With the arrival of summer comes the arrival of the fake monks to the North End.
As in previous years, these monks dressed as panhandlers, also known as the Fake Monk Mafia, ask tourists and other passersby for money, pretending to raise funds for religious causes. In these photos submitted by Joe Mendola, you can actually see two different fake monks crossing paths near Christopher Columbus Park.
Last year, the neighborhood council held a community chat regarding the fake monk situation. As a result, council members worked with local businesses to post notifications around the neighborhood to alert tourists of this scam, in hopes of driving out the monks in a peaceful manner.
Now, it seems they have returned to deceive a new crop of summer tourists.
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Wouldn’t it be possible to contact local religious group that these guys are imitating? Seems to me they would have a vested interest in coming down to confront these fake monks.
What are they going to do rough up the fake monks?
I think I saw one at the Comm Ave Mall walked right by me I could be wrong she looked like one of them in the pictures
I need to get a picture of a fake monk giving me the finger.
I’m very curious how we know that these are in fact fake monks. I’ve never heard anything concrete or specific about how they’ve been proven fake. I’d love to hear if there are articles describing this that I haven’t seen. Thanks!