A teenaged fraud was on Friday caught seeking alms from passers-by for the treatment of a five-year-old child with him, who he claimed was suffering from cancer.

Sheikh Manowar, 18, collected Rs 350 in just two hours and would have made more had a police sergeant not called his bluff and had him arrested.

Seeing the bandage around Sheikh Afroze’s head, Saibal Banerjee of the headquarters traffic guard walked up to the duo at the CR Avenue-Prafulla Sarkar Street crossing. “I wanted to take the child to hospital if he really needed treatment,” Banerjee said.

Replying to the officer’s query, Manowar said Afroze had cancer and a head injury. “He produced a photocopy of a prescription that was issued by Chittaranjan Seva Sadan to a woman named Kajal Khatoon,” Banerjee said.

On being quizzed again about the nature of Afroze’s illness, Manowar said the child was suffering from thalassaemia. The cop took the duo to a clinic where doctors certified that the child was okay. “The bandage was removed and there was not even a scratch on the head.”