Fake monks in Mekong Delta

Fake monks demanding money is very common in the southwestern region. Below is a photo story about a group of fake monks in Can Tho City.

In a boarding house near the old bus station in Long Xuyen City, An Giang province, there is a group of people who shave their heads and wear clothes like Buddhist monks. In the morning, they take a bus to Can Tho City and then go to markets to beg for money. Two fake nuns are named Ha and Nam.   The two fake nuns and a fake monk in the market.  At noon, this fake monk enters a toilet to take slippers on.    He then takes a motorcycle taxi to National Highway 1A to catch a bus to An Giang. Along the way, he smokes cigarettes.   The fake monk buys rice to eat on the bus.   On the same bus are fake nuns Ha and Nam. They count money after a morning of begging for money.   Ha puts change in her bag.   A day later at another market, reporters discover Nam begging for money, without Ha. Nearby is another fake monk who collects a lot of money. According to Venerable Thich Binh Tam, Vice Chair of the Can Tho Buddhist Sangha, all monks and nuns must be allowed by the shangha to beg for food only. Those who beg for money are fake monks and nuns.