America is being hit by yet another sinister epidemic: People pretending to play the violin. (???) It's like busking, but they're FAKING IT . . . one report calls it "finger-syncing," as a play on lip-syncing.
Depending on where you are, it's not illegal to perform in public for tips, and it's not illegal to mime playing an instrument. There's also nothing dangerous about it, and no one is FORCING anyone to toss them some spare change.
This is also not new . . . if you Google or search for things like "pretending to play violin," reports and videos from years ago pop up.
But some law enforcement sources claim these scammers could be part of some kind of traveling, organized group that's hustling people out of their hard-earned money.
One local news station found one of these "finger-syncers" outside a Target in Michigan. He had a sign that said he was a father of three, and needed money for food and rent . . . and when the reporter exposed him as a fraud, he claimed he couldn't speak English and packed up and left.
(Here's one officer from Florida talking about it a few months back. And here's another report from the Washington, D.C. area.)