Dozens of complaints to the authorities about beggars lurking at traffic lights, supermarkets, outside churches and other crowded places in all provinces in order to beg.
The phenomenon is at its peak these days in view of the Christmas holidays[/B] with the fraudsters appealing to the sentiment of citizens in order to secure money through various tricks. They usually invoke health problems and extort money from unsuspecting citizens.
In several cases they "recruit" illegally underage children in order to achieve their goal. Both begging and the exploitation of persons for this purpose are criminal offences. As established by the authorities, these are circuits operating in various provinces with the aim of extorting money from citizens and are not people in real financial need.
Speaking to the Cyprus Times, police spokesman Christos Andreou notes that there is an upsurge in the phenomenon and the police have already intensified checks to identify these persons. He added at the same time that there are several cases being investigated and urged citizens not to give money to beggars since this is illegal.
The public is invited when they spot cases of begging or if they become aware of any suspicious activity, which seems to be related to these cases and especially when minors are involved, to inform the nearest Police Station, or the citizen's hotline at 1460.
According to the legislation, any fundraiser can only be conducted after obtaining permission from the Ministry of Interior, and/or the Provincial Administration, and the competent authority issues a certificate of authorization to the persons conducting the fundraiser.
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