A Filipino expat has voiced a complaint about a man who has routinely approached expats in Rabigh, Khafji, Jeddah, Alkhobar and Riyadh in a private car asking for money.

“I have already had five encounters with this man in different parts of the Kingdom and in different years,” said Tops Feliciano. “He stops in a different car almost every time with children on board and comes up with a sob story, eventually asking for money.

“This man must be apprehended for habitually manipulating residents into feeling compassion and then taking advantage of their kindness by begging,” he said in an e-mail sent to Arab News.

“He introduces himself and soon says his mother is currently in hospital and that he just needs money for dinner and some fuel.

“I encountered him twice in Rabigh in 2011, once in Jeddah in 2012 and twice in Alkhobar in 2013. I just ignored him and walked away,” he said.

“Having met him five times in the past, I eventually told him I would call the police if he did not leave,” he said.

“On a separate occasion, a friend who was visiting me overnight was approached by the same man outside our flat telling him the same story,” he said.

He added that when his friend turned down entreaties for help, the man insisted that he leave the grocery items he had bought from a nearby shop.

“My friend, who was shocked, walked away, being cursed heavily on his track. He told me the incident and it was then that I realized this is the same man,” he said.

“While others run from pillar to post trying to get a job, this man has become a master manipulation, tarnishing the concept of goodwill,” he said.