Begging On Public Streets

During the time of year when holidays take over the spirit of a community one sees more beggars. Even in the wealthy U.S. I have seen people with the standard cardboard sign asking for money "Feed Me Please".
Of course, more often than not, the sign holder is not destitute, hungry or in need. Rather it is a scam, a regular job that some use to earn their income. They dress in disheveled clothes and put on as dirty an appearance as possible, then station themselves near a busy intersection of traffic where cars will stop and gawk- and where the drivers or passengers will plunk down money for the beggar's pitch.
It is estimated that such professional begging can bring a person thousands of dollars until police chase away the con men or women ending their work for the day. No, I am not insensitive to those who are really poor or hungry. In the U.S. there are many private and government charities that legitimate poor seek when in trouble. I often give to charity- legitimate charity, not to people with a cardboard sign begging for money.
Yet, at holiday time those beggars do well by playing on the sympathies of others who want to "help the poor". I read recently that the phony begging syndrome is so bad in Morocco that professional beggars are prowling the streets of Moroccan cities with "rented" and drugged children to attract charity. But the government there is planning a crack down on that kind of scam. "We must fight against this professional, organized begging with children that are either rented or stolen from their parents, numbed with narcotics or malnourished," said Social Development, Family and Solidarity Minister Abderrahim Harouchi.
Harouchi estimates that about 15 % of children under the age of 7 seen with beggars in Morrocan streets were "rented" for between $6 and $12 per week (excellent wages in Morocco). Many locals there know that the pros (usually women with the pathetic looking kids) are targeting tourists who are unaware of the crime being committed against them and, of course, the kids that are exploited by the phony beggars.
And this deception, whether in the U.S. France, China, Morocco or anywhere for that matter, reflects the plight of the real poor in today's world. That professionals would exploit the poor, grabbing their resources on false pretenses, is a problem for all societies