A CRACKDOWN on begging in Perth is being planned amid fears a syndicated cartel of professional beggars is operating on the city’s streets.

Perth Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi said there was strong anecdotal evidence some “professional beggars” were potentially earning hundreds of dollars a day.

It’s thought some are part of an organised “cartel” working together to profit from the generosity of workers and visitors in the CBD.

WA Police said it had received complaints some beggars were becoming more forceful and aggressive towards people they approach for money.

City of Perth officers are working on a potential bylaw to give rangers and police more power to deal with beggars.

“There is a suggestion there is a group of people making a living out of it, commuting into the city like every other worker does, for the purpose of begging,” Ms Scaffidi said.

“They live in a home and they are using the collections from their begging to pay their way in life. It’s pretty shocking.”

She said there was no short-term fix and called on the public to stop giving money to beggars, saying there were services to provide food and shelter to the genuinely homeless.

“As harsh as it sounds, people walking past beggars have their heartstrings pulled thinking ‘there but for the grace of God could go anyone one of us’,” she told The Sunday Times.

“But the reality is that it’s so easy to put 50c or a dollar in the cap and if that person is potentially a professional beggar you are just helping them pay for their rent.”

Perth councillor James Limnios said the number of beggars had risen dramatically over the past three years and there were now “five on every street”.

“I believe that there could be some genuine cases, but I also believe there are more non-genuine cases. I have been led to believe by certain people that this is actually a bit of an organised scenario,” he said.

Inspector Craig Parkin said residents, businesses and visitors to the CBD had raised concerns about anti-social behaviour linked to begging and confirmed there was anecdotal evidence some were “professional beggars”.

“Recent complaints suggest some beggars are becoming more forceful and aggressive towards people they are approaching for money. WA Police is working closely with the City of Perth to identify solutions to this issue,” he said.

Salvation Army spokesman Warren Palmer said evidence indicates the rise in begging was linked to the growing number of people falling into poverty.

Mr Palmer said the charity was investigating the underlying causes of begging in Perth and that legal action should not be the first response.

“While we acknowledge that begging can be very confronting, we need to be careful that in our response to address this, we do not inflict further humiliation on genuine people in need and have to then deal with legal issues such as fines,” he said.