Dubai: When a man approached Major General Khamis Mattar Al Mazeina, Dubai Police Deputy Commandant General, in a parking lot and showed him an ultrasound scan saying that he was very ill and needed money, the top officer got suspicious.
"When I read the medical reports, I found it was an ultrasound scan of a pregnancy," Al Mazeina said in a radio report. He called a patrol car and got the man arrested.
"Such people take advantage of the public's lack of knowledge," said Al Mazeina, adding that police arrested 65 beggars during the first 10 days of Ramadan.
taken from article here
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23 comments:
Well, does it really matter whether the pretense under which a man/woman is begging is genuine or not?
I mean these people shed their dignity and lower their self-esteem when they accost people for money. I'd feel empathic either way.
Does the time of the year matter when and where these people shed their self-esteem and when it's otherwise OK to do so?
Ramadan/Eid/National holidays, prime panhandling season. 20-30 years ago, this was very rare/almost non existent.
The first time, someone asked for monies, I gave them everything on me! KSA licence plate, black SUV with a few kids! Friends & I actually believed 'em (I was 9).
At times if people ask for monies here in the city, I extend a bottle of water & food from the nearest store - not cash.
Some of the local kids used to be very rowdy, it wasn't very safe to go to petrol stations to refuel as the moment you lower your widow to tell the attendant how much gas you want, your car gets surrounded by kids all asking for money. At times they got quite impatient and damaged my vehicle. I am glad this sort of thing doesn't happen much nowadays
i have no sympathy for beggars. that's just me. if they can walk around begging, they can walk around an work. or appeal to charities.
but yea, if i had to give to any, i'd prefer buying them food. that's what is needed anyway.
The second day of Ramadan I was in Al Barsha around 9pm, a guy stopped his car beside me as I was leaving my car to go into a store. Gave me a story about how he was here for a funeral from Saudi and that he didn't have enough gas money to get home, or to even break his fast.
Do they normally tend to target expat areas? or are they everywhere?
"...that he didn't have enough gas money to get home, or to even break his fast"
jeez the story hasn't changed since early 80's...get creative!
sort of agree with DJ..i do extend monies when in the uae, esp the "family suv" kind or toward a women, but not here in nyc. i mean, there are jobs of all sorts and social help. if you can't find a job/help in this city, slim to none you shall anywhere else.
I was at a curtain shop in Abu Dhabi last week, and in the span of 45 minutes 2 women in abaya and shayla entered asking for money. The shopkeeper didn't even look up, but said to me, "Please don't give her any money, madame." They gave up both times and walked out. I asked the shopkeeper where they were from, and he said he believed they were Palestinian. He added that they lived nearby in a building and were paying 60,000 dirhams/year for their accommodation (or their spouses were, their sponsors, etc.) He said he had seen the kids many times, and that they appeared healthy and happy. When I asked him why they might do this, he said he felt as if these women treated their begging like a job. If the shopkeeper is right, then it's a univeral concept that some prefer to ask for money rather than work. In fact, some might even find asking much more profitable.
Stories would be much cooler without giving reference to Nationalities.
I referenced nationality because I think women in abaya and shayla who are not Gulf Arabs often wear it with an agenda. Perhaps it's to fit in, perhaps it's easier to throw on over regular clothes, but in the case of the women asking for money, perhaps they feel it garners more respect from those they ask. In a country in which people are often "presumed" to be wealthy, it could pull on the heart strings of potential gives. As if to suggest: This really is a person down on his/her luck.
jay aren't we mixing beggars with kids in Eid? Beside most of those kids are Pakistanis and Baluchis and not locals !
My experience with beggars in Dubai was mostly confined to a car park area on the Beach Road.
These guys would have bloodied bandages wrapped around their arms and would plead that an injury was not allowing them to work.
I'd give them water and then offer to take them to the doctor to have their injuries treated. No one took me up on the offer, but they would disappear pretty quickly after I made it. Thing is, I couldn't tell whether they were running off because their injuries were fake or because they were perhaps illegal citizens.
If you can believe this story, some beggars in AUD are living in 5 star hotels!
its not only beggars who are con-artists, even people who speak Arabic and drive sports cars can be con artists,
http://www.gulfnews.com/nation/Police_and_The_Courts/10246216.html
Ahmad panicked when the man told him he is from the CID. "He told me to hand over all the phone cards, my mobile and labour card. I quickly gave it to him out of fear and begged him for mercy. I told him I was poor and this is how I made extra money."
Another man who also selling phone cards, said the con man had a gun with him. "He pointed it at me and told me give him all what I had," he added. "His car even had a police siren on the roof. "
A funnier version happened to one of my friends when a Sudanese told him he was from CID , and that he will have him tortured if he didnt hand over his cellphone and cash !
Proud Emirati, no, the ones i ran across were locals they wore the dish dasha and spoke arabic to eachother as well as to me. I can tell a Pakistani kid from a local kid.
AS far as I am concerned, beggars and kids asking for money at petrol stations can go in one group. Maybe this seems a little heartless but who do I talk to to fix the dents in my car after the prats throw a few kicks in because I had given them a few dirhams? it is not like i can complain to their parents, as i don't know where they live.
I thought it was a custom during Eid for kids to ask for money from parents and relatives not from complete strangers, especially not becoming violent toward said strangers when they give you two/three dirhams a head and there are five of them.
jay, do u understand Arabic? Because the ones I used to see in petrol station used to wear dishdasha too and I used to think that they are locals until I heard them speaking. In many cases I cannot tell a pakistani from a local :D
Anyway, this is my first time hearing about kids getting violent because of money in Eid.
This is actually funny! hehe believe me almost all the beggars you see are drug addicts or gamblers and owe people money. The UAE government provides money and food for the poor through lots of charity organizations in the UAE.
Cheers. :-)
May
In many cases I cannot tell a pakistani from a local :D
Shame coz I cant tell a local from an idiot at times.
I* said "Shame coz I cant tell a local from an idiot at times"
and yet this comment was not deleted.
cough *double standards* cough
^^ the question is why was such trolling was initiated in the first place?
because imaginate is a troll my dear watson
I have seen them in almost every street in Dubai, knocking your window, with same old story. I do not give any money, but offer to buy them food. These are young healthy people, taking advantage of innocent people who would normally dole out a 5er or 10er, thinking it was true story. But how come these people are now everywhere. A warning to people, that if they are in two's, try to wrigle yourself out, and do not argue, unless you are confident you can handle the situation. It is becoming dangerous, and you never know, what befalls you. I would recommend that you take out your mobile phone and photograph them and their car plate, in the event the situation turns serious.
I used to live in Karama. We would definitely take a look through the eye piece before opening the door. Few years back it was common for completely healthy women with very healthy children on their hips to show up at our door asking for money.
Wonder why they do it.
PS By healthy I mean - overweight.
2 anons above, report your troubles
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