Beware, monk scam artists

Hmmm, This thing is happening everywhere, There were people here in Sydney not to long ago doing the same thing before there was a write up in the news about it
They were walking around giving out plastic charms and people would give money, Monks will not ask for money nor will they where Nike shoes whilst walking around asking for donations, Either way not sure about in Japan but in Australia they were not committing any crimes as they were not saying they were actually from a charity nor were they asking for cash.

This is very interested, been to japan twice, but haven't come across any of these, may be I look japanese.

Whiles we're on this subject, if a real monk is approached, how much do people really donate, and how much do they expect to receive.

My friend and I had just got out of akihaba station when one of these "monks" came up to us. He handed us the gold charms and kept sayin lucky. He then asked us to write our names in his book. We obliged. As we were signing he put the brackets on our wrists while saying lucky some more. Then he asked for money. My friend gave \1000. The "monk" became agitated and kept asking for \10000. That's when I decided it was a big scam and got angry demanding my friends money back. After a bit of arguing, we have back the brackets and charms and he gave back the money. A little foolish on our part.

@kms899
if a real monk is approached, how much do people really donate, and how much do they expect to receive.

As the above said, you can look real monks doing "takuhatsu" like these pictures.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/Ueno_monk.jpg
http://s1353.photobucket.com/user/SeikoKo13/media/Kyoto%20City/IMG_1171_zps2cda7332.jpg.html?sort=3&o=48 (by SeikoSKO)
But they never approach us, only chant without moving.
It's their religious austerities in Buddhism.
If you want, you can put money (a 1000yen note?) his bowl, but he never talk to you anyway.

Best bit of advice I ever read (can't remember where) - real monks stand still, fake ones walk about. I saw one fake in Japan wandering around with his little trinkets, specifically targeting foreigners. I just waved him away when he approached me and he didn't bug me though. I did give some coins to a real one in Osaka - I saw a number of locals giving him a few coins too - and got a "thank you" in heavily accented English.

I encountered one outside Shinjuku station a last year. He also handed out a plastic trinket of some kind and blessed me with eternal peace. This was before my visit to Koyasan so I didn't know any better at the time.

He invited me to sign his book and I took immediate notice of all the names being that of English foreigners as well as absurd amounts of donation money such as 50,000 yen. I put my name in and gave him 300 yen. He looked very dismayed and tried to guilt trip my by saying he had given me eternal peace and 'does eternal peace mean this little to you?'. Obviously by now I'd worked out what was going on but rather than cause a fuss I just told him I wasn't giving him anymore and walked away.

I was a little annoyed for a time afterwards as I can usually spot these guys a mile away, but this one took me unprepared. I did see some policemen a couple of hundred meters down the road but I decided to pass. Although I probably could of got the jist of what I wanted to say over to them but my Japanese isn't that good and didn't want to spend my time in a Koban giving a statement or anything, as I didn't know how the policing system works in Japan.

I live in Japan for several years now.

Once a guy stole my map out of my hand and he run to the searched store on the map and wanted 300 Yen for it. I said I am poor, too. He gave up.

Once a couple approached me in Kamakura with this gold things, I said no... They left.

Yesterday a chinese girl gave me a Card writting in Japanese with a message like "I am sick please give me money..." in Shinjuku Station.
This was happend to me in France and Germany, too.

They are everywhere... ;)

Wooooooow!!!!
It seems many have grown tunnel vision and forget not everyone is honest or honorable. I have seen one constant. Those honestly looking for donations just stand behind their name and acknowledge those that donate with thanks. Those that seek out donations are preying on the weak. Some of you should be asking, Why would anyone need to know my personal info or record my donation in a log book? Really? It is for income tax purposes?

Ran into one of these clowns today in Akihabara. Literally charged at me, smiling, shoved the cheap plastic card in my hand, yelled "PEACE," got in WAY too close and bowed, like he wanted me to pat his head or something. Something was off from the start, and as soon as I saw the notepad with a 20,000 yen donation from "Yuan" I was done. I got harassed relentlessly by touts in Hong Kong earlier in the week so I wasn't in the mood. Funny how quickly these "peaceful" monks become agitated and hostile when you tell them you don't want to give them any money. He scowled and cursed, grabbed the cheap plastic card out of my hand and stormed off. Very zen indeed.

My only negative interaction in Japan, other than dealing with customs. Would definitely be a good idea to have a warning about these charlatans up somewhere on the site.

Donbar wrote: "I was a little annoyed for a time afterwards as I can usually spot these guys a mile away, but this one took me unprepared."

This is the point. The people who have given them money, 1000 or 2500 yen or something, are not stupid or naive, they were just caught off-guard. Scam artists and other predators are good at spotting those who are not prepared for such an encounter.

And this is because it's impossible to have your guard up 24h a day, being prepared to defend yourself against either a physical or a social form of attack. All the blame is on the scammers.

I wonder, what would the police actually do if someone complained about the behaviour of these fake monks. I haven't met these scammers and I cannot speak enough Japanese to explain the situation, but it would be interesting to see how the police would react.

I wouldn't shed a tear if someone pushed an aggressive, loud, obnoxious, threatening, in-your-face type of low-life away from him. If somebody shoves worthless junk into your hand and starts demanding money, it's not so much different from an attemped robbery IMHO.

I'm actually glad there are people whose reaction do a danger is something unlike a deer in headlights. I wish I was one of them.

I have seen these guys in NYC too actually.

When I was 12, one of them approached me in the same way asking for money and my signature with a plastic coin thing.

I got scared and ran away, and he yelled at me!

No one has ever had a similar experience that I've spoken to, so I'm glad this has happened to others!

When I was in Japan in 2012 with my partner we had this happen to us.

We were prepared to give him a 100yen coin, but when he started demanding more we refused, he insisted and at that time some police on bicycles rode over to us and he bolted.

They didn't chase after him but did tell us to "use caution".

I was approached by one of these guys in Akihabara last year also, it was clear to me it was a scam after he started putting the bracelet on my hand so I refused him after that. Incidentally I was in New York City recently as well and saw the same exact thing happening, so it's not even just in Japan that it is happening.

It seems that these guys are still going..

Last month while I was in Akihabara I had a 'monk' come up to me with a massive smile on his face as he put some beads and a gold card into my hand.. Next thing I know he took out a notebook and asked for money. I just handed them back to him and walked off. Though I saw the same guy in Akiba again 2 days later, the idiot tried pulling the same stunt as he approached me smiling but quickly walked off when I told him to F*** off.

I'm surprised this is still going on though. Because apparently its been going on for some time and I just wonder why the police haven't done anything about it so far?

they're everywhere!

New York - http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/06/nyregion/panhandlers-dressed-as-monk...

Victoria - http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-09/victorians-warned-against-donati...

San Francisco - http://blog.sfgate.com/stew/2015/02/25/fake-monks-are-using-the-bracel...

This happened to my partner & I today in Ueno park. After hurriedly going through prayers for peace and handing us a gold Kai Huang amulet he presented us with a book.
Not wanting to be disrespectful & feeling startled and confused, with him pointing at 5000 yen and repeatedly saying "same same", we both ended up handing over 5000 yen.
I guess it could've been worse but I walked away feeling completely stupid as I thought about how out of the ordinary it seemed and also found the asking to be different to my understanding of some Buddhist sects.
Anyway to all those travelling just be aware that this still happens & based on a few sites I've come accross after the encounter, it seems to be a scam.

@FeelingStupid

This is a very common scam that has been going on for some time now. They will target tourists (especially Westerners) and hand you 'gifts' before asking for a donation. This is something that a authentic Buddhist monk would not do!
I don't know how much longer you are in Japan for, but in the future if you see another one just shake your head and walk away from them. Because chances are you might see another fake monk as they like to target tourists in popular areas like Ueno Park and Akihabara.

Too bad i just saw this post. If there are more posts like this other tourists will be careful. I hope that japan tourist board can do something about it. My partner was scammed yesterday at Sensoji temple. He said he was hypnotized coz he was not aware he gave 10000 yen. He only knew about it when some police chase the guy. After that he tried to talk to the police and temple security but they dont want to help nor react. They knew its a scam so at least put some notice in the parks and temple.

Your friend is an idiot if he was "hypnotized."

Exactly same thing happened to me twice whilst in Japan. It was the only bad experience i had there.