A woman was arrested and fined a few days ago in Ho Chi Minh City after she pretended to collapse with some foodstuff she was carrying to prey on the kindness of passers-by and extract money from them.

Street vendor Dang Thi Ky (R) pretends to collapse with some foodstuff she was carrying to prey on the kindness of passers-by on Saigon bridge on Sunday, Photo: Tuoi Tre

Tuoi Tre was reported of the case and secretly witnessed the scene with police from start to finish last Sunday morning on Saigon bridge.

Dang Thi Ky, 57, from the central province of Quang Ngai – as Tuoi Tre discovered later at the police station -- intentionally overturned her large vessel full of tofu soup and began to sob while pretending to scoop up the food from the street.

Within an hour dozens of people had stopped by and given her VND700,000 (US$33), clearly much more than the value of the food.

Each passer-by gave her at least VND20,000, some even VND50,000 and VND100,000.

After an hour of “crying,” she packed up her things and went to sit under a tree in the park at an end of the bridge. There she smoked and counted the money she got.

Then she took on a xe om (motorbike taxi) to head off to Bui Dinh Tuy street in Binh Thanh District.

Officers said she usually does her act from 10:30 am to noon in places like Thi Nghe bridge where traffic is heavy.

Vo Van Trai, chief of police of Binh Thanh District’s Ward 22, said she would be fined at least VND2 million ($95) for cheating.

It is becoming increasingly common to see people cheating others by pretending to be seriously sick while lying on sidewalks along busy streets or near hospitals, he added.

Source: Tuoi Tre