'Fake beggars' seek fortune in metro

"Professionals" account for 80 percent of beggars in the subway in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, and many have a monthly income of more than 10,000 yuan ($1,630), the Modern Express reported on Monday.

The per capita disposable income of urban residents in the city in 2012 was 36,700 yuan, according to official statistics.

Of the 10,200 cases involving begging that the subway authority handled since 2009, 80 percent were not from impoverished families and had they had the ability to work.

These beggars, the paper said, work eight hours a day like regular commuters and their daily income is around 400 yuan. Some veterans receive 1,000 yuan per day.

One beggar, pretending to be disabled, had an expensive mobile phone, a passport and an exit-entry permit to Hong Kong and Macao, said Li Bin, a worker at the management company of Nanjing metro.