The local police of District 6 fined several beggars who were holding rag dolls and asking for money for powdered milk. Representatives of the institution say that this phenomenon began at the beginning of the year, and warn the residents of Bucharest not to deceive themselves.

Beggars with dolls Photo: City Hall, sector 6

“At the beginning of the year, a strange phenomenon began to gain momentum on the streets of the capital: women with babies in their arms beg at traffic lights for a penny for powdered milk.” Carefully! Do not deceive yourself! In the hands of beggars are not children, but rag dolls. The local police of District 6 actually caught several impostors and fined them,” the District 6 City Hall reported.

Only on Thursday, the local police discovered 4 such cases.

  • “On Thursday, January 5, at the intersection of Cotroceni and Piața Leu, such a woman called drivers for mercy. This incident was reported to the local police department 6, located in the area. In this way, he discovered that the woman was not holding a real child, but a “doll” made of rags, stuffed into a child’s overalls.
  • She is not alone, and not for the first time. On Thursday, three beggars were caught with dolls in clothes in different areas of Sector 6. Another one was also caught last week. It seems that this is a real beggar network with puppets, because some of the people caught in the crime appear with the same last name and were fined for the same act last year.
  • Today, January 6, another woman with a doll in her arms called for the mercy of drivers at the Șos intersection. Great news from Independence Splatter. She was not alone, in the same district 4 people were fined for begging,” the mayor’s office also said.

Each was fined 200 lei. The police are warning the residents of Bucharest not to fall into a trap. “It breaks your heart when you see a woman with a child in her arms, sitting for hours on the street, in the cold, asking for help. Many, mercifully, immediately open their wallets,” the message reads.

According to representatives of the institution, beggars are young people who can work and refuse the support of the General Directorate of Social Assistance and Protection of Children (DGASPC).

In total, during 2022, local police officers in sector 6 applied 291 sanctions for begging, amounting to 45,450 lei. According to the republished law 61/1991, repeated appeals to public charity are punishable by a fine of 100 to 500 lei.