Christmas is coming and although for many hardworking Brits that means a trip to Oxford Street to buy presents for their family, Romanian criminals have had a different thought.
The Christmas lights will be switched on for Oxford Street on November 5 and shoppers are expected to spend a whopping £1.7billion in central London in the next two months, the New West End Company forecasted.
Yet as millions of tourists flock to the capital, Romanian ‘Fagin’ gangs are already gearing up to make more than £1,000 a day in loose change by using a network of organised beggars ‘pretending’ to be homeless.
A investigation found a dozen beggars using similar signs with the same handwriting at some of London’s top tourist hotspots – including Oxford Street, Regent Street, Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus and Green Park by The Ritz.
Security guards and safety officers whose job it is to protect the public from cunning crooks told these beggars were mostly Romanians who were part of a gang that tours Europe and comes to London in three-month stints to rake in cash from unsuspecting do-gooders.
One beggar, who was not surrounded by any possessions or sleeping paraphernalia that might suggest actually being homeless, told she had only been in Britain for four days and didn’t plan on staying for long.
The authorities believe Romanian gang bosses control the beggars just as Fagin did in Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist, ordering them where to sit and how to beg as well as giving them signs and cups to complete their vagabond appearance while in the country.
A Community Safety Officer from the Heart of London Business Alliance told : ‘It’s all gang related. They all get a sign and a cup. Always the same writing. They all get told where to sit.
‘If you move them on, they’ll go back to the same spot, whereas if you moved on a rough sleeper they would move somewhere else.
‘They normally sit outside businesses. We constantly move them on when we see them.’
Another officer said: ‘They are a family who come from Romania. They work here for about three months and then they go to a different country.
‘They go in Europe to Italy, Spain, France. It’s a business.
‘At Christmas time it’s busy, moving more money, then they move to countries where it’s hotter and there’s more money.
‘People give them food and drinks but they’re not about that.
‘They just want money. No one is hanging around charity shops for food and drinks and clothes. These people are not after food or drink.
‘They don’t want to work. They want easy money.’
Each beggar can reportedly make more than £100 a day, meaning if they pool their earnings, gang bosses could make thousands every day.
A Metropolitan Police Community Support Officer (PSCO) accompanying the duo said the ‘big problem’ was that the money selfless Brits gave to the beggars was actually going to the Romanian gang bosses.
PSCO Moise told : ‘We believe there are awful men behind that tell them exactly where and when to be there and how to proceed.
‘They don’t know how to write. They have someone writing [the signs] for them. They are predominantly Romanians, in this area especially.’
In the build up to Christmas, London is set to see a flurry of begging gangs descend on the city to take advantage of festive goodwill.
It has even been claimed that the beggars are driven home in fancy cars at the end of their begging shift, although this is not something saw.
When some of the beggars saw our reporters, they started to hide their signs or move to a different spot.
Yet others carried on unabashed – some even flashing smartphones as they chatted to each other.
A female beggar in a blue hoodie and silver gilet told she had arrived from Romania four days ago, but wasn’t planning to stay long because she could make more money elsewhere.
She then said she didn’t understand English and didn’t answer when asked how she had written her sign if that was the case.
Although her sign had the same phrases and handwriting in black marker pen on cardboard as 11 other signs seen that day, she denied she was part of an organised group.
reporters saw her move locations during the day, begging for money as well as chatting to other beggars – one of whom was wearing a backpack that’s pattern was a sea of dollar bills.
Security guards in upmarket shops along Oxford and Regent Streets said it was well known that these Romanian beggars were part of a gang of miscreants.
A guard at the Apple Store on Regent Street said: ‘For sure they have someone who’s dropping them off. They have a boss. They look organised. Someone is taking the money later.’
A worry for businesses in the area is also whether tourists will be put off shopping because of the beggars.
A shoe seller at Dune said: ‘It’s the same group. They’re always coming together and they’ll sometimes be up at Marble Arch.
‘Usually they gather up there to chill. I see them with smartphones, not cheap ones, and they are on Facetime, shouting.
‘Sometimes we get big arguments – sometimes they’ll be arguing throughout the day, making a scene.’
Yet while these gangs rake in hundreds a day, people who are actually homeless and in need are left helpless.
Jason, 34, is an n engineer with two degrees who sleeps rough on Oxford Street.
He said he earned £100,000-a-year working for a motorsports company until he started getting seizures, had to leave his job and used all his money on treatment.
Source: The Clewer Initiative
His only relative back in died, and he was left penniless with no way home.
When he spoke to a homelessness charity for help, he said they told him there was little they could do as his visa didn’t allow him access to public funds.
Although immigrants are allowed access, since he has a valid work visa, his application for help has been denied.
And even when he turned to the streets, the Romanian gangs have a monopoly on the best spots for begging.
Jason said he went to charities for help but they told him one of the only ways he would get aid as a foreigner was if he was an immigrant.
He said: ‘I asked, ”What do I need to do for you to help me? What, do I need to go over to France and come back on a dinghy over the Channel?
‘The guy replied, ”Yeah, pretty much.”
‘I wanted to punch him in the face. They just won’t help you. It’s unfair. It’s terrible.’
Although he’s only been living on the streets for a year, he said he had seen how the Romanian gangs worked.
He said: ‘I was near Zimbabwe House [on the Strand] on Friday and [the gang of Romanians] all bundled into a BMW.
‘They’re taking advantage of the situation.
‘I think they’re on drugs or they get a small amount of what they earn but they are put in that position where there is nothing else to grab onto and they take it.
‘And because they’re vulnerable, they do get taken advantage of and they are willing to do it.’
The Metropolitan Police said: ‘Police officers regularly patrol areas know for begging.
‘Our response can include enforcement against those begging aggressively and persistently but we aim to balance this with outreach work for those who genuinely need help and support.’
A spokesman for the Mayor of London said: ‘Nothing is more important to the Mayor than keeping Londoners safe and he is investing record amounts to support the Met Police, ensuring an extra 1,300 police officers on London’s streets to deal with community issues and concerns.
‘The Mayor is clear that officers should have the appropriate tools and resources to tackle aggressive begging and antisocial behaviour, but also to identify and protect vulnerable victims whilst going after the gangs who exploit them into modern slavery.’