Don’t give money to beggars with sob stories

On a Sunday afternoon at Samha petrol station on the Dubai-Abu Dhabi highway, Abu Dhabi resident Linda Dumitru filled her car with petrol and parked in front of the convenience store to get a cup of coffee. As she was about to get out of her car, a middle-aged man, a woman and a bunch of kids came up to her with an unusual request.

In most cases, the beggars’ tactics and stories are the same. — KT file photos

“The man, who was looking disturbed, started talking in a low voice. At first I didn’t understand him — his English was poor and his accent foreign. Gradually, I understood the story and what he was asking for, which was a few hundred dirhams,” said Linda.

“They told me that they hailed from Oman, drove all night and somehow lost their way and their wallet too. They said they had no friends or family in the UAE and that they were desperate. They asked me for some money as apparently I looked like a kind person,” Linda said.

Having moved to Abu Dhabi less than a year ago, and being unaccustomed to such desperate “requests” from a “family”, she believed them and gave them Dh200.

Linda got the shock of her life when after a month of the incident, she saw the same set of people at the same petrol pump in the same car. “I understood then that it was a scam. I got so angry that I picked up my phone to call the police, but they drove away.”

This was a classic story of begging, which seems to have intensified this summer, with an increasing number of people experiencing these “requests” across Abu Dhabi.

In most cases, the beggars’ tactics and story are the same. The man and the woman dress in traditional kandoora and abaya, present themselves as husband and wife and have three-four young children with them — a picture of a family which has fallen into hard times.

Giving the slip

In most such cases, the beggars manage to get away before the police are called. They tend to operate at large petrol stations or shopping centres, their preferred targets being “Western-looking” women.

“I’ve been living in the UAE for 20 years, but this happened to me for the first time this August. I was approached just outside Wahda Mall in Abu Dhabi by a couple with a small kid, who claimed to be here on a holiday from Oman, but lost their wallet, which apparently had all their money and credit cards. When I told them that I had no money, they had the cheek to ask me to withdraw some for them. I really thought their situation was genuine and wanted to help them, so I told them that the Abu Dhabi Police are very supportive in such cases. When I tried to call the police, they walked away very fast,” said Elaine Bruce, an Abu Dhabi resident.

Such stories are prevalent on social media channels put up by Abu Dhabi residents. Begging, however, is illegal in the UAE. Earlier this summer, the Abu Dhabi Police asked people to take a stand against it and report such incidents using its dedicated Aman Service by calling the toll-free number 8002626, or sending an SMS to 2828 or via e-mail to aman@adpolice.gov.ae.

silvia@khaleejtimes.com