Acting Inspector Giovanni Travaglini said money exchange receipts had been uncovered showing Australian dollars were converted to Chinese yuan. He said about $1000 in cash was recovered when police swooped on the alleged ring in the CBD on Monday and Tuesday. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video "We had up to say $600 with certain individuals, others had as little as $48," Mr Travaglini said. "But as I said, who knows how they're operating? They could be going to foreign exchanges and changing money through the day." He said the six Chinese nationals had been in Australia for at least three weeks, some longer, and it was believed all had access to the same CBD accommodation.

But a report by Chinese-language media outfit Melbourne Today suggested similar behaviour by beggars had been witnessed in Melbourne since last year. Melbourne Today reporter Fred Zhang told The Age he saw a Chinese beggar woman two weeks ago who he believed to had posed as a Buddhist nun on Swanston Street in 2018, selling trinkets for money. Mr Zhang said he remembered her because the first time he saw her she was wearing a hat made only for Buddhist nuns. The same hat caught his eye again a year later, when he saw it on a woman bowing and begging for money on the corner of Queen and Collins Street. "Her hat and face are identical to me", he told The Age. When he confronted the woman about it, she vigorously denied the accusation. He also recalled coming across two old Chinese beggar women with suspiciously similar stories just streets away from each other in May.

Mr Travaglini could not say if it was the work of international gangs, but said the matter had been referred to the Australian Federal Police. “This is the first time in all the years I’ve been policing the Melbourne CBD that I’ve ever come across anything like it," Mr Travaglini said. The seven people arrested are expected to be charged with beg alms and possessing property believed to be the proceeds of crime. Major Brendan Nottle from the Salvation Army said his staff first became suspicious about two weeks ago when police dropped off the first of two elderly and vulnerable Mandarin speakers unable to communicate in English.

Concerns increased when investigations revealed the cases had striking similarities. Authorities discovered the allegedly fake beggars had a cushion with the same type of fabric, the same calico bag and the same type of fabricated clothing. A number of the alleged professional beggars wore similar clothing with patches sewn on. "They're wearing clothing with patches fixed to outer garments," Mr Travaglini said. "And, it also appears, (with) deliberate worn out holes, almost stereotypical of what they might perceive a homeless person to be wearing, which I can tell you is not always the case." Major Nottle said he had never seen anything like it in his 17 years working with the Salvation Army in Melbourne.