{"id":3556,"date":"2009-09-01T19:30:34","date_gmt":"2009-09-01T11:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/?p=3556"},"modified":"2010-02-26T01:13:02","modified_gmt":"2010-02-25T17:13:02","slug":"bust-the-bogus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/2009\/09\/bust-the-bogus\/","title":{"rendered":"Operation Bogus Bust (Part 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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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\u00a0call\u00a0the cops at 999, to request the police to come in plain clothes. <\/span>Why?\u00a0Well, I called the cops to arrest\u00a0two bogus ‘monks’ standing outside Waterloo Street’s Guanyintang temple with begging bowls. But they\u00a0had informers, who alerted them of the approach of\u00a0obviously uniformed cops – some 100 metres away. (It was\u00a0comical to see them pull up their robes and flee though.) It’s easy –\u00a0just 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\u00a0make any statement too.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0were stationary, which made them easier to apprehend. Nowadays, mobile \u2018nuns\u2019 are more popularly used instead \u2013 which makes\u00a0immediate reports to the cops even more crucial. The general direction the bogus\u00a0monastics are walking to should be informed too. <\/span>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.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0were\u00a0promised work earlier. Free these conned \u2018workers\u2019 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,\u00a0not once did I detect any remorse while\u00a0they fled.\u00a0The syndicates might force them to continue their \u2018jobs\u2019 despite their fear. Scaring them away might only urge them to increase their vigilance, making them harder to track. They might\u00a0be abused when they turn in empty bowls too? Arresting them in any case is for their own good<\/span> \u2013 especially if they are perfectly willing ongoing partners in crime.<\/p>\n

With some \u2018experience\u2019 from spy games, I am likely to secretly call the cops when I next spot bogus monastics, before\u00a0shadowing them as far as I can, telling the cops to call me for their latest location. But that\u2019s just the adventurous me \u2013 not recommended for all.\u00a0If there are more friends, there might be safety in numbers, but\u00a0shadowing might be more conspicuous! But it is good to play safe! Maybe there\u2019s a ‘simpler’ solution –\u00a0organise big and burly Buddhists in pairs to \u2018patrol\u2019 the usual haunts of fake monastics \u2013 to\u00a0detain them on the spot\u00a0once they appear\u00a0– till cops come!<\/span> They can then be interrogated\u00a0to 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!<\/p>\n

Real (Food-collecting) Monastics\u00a0\/ Bogus (Money-collecting) Ones<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Stand outside food centres \/ Walk from table to table
\n2. Wait for food donor to approach \/ Approach patrons and reject unpacked food
\n3. Alms bowl covered\u00a0till food comes \/\u00a0Bowl always open for money
\n4. Do not carry pendants or\u00a0strings\u00a0 for \u2019sale\u2019 \/ Exchange them\u00a0for money
\n5. Nuns wear no make-up or ornaments\u00a0\/ Some\u00a0don them
\n6. Collect food between dawn and noon \/ Collect money at any hour
\n7. Approach households for food \/ Approach for money
\n8. Fearless when police mentioned \/ Fearful when so<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Related Article:<\/strong>
\nOperation Bogus Bust (Part 2): The Follow-up
\nhttps:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/2010\/02\/operation-bogus-bust-part-2<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What if you see bogus monastics on the streets of Singapore asking for money – pretending they need funds for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[268],"tags":[436,73,83],"class_list":["post-3556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-happenings","tag-lying","tag-monastics","tag-stealing","wpcat-268-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3556\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}