Disguised beggars flood business district

They dress like beggars in order to convince well-wishers to give them money.

A new breed of “beggars” with evil intentions now roam major streets and popular junctions in the port city of Douala, feigning predicaments that convince organisations, churches and naive passers-by to offer them material and financial gifts.

Their stories are always very convincing that leaves no one indifferent, but for those who have once fallen into their dragnet. The dubious city dwellers who are better described as “tricksters in beggars’ clothing,” target influential people in classy cars and charity organisations for a bigger catch.

A typical example is a woman who parades the street with a close to one-year-old little girl whose wrist is wrapped with plaster. She tells anyone who cares to hear that her daughter has been admitted in hospital and she does not have the money to continue paying for her treatment.

Benevolent passers-by chip in banknotes of different colours while the have-nots show pity and pray that the woman should have a breakthrough. At the end of the day, she takes home enough money to take care of her family.

The same woman entered a church and asked for help, saying she wants to return to her home land in the North. The church leaders gave her FCFA 100,000 and paid her fare in an interurban transportation company, stayed with her till the bus left. Few days after, some church members saw her in Douala, begging with the same child.

Other dubious beggars ask for taxi fare, especially when they perceive that workers are receiving their wages. Some tell potential victims that they came to follow-up their retirement dues at the National Social Insurance Fund and have no money to return home.

That is how bundles of FCFA 500, FCFA 1,000 and FCFA 2,000 enter their pockets. When they notice that people are beginning to be sceptical, they relocate to areas where they are little-known.