Categories: OMG

Elderly ‘Beggars’ in Australia Revealed As Rich Chinese Con Artists

This is why people hesitate to help beggars sometimes.

A viral video posted on Reddit revealed that some beggars on the streets of Melbourne, Australia are actually con artists from China.
Authorities discovered that these ‘beggars’ had large amounts of cash and tourists visas among their possessions.

Growing up, most of us have been taught that showing compassion to the less fortunate is a good thing. However, its stories like this that sometimes make us hesitant about the whole idea.

Authorities in Melbourne, Australia have recently discovered that certain beggars on their streets aren’t really poor and homeless. Apparently, these beggars are fake and are actually professional con artists from China. Found among their belongings were huge amounts of cash and tourists visas.

According to reports, seven individuals have been charged for scamming the public after a viral video showed a Chinese woman posing as a beggar freaking out as she was filmed by a citizen. She immediately took her things and left the scene. The same thing happened when a second Chinese beggar was filmed near location of the first.

Ricky Liu, the man who took the clip and posted it on Reddit, said that fake beggars have been all over Melbourne for the past six months.

A spokesperson of Victoria Police warned the publclic, by saying:

“While the majority of people begging in Melbourne are vulnerable and in need, there are a small number of professional beggars who target the CBD from time to time.”

Meanwhile, a 2015 study conducted by Salvation Army discovered that some beggars were making as much as $400 daily. Moreover, the research tells us 9 out of 135 beggars confess that they are professionals.

“We had one person indicate to us that he was raising in the vicinity of $300 to $400 a day or an evening and he was doing that on a regular basis,” shared Brendan Nottle of the Salvation Army.

Considering that these beggars are on the streets at least 6 days a week, that means they’re earning a good income from what they’re doing.

So yes, the bottomline here is that they’re really not as poor as they appear!