What if you see bogus monastics on the streets of Singapore asking for money – pretending they need funds for food, building projects and such? If there is only one single thing you should do, it is to call the cops at 999, to request the police to come in plain clothes. Why? Well, I called the cops to arrest two bogus ‘monks’ standing outside Waterloo Street’s Guanyintang temple with begging bowls. But they had informers, who alerted them of the approach of obviously uniformed cops – some 100 metres away. (It was comical to see them pull up their robes and flee though.) It’s easy - just describe the location to the cops. You don’t have to stay around or watch what happens if you don’t have time. There’s no need to make any statement too.
Please note though, that in countries such as Japan, it is a custom for monastics to stand stationary, to do chanting for blessing the public, and to receive money in their bowls. But such is not the case in countries like Singapore and Malaysia at all. In the past, the bogus monks in Singapore were stationary, which made them easier to apprehend. Nowadays, mobile ‘nuns’ are more popularly used instead – which makes immediate reports to the cops even more crucial. The general direction the bogus monastics are walking to should be informed too. If one wishes to track them, one must be very careful. Tracking bogus monastics might be dangerous, though there is no recorded case of intimidation yet.
Protect the integrity of real monastics by exposing the fake. Previously, a syndicate of 30 fake monks were caught. Some were foreigners forced to be fake monks as their passports were withheld by syndicate leaders, when they were promised work earlier. Free these conned ‘workers’ by handing them over to the law! Mere scaring them away does not do much if they simply go elsewhere. Having ever scared three away, not once did I detect any remorse while they fled. The syndicates might force them to continue their ‘jobs’ despite their fear. Scaring them away might only urge them to increase their vigilance, making them harder to track. They might be abused when they turn in empty bowls too? Arresting them in any case is for their own good – especially if they are perfectly willing ongoing partners in crime.
With some ‘experience’ from spy games, I am likely to secretly call the cops when I next spot bogus monastics, before shadowing them as far as I can, telling the cops to call me for their latest location. But that’s just the adventurous me – not recommended for all. If there are more friends, there might be safety in numbers, but shadowing might be more conspicuous! But it is good to play safe! Maybe there’s a ‘simpler’ solution - organise big and burly Buddhists in pairs to ‘patrol’ the usual haunts of fake monastics – to detain them on the spot once they appear - till cops come! They can then be interrogated to uncover and bust their HQ. Anyone wants to be fearless Dharma Protectors? Do help to spread the message on how to spot and report bogus monastics too!
Real (Food-collecting) Monastics / Bogus (Money-collecting) Ones
1. Stand outside food centres / Walk from table to table
2. Wait for food donor to approach / Approach patrons and reject unpacked food
3. Alms bowl covered till food comes / Bowl always open for money
4. Do not carry pendants or strings for ’sale’ / Exchange them for money
5. Nuns wear no make-up or ornaments / Some don them
6. Collect food between dawn and noon / Collect money at any hour
7. Approach households for food / Approach for money
8. Fearless when police mentioned / Fearful when so
Related Article:
Operation Bogus Bust (Part 2): The Follow-up
http://moonpointer.com/new/2010/02/operation-bogus-bust-part-2
A friend’s experience to share:
As it was the eve of Teachers’ Day, I went back to Manjusri Secondary School, sending my well-wishing to those teachers who had taught me before. At around 3pm, I left the school and make my way to a near-by SKP shop and make some purchases of office item which was very bulky.
As I had not had my lunch, I decided to drop by the confectionary next door to get a waffle to ease my hunger. While waiting, “a fake nun with a bun of hairs†or a cheater, who looks in her 60’s and has a heavy Chinese accent, approached me and wanting to issue a religious card to me, with the picture of the Three Saint from the Western Paradise. I said a firm “No†and before I could say anything or react, she mumbled some words and left. I immediately check with the confectionary owner if she had been patronizing this area and the reply from the owner was negative; stating that he had not seen her before and these cheaters don’t come to the neighbourhood often. The three minutes waffle-baking seems longer than before, while I am waiting for my waffle. As I had seen the direction where the cheater headed toward, I decided to trace the route and follow the cheater, carrying my waffle and all the bulky items that I had purchased; so untimely for me to carry all the stuff on hand.
I managed to trace her, now that she is at the coffeeshop. She approached a guy who looks like an office guy who is taking a short afternoon break. Her cheating tactic seems to work as the guy pull out some cash from his pocket, and I shouted loudly to the guy, not to give the money to the cheater when he is about to hand her a $2. The guy immediately kept his money while the old cheater looked at me angrily.
I took out my phone and I asked in Mandarin “Do you want me to call the police now?†I asked firmly. The angry look subsided and the cheater who replied in a trembling voice in Ma “Alright, alright. I leave now, can or not?†and she immediately turned my back. I pressed the button on my phone and right in front of me I saw this elderly cheater who ran so fast that I am shockingly amazed! I doubt people of her age can run as fast as she does. Since she seems to run towards the neighbourhood carpark, I did not continue my chase and make my way to the carpark exit instead, which is nearer to me to head to. I believe this cheater works for a syndicate and such syndicate definitely had a system of cheating people money and planned for their escape route.
I waited at the carpark exit and see if I manage to track down the escape vehicle, which the authority will be able to track down the syndicate if I reported the car-plate number to them instead. I regretted for the miscalculation of waiting at the escape route as cars and vans appear without her in the passing-by vehicles after fifteen minute wait. Unluckily or fortunately I did not continue the chase too which I was thinking of chasing initially; as I might be outnumbered physically if I manage to track it down. There is no point putting myself into any risk too.
From this incident, I realize that there are still a lot of people who are unaware of cheater who posed themselves as members of religious group and go around cheating people. For Buddhist, we should not be afraid to confront such religious cheater, be it if they are posing themselves as a Buddhist monk or nuns. This is very important because we should help public who are unaware; we should denounce the act of causing confusion to public which tarnish the faith and to the monastic. I also learned that it is difficult for the police to capture such cheater as they are so mobile – they do not patronized a similar area often.
For Buddhist, how does one know if the monastic is real or not? To recognize if it is a real monastic in Singapore, there are three ways of recognizing based on my understanding. They do not go around asking alms in terms of money. During alms offering, they are only allowed to take foods Usually such practice happens in the morning. Monasteries and temple do not allow monastic to do fund-raising activity in public, and all these fund-raising activities must have a permit. And from Singapore Buddhist Federation point of views, they advise public to alert the authority immediately, so that the authority can wipe out such syndicate. However I think as Buddhist, we should continue to remind and educate members of public (family, friends, relative, and people whom you know) on how to recognize such religious cheater and not to fall into such trap, which will help Buddhist community in a long run.
Amituofo!
Occasionally, there is monastic at the wet market that I frequent. He just stands at a visible corner and accepts money donation which he repays with what seems like prayers of blessings. Conscious of the fact that that may be a bogus one but at the same time feel that if he is a real monk, he would go hungry, I would buy a packet of vegetarian food & offer to him. He repays with a radiant smile and chanted like Pali prayers which I don’t understand. However, he continues to stand instead of moving on. So, is a real monk supposed to stop their alms round once they received food and move away or they can continue to offer their prayers of blessings? Or he may need more than a packet of food for his fellow mates, that’s why he is waiting for more food offering? I don’t know the answer as I have no time to continue to observe him.
If he is a real monk & nobody offers him food near noon, is he allowed to to use the money he collected to buy food himself?
To me, he is a monk in his robe, and knowing Theravada tradition of alming for food, I offer the food to him as a devotee. Even if he is a bogus one, hopefully, he will enjoy a good meal of vegetarian (which hopefully he won’t waste it) and he will have some positive karma by being vegetarian for a meal.:cheerful:
I don’t think a Theravada monk can or should accept any money offered. If money is offered, they are supposed to reject it.
I would ask the monk which temple he is from and verify with the temple. The purpose of me doing this is because i do not want such a holy vocation to be tarnished by some greedy syndicate that cons others’ goodwill. Nor is it good for them karma-wise. I won’t mind offering them a vegetarian meal but would that encourage them to con on, food and money. I think it’s still best to verify, but that’s just me.
As lay Buddhists, we have to help to protect the integrity of the Sangha and Buddha’s teachings. If we should and can do something, we should not just ignore or do nothing. I agree with Bodhati, the best way is to verify the identity of the supposed alms-taking monks and nuns. If they are unable to give any satisfied answer, please call the police.
If, all Buddhists are to let confidence tricksters do what they do, very soon, the public will lose confidence with the entire Sangha community. And we would have played a part in eroding Buddhism. I beseech everyone to at least call the police; and NOT do nothing.
Sharing what I encounter some years ago (when I haven’t start learning more on Buddhism).
I was walking on the street near to Bras Brasah area when a monk approached and passed me a photo of Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva (Kuan Shi Yin Pu Sa) and asked for a donation. Without much thinking, I took out $2 from my wallet and gave to him and he asked for more. I gave him more money (forgotten the amount). He have the 6 burned dots on his head (Sorry for not knowing what is the name of these dots). I suppose he is a fake one too?
Bogus monks and nuns are still around? hmmm.. personally I have not seen any for awhile. Firstly, I would like to comment that they are not cheaters. Rather, they are people who cheat. Difference being that they are first n foremost human like us, the only significant difference in this case, is that they are lying and living of the ignorance of people. – bottom line is, we should still have compassion for them.
Secondly, are there other things we as Buddhist can do? How about:
1)Write to SBF to urge them to make formal appeal in the press to tell ppl to stop giving to Bogus monks?
2)if that fail, get Buddhist centers themselves to band together to write to the press,
3)How about forming grassroot movements? Like teams of Buddhist going out to Waterloo street or places where these bogus monks n nuns usually hangout and give out pamphlets urging the public not to give $ to them. Educating kopitiam owners to call police when they spot the bogus monks n nuns..
Hi Ed, it’s not legal in Singapore for any real or fake monastics to hit the streets asking for funds without license. (Even buskers need licenses!) Usually, any fund-rising activities are done in temple or centre premises. Six dots or not, robe or not, it is not Right Action. What audacity, asking for more! Experienced them before too – same tactics!
Hi Menghaw, there were ads about these bogus monks in the press before. There were even lengthy articles on how the press exposed them. But it only stops them for a while.
As long as we do our part, we are already forming grassroot movements islandwide. Actually a much more effective way is to write to Forum asking the police (preferably in plain clothes) to do something about it.
Regarding such matters concerning the Buddhist community, it’s important that SBF gets notified too for them to have a sense of the magnitude of the problem and where the hot spots are for their own monitoring and action and possible collaboration with the Police and Immigration authorities to weed out the undesirables on a multi-organisational level.
The stall owners can also be educated to take the initiative to chase these con men and women away after giving a stern warning of possible arrest and repatriation to deprive them of more business-operating hangouts. Engage people on the ground to be our eyes and ears.
For an effective clamp-down, a multi-pronged approach is necessary and everyone can and should do their part to help extinguish this flame of deceit and defamation. Every little action counts (be it in the long or short term) and can help towards the overall eradication of the problem.
Hii Keira, if you have connection with SBF please help to pass the message. I have friends who gave them quite a substantial amount of feedbacks, but no respond or action from them, not even an email of acknowledgement.
Hi mini, may I know the nature of the feedback? From personal experience, it seems that many non-governmental organisations do not practice giving an interim reply to feedback. They probably just receive the feedback, review it, decide it’s not feasible or important and just put it aside, without acknowledging its receipt. Have your friends tried calling or snail mailing and to different recipients?
But sure, if I get the chance, I’ll relay your message
thanks or the reply weiya.
I feel that if the problem persist then there is a need to write to press again, and again and again until ppl get it. Ppl’s memory need to be refreshed once in awhile
Again, if the problem is serious, a well co-ordinated effort would be useful. Grassroot effort working with the Police; put up posters at “Hot spots”, talk to stall owners… I believe the police would want to root out social menace and don’t mind the “free labour”, we would have added creditability by working with the authority as well.
I see, but compare with government organisation, SBF only needs to tend to Buddhist matter. I always have the impression they are there to serve the Buddhist community, and no Buddhist matter is however small? Well, I maybe wrong,
I don’t think I should relate the feedbacks here. It isn’t fair to SBF or the owner of moonpointer. This is after all not a SBF related blog or forum. But if you are one of the channels we can get through to SBF, it would be great!
And trust me, my friends tried any possible channels they could find. You could be our last hope! Sadhu!
Yes Menghaw, another letter to the press is a good start!
Hmmm each government agency has their own focal area of responsibility too. And for me to really help it’ll be useful to at least let me know of what nature the feedback is pertaining to? Don’t need the details but just the subject of the issue in question. Then they may be prompted to revisit the specific issue of your concern, unless your intention is just to feedback about their unresponsiveness to feedback, then that’s fine too
Thank you Keira, it’s not for me to decide also, sorry! But what i know is some of the matters had passed so long, and some required immediate attention from SBF then but didn’t get it. My friends had since lost confident in them. But yes, maybe you can let them know about their unresponsiveness and I hope they can regain back my friends’ confidence in them soon.
Oh, let’s not forget to suggest them to write to the press about the bogus monks and nuns?
Hi Shian, would you be writing to the press too? I heard you are a prolific Buddhist writer
Rule #1: When in doubt, call the cops immediately –
‘Hi, there is what could be a fake monk/nun standing at ___ (or ‘moving from ___ to ___ ) S/he is soliciting money. Please send police in plain clothes to check immediately, because from experience, s/he might have informers in the area. I’ll be keeping tabs on his/her movements. You can call me back at this number for updates. Thank you.’
It is better to assume the monastic is fake than not, because it prevents the person from doing more wrong if s/he is fake, while it will not be a problem at all if the monastic is real.
Hi A1, the chanting might be genuine but many Asians know how to chant. If food is given in packet form, fake monastics are likely to take it, so as to look real. Try putting food directly in the bowl – on the money! The bowl IS for food anyway. If he wants food, he should just take food and leave. Giving food will feed their ”occupation’, just like giving money. I don’t think he needed more food; just wanted more money. Arresting fake monastics is compassion in action – to force them to stop cheating and to break free from syndicates and creating of hellish negative karma from impersonating monastics.
From past interaction, I’m also disappointed with the relevant Buddhist ‘authority’s’ almost zero (apparent) action. Have heard of real monastics let a fake monastic get away too. It’s amazing how real monastics might not fight timely enough for the integrity of their vocation. Calling the cops is best – they can monitor hotspots more professionally. An email to the relevant org above (later) will do too – but I don’t know if anything will be done with the info.
Hi mini et al, If nothing goes wrong, I’ll be asking someone to submit an article on the issue to Nanyang Buddhist (SBF’s quarterly mag) for publication (for Jan 2010 issue). Will be writing a letter to the press too. Your comments here will help to shape both articles!
When both or either get published, would like to ask for assistance from readers here to help circulate the summarised info (probably made into downloadable/printable flyers/posters later) for hotspot shopowners and/or passers-by. Maybe we can have an outing to distribute them!
By the way, shopowners should not just chase fake monastics away or threaten to call the cops – they should really call the cops – secretly. Chasing them away too abruptly actually makes them harder to catch. Unless all shopowners chase them away at around the same time, they will simply move to other spots. Arresting them helps to ensure remorse better. We wouldn’t want them to dream up of new cheating methods
Hi everyone, please do go ahead to write emails and letters to the press, police and any other relevant organisations on the issue. The more feedback, the better! If not, it would seem like just one ot two people ranting away. Do consider sharing your write-ups here too! Thanks! Amituofo
Hi Menghaw… yup, maybe DIA can do something too
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Margaret
Hi Margaret, thank you for finding moonpointer interesting. Hope you keep coming :-]
The follow-up of Operation Bogus Bust can be seen at
http://moonpointer.com/new/2010/02/operation-bogus-bust-part-2 Amituofo