A little African boy with seemingly amputated arms cried as he lay on his back near the Grand Mosque in Saudi Arabia to win the worshippers’ sympathy and their money.

The trick did work as scores of passers-by appeared to have felt sorry for the child as they handed him money, apparently unaware of his relatives who had dumped him in the square and stood at a distance watching the windfall pouring on the boy. But such a trick did not work with one pilgrim, who bent down and exposed the fraudsters.

A brief film carried by Ajel newspaper showed the man, with a mask on his mouth apparently to avoid any infection in Makkah, lifted the boy up and took off clothes wrapped around his upper body to reveal two concealed healthy arms.

Once exposed, his relatives rushed forward and snatched the boy off the pilgrim before fleeing the place as the other pilgrims stared in disbelief.

“This pilgrim exposed the tricks and deception practiced by the beggars, mainly the Africans, who will go as far as possible to get money from the people,” the paper said.