DUBAI, 15 September 2007 — Ramadan is the month of giving and nobody knows this more than beggars who prey on the faithful during this time of year.
For the beggars the holy month is a golden opportunity to ply their trade and con people with sob stories.
However, the police are on to the tricks of these people and have launched campaigns to arrest them.
A few years ago the local media reported a story that police arrested a haggard-looking beggar and were surprised to find AED200,000 ($54,457) in his possession. The man was preying on people’s sympathy by telling them that he had no money to buy food.
Brig. Khamis Mattar Al-Mazeina, director of Dubai Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID), said that his team will be on the lookout and will arrest any individual found begging. During the past month alone at least 82 beggars were arrested during a sweep.
He urged the public to report such people saying that many of the beggars that roam Dubai are “professional pan-handlers”.
Describing the vagrants as “pests” who prey on the sympathetic feelings of their unsuspecting victims, Al-Muzeina said that most of them come to the UAE on visit visas.
He questioned where these people got the money for hotels, visas and air tickets if they were so destitute.
“Do not believe the stories you hear from them, they are all lies,” he said. “The heart-breaking stories are all aimed at pulling at your heart and purse strings.”
According to Al-Muzeina, the modus operandi of the beggars is varied. The most popular one is carrying certificates from nonexistent hospitals stating the urgency of their health situation or of their kin.
Some even go around with documents claiming that they represent charities from their home countries.
Another tactic is to pull up at a petrol pump or any shopping mall parking lot and latching on to a victim. They will then tell the victim that they are from a neighboring country came here for a visit but had the misfortune of losing all their money.
With the police hot on their heels many of them are clever at camouflaging themselves. They do not dress in shabby clothes for fear of being spotted and arrested.
These people are also careful as to whom they approach and focus mainly on women who usually fall for the “sob stories” and give generously, said Al-Muzeina.
He advised those who want to help the poor to donate their money to recognized charity organizations.
These organizations will make sure that their money reaches those who are really in need and not these phony people who are too lazy to earn their money in an honest way, he said, adding that many of these beggars’ incomes are much more than what a normal person earns in a month.