Meet the beggars driving fancy cars in Saudi

Riyadh - They pretend to be outsiders who are in need of urgent assistance

As Saudi Arabia cracks down on beggars, they are finding new ways to seek alms in the kingdom. Instead of wearing shabby clothes and looking destitute, the beggars are adopting sophisticated ways.
They ride new cars and wear new clothes when they approach people. They pretend to be outsiders who are in need of urgent assistance.
According to the Saudi Gazette, they all tell the same story, "I am not from this city. My car has run out of gas and I need help."
A sociology professor at Al-Majmah University, Mansour Al-Ghareeb says the Grand Mufti has warned the public about believing what such beggars claim and urged people not to give them any money.
"In my opinion, such people are not beggars. They are fraudsters who con people out of their hard-earned money. A beggar is someone who wears torn clothes or suffers from a deformity or a certain medical condition. There are some who stand near a pharmacy and ask passersby to give them money to buy medications because they cannot afford them. I think many people use these tricky methods to get easy money," he was quoted saying.
Mansour Al-Masfooh, Director of the Anti-begging Unit, Ministry of Labor and Social Development said, "The ministry is responsible for investigating the social status of Saudis who beg to ensure they are really in need of help and that they are not subscribers in the General Organization of Social Insurance and do not get financial aid from any charitable organization."
"We work together with several government agencies to investigate beggars who use suspicious methods to earn money and report them to the authorities," he said, urging citizens to play an active role in reporting such people to the authorities.
 

• Saudi Arabia