Backpackers ripped off on NT mango farms

Young backpackers were paid an average of $2 an hour to work at a Northern Territory mango business last year, the Fair Work Ombudsman alleges.

Some of the 12 international workers were allegedly paid nothing at all for weeks of work picking, weeding and pruning on farms on Darwin's outskirts last year.

The ombudsman on Friday said it would take legal action against Vinai Chaipom who formerly ran The Mango Shop even though it was registered in the name of a young Belgian backpacker. It's alleged the workers were underpaid almost $36,000 over two months in late 2015.