-ordination…so residents in Walthamstow have been told the police won’t call on them for days despite this happening at a number of venues.”

In August 2023, an apartment block in Huddersfield was sprayed with red and black paint and the words ‘Brothel 3’. Eight months later, a Thai massage parlour called Yonlada was targeted in the same town. Both cases went unsolved.

Between September and November 2024, two apartment blocks in Bradford were slashed with red paint and the word ‘brothel’ or ‘borthel’, alongside what looked like mobile phone numbers.

West Yorkshire Police ruled out that the attacks were linked, although a resident who owned a flat in the blocks dismissed this.

Retired engineer Andrew Mitchell, 67, told the BBC at the time: “You look at the lettering in both incidents and it’s very similar writing. I mean, two incidents where red paint’s thrown and the word ‘borthel’ is used. Not linked? There’s got to be something there, hasn’t there?”

In London, there have been 14 red-paint attacks since November 2023, when two properties in West Hampstead were defaced, followed by two houses in neighbouring Kilburn just four months later, with the misspelled word ‘broethel’.

A Thai massage parlour, a pub and four homes were vandalised in Ealing Broadway in January 2025, before a karaoke bar and a gentlemen’s club was targeted in St John’s Wood, followed by a row of houses in Leytonstone weeks later.

The Metropolitan Police has been contacted for comment by The Express. It has previously confirmed an investigation is underway.