Beggars, Swindlers And Doubt...The Day I Got Conned

How often does it occurs to you that a beggar came up to you just when you wanna dig in into your favorite "char kuey teow" or chicken rice? How about when you walk around pasar malam to restock your made-in-Malaysia DVD of the latest movies in cinema and also the already wide collection of Japanese-culture-appreciation-DVD, then you spotted some handicapped lying on the floor begging for money?


This situation is common enough in Malaysia and surely enough, we heard many stories of conmen being in disguise. However, as the guilt trip reaps into your soul and began to create some doubts within yourself. Questions commonly popped up such as "What if it's real?" and "Will I go to hell if I do not help him?". The guilt built up will eventually push someone to donate while some just being too darn good to donate. No matter which option you choose, there will certainly be some doubts lingering within your mind pondering your decision.

I'm gonna relate to you a few true stories and two of them are first hand experience.

The first story is a case often told to me by my mother. Being an "Ipoh Mali" lad, I am born and stayed in Ipoh until I was 10 years old before moving to Subang Jaya. This means that my parents used to work here. To all the "Ipoh Mali" peeps, I bet most of you are very familiar with the famous restaurant under the "Big Tree" that sells "yong tau fu" or "liu".

Before the place underwent renovation, I bet some people might actually recall a limped uncle always hanging around begging for money. He's been there before I was born and the last time I saw him was last year. He will limped around begging money from customers with a very very unpleasant appearance that most people will instantly felt pity for him.


However, little to your knowledge, this uncle apparently has a "son". Every morning around 7, the "son" will drop him off at this place with his MERCEDES. I do not really know the market price of a Mercedes, however, owning a bloody Mercedes in the 1990's means you are damn fucking rich. The "son" will drop him off this area every morning and picks him up at night to BEG for money. I do not really know for sure is it his son as that is what I heard from my mother.

Why do I know of this? Because my mom's best friend lives nearby and every morning, she saw the same incident. Business must be good since he's been begging for 20 years. those who do not know of this, continue to donate, those who knows, despise and scolded him off. Now, how many "Ipoh Mali" peeps fell for this scam?

My second story was witnessed by me first hand earlier this year when I'm doing my internship. It was a Saturday morning and I am sitting in Old Taste Kopitiam in Taipan with a cup of hazelnut coffee and a newspaper in my hand. Apparently, my boss forgot to hand me the key for the door and I could not get in the company so I have to hang around that place.

Suddenly, a very frail looking old lady came up limping with a "tongkat" to me speaking in Hokkien and begging for money. Being extremely moody that day and I do not like people assuming everyone knows how to speak in Hokkien, so I politely give her the silent treatment and put up my hand to indicate NO. She got the message BUT end up standing RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME, showing her back and leg was extremely painful while sighing. Too bad for her that it only annoys me more and I simply ignore her.

Then she walk around the place and somehow only a businessman with a female counterpart donated each RM 1 for her. The old lady thanked them and walk to the ledge and stairs at the entrance. The entrance was blocked by a car and only provide a very narrow space for walking. AND LIKE MAGIC, God work his miracle in front of me, the old lady stood up straight and take up her walking stick. She alighted the ledge with very much ease like a young person and walk smoothly without the help of the stick. Since the space is narrow, she walked sideways with very big step while carrying the stick up. Then she walk away without even using the stick.

The BEST part of it is, SHE'S doing it RIGHT IN FRONT of the pair that donated to her. The guy was shocked and quickly motioned his friend to look over. Both of them are shocked but decided to let it go. I witnessed the whole situation with very much interest and it surely humours me.

The final story is a situation happened to me when I'm in my office during internship. I was having a terrible headache and was practically moodless that time. My boss's husband just passed away and I have many things in hand to handle for my boss's behalf. So you can imagine my stress.

Suddenly, an old lady rang the door bell (Seriously, why most of them are old people well over age of 50?). I opened the door for her as I thought she is a customer. She just barged in even before I could open the door fully for her and this seriously shocked me. And she began to ask for my name, what is my position at that company and how much is the display set at the entrance of my company. Pretty standard questions for a customer so I answer without any hesitation plus she spoke very fluent English with an American accent.

And then out of the sudden, she told me that she is a psycologist and had her own clinic over in Canada. And she kept emphazing the point she owns a psycology clinic in Canada Ok, I cannot differentiate Canada and American accent. She told me at that moment, she's doing charity for orphans and ask me to buy a bookmark from her as a donation. I hesitated at the moment and told her I'm stil a student. However, she kept pestering me and under the pressure of my headache, I fork out RM5 for her as I thought that a person that speaks such fluent English might not be a fraud.

She thanked me and hand me the bookmark and just leave. I only thought of how annoying she is by disturbing me for 30 minutes when she's not even a potential customer. It was not until several days later that it hit me right in the gut. I GOT CONNED. These are the several points that I thought about under no headaches and perfectly rational mindset.

1. If she owns her own psychology clinic in Canada and this means she's really rich. If she wanna help out in charity, she could just DONATE HER OWN MONEY. Rich people don't go around selling things by the name of donation. That's what scammers do!!!
2. If she is rich, then she could donate her own money and help around the orphanage to take care the orphans instead of walking around asking for donation. Plus, the donation might not even work out as well.
3. If she really does have a clinic in Canada then shouldn't she BE IN CANADA?
4. If she's here means she's on vacation then why work? If she wanna help around charity during her vacation instead of relaxing then why use this method? She could set up funding project that could guarantee trust from people
5. Usually they don't charity alone, but she is alone and she do not carry any proof of doing charity for which orphanage. if you gonna work charity alone, then u wun walk around asking for money ALONE but instead took care of the orphans and play with them
6. The bookmark is so crappy that it is only made from manila card with color pencil writings and small ribbon on it
7. Asking money from Canadians would be much more profitable than stingy Malaysians like me.
8. Kept emphasizing she have a clinic in Canada. Already shows it is a gimmick that proves she don't need the money.

I cover myself in shame for being conned...LOL

If I do not have a headache that day, I would not even donate a sen. This proves I'm still too stupid for my own good. I hope this post will ease certain people's guilt of not donating and also help those who donate to think twice by considering more aspects. And those who donate to monks and nuns on the street then let me enlighten you guys for some pointers.

1. Nuns and monks do not need money for food. Temples provide free vegetarian food for them so therefore, they do not need money.
2. Temples usually have many donors and big fat rich donors too. I went to pay respect for my late uncle and nuns at that temple drove brand new Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, BMW and many more. All these were donated by donors. Even temples are built by community members, companies or government who provide funds.
   
3. Their costumes can easily be obtained
4. Since religion stated greed for money is bad, then why they do this? Don't they practise what they preach?
5. Temples provide free lodgings too so they do not need to worry anything else. If there is anything they lack then it should be sex which they need to forget about it.
   

That's another long post from me. Hope you guys enjoy the details of it if you ever read till this part. leave me a comment if you are here. Thanks and click my ads. I'm not a monk so I NEED MONEY.


P.S: I threw away the bookmark before i even thought about blogging it. SO, no pictures