We caught fake Buddhist monks in Belgrade red-handed: They approach women and always ask the same

Foto: Telegraf

Fake Buddhist monks have been roaming Belgrade for years, cheating people out of their money by selling them "sacred bracelets."

They did not bypass the Serbian capital this summer, either - and they approached our reporter in a coffee house in the Obilicev Venac area in downtown Belgrade.

I was sitting in a cafe, waiting for a friend to join me. In my peripheral vision, I saw an orange-colored robe and a man of Asian descent. Before me, the target was a lady at the table next. She just aved her hand at his attempt to grab it: showing him to go away immediately - which the swindler did.

Photo: Telegraf

As I was sitting alone, I was up next.

He approached me and tried to grab my arm, just like the woman before me. He wanted to carry out his rite over my hand and end it by putting on a bracelet that I would have to pay several hundred dinars for.

Photo by a Telegraf reader

I pulled the my hand out of his, shook my head and indicated with my finger (as a no-no) that I didn't want to buy anything. He started to suggest something to me, by gesticulating, because he obviously didn't speak either Serbian or English. Or perhaps he was pretending not to.

The waiter then asked him to leave the cafe's garden, but the fake Buddhist monk saw a new victim just a few steps away. He approached a girl who was walking towards him and bowed to her. I don't know why, but he seemed to be stopping and trying to trick only women.

He soon proved me wrong, however, as it was the turn of a man, who looked like a foreigner, a tourist. He laughed kindly and thanked the "monk," putting something in his hand, without the rite being performed and without taking the rosary. He probably thought the "monk" was begging.

Photo: Telegraf

So one of us, after all, got tricked by the fake monk - but you shouldn't.

BUDDHISTS PROHIBIT SUCH CONDUCT

"The Buddhist doctrine prohibits such behavior. These people have nothing to do with Buddhism, they have to do with fraud. Buddhist monks, according to their rules, cannot stop people, especially to ask for money - it's just that our people don't know that, so they get duped," Brano Kovacevic, the president of the Buddhist society "Middle Way," explained earlier.

Some people still stop and open their wallets in front of these "monks" - but most react aggressively: by pushing them away and cursing.

A surefire way to tell real from fake monks is said to be what they ask for: if a man in monastic garb asks for money rather than food, then he's a fraud.

Have you also run into these people in Belgrade? Let us know in the comments.

(S. Cenad - s.cenad@telegraf.rs)