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A British tourist who wanted to take selfies with some colorful characters ended up uncovering one of the biggest scams in New York City.
Husnain Asif was walking in Times Square when he decided to make a TikTok video of himself with the Disney and Sesame Street characters who visit the area.
When Asif said 'thank you' and walked away, all the characters who thought he had taken a photo ran after him, asking him to pay them or delete the photo.
“Mickey Mouse is after me – don't fall for the scammers,” Asiff shouted.
Asif's video has been viewed more than two million times on TikTok since it was posted on Wednesday, with users calling the characters in Times Square “cruel.”
British tourist Husnain Asif revealed the biggest scam in a TikTok video: characters in Times Square jumping in photos
Asif was surrounded by a wide variety of characters, but most of the fight took place between him and a woman dressed as Minnie Mouse wearing a pink outfit.
Costumed characters like Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and the Grinch have been in Times Square for years, running toward tourists taking photos.
Their presence even led to city officials passing a law banning costumed characters and other scammers from hanging out near designated areas to solicit tourists.
The characters who can take a tourist photo ask for money immediately after taking the photo, charging people $10 to $50 per person.
They didn't specify how much money they wanted from Asif, but the characters weren't happy to see him walk away after he refused to pay.
Besides Minnie Mouse, other characters chased him, including Elmo, Mickey Mouse and eventually the Grinch
A woman dressed as Minnie Mouse in a pink dress shouted “remove it” twice before a Mickey Mouse character dressed in a holiday outfit walked faster to catch up with Asif.
Minnie Mouse finally lifted her skirt when Asif mentioned her grandma and he said, “That's not really Disney.”
A man dressed as the Grinch became irritated with the tourist when he told other visitors to Times Square that they could “walk away” and not pay the characters.
Another woman, dressed as Elsa from the movie Frozen, started shouting for Asif to be home if he had no money, leading to the British tourist telling her to go home and “stop asking for money.”
Asif eventually struck up a good rapport with them and even included Elmo, Elsa and two Minnie Mouse characters in a cheerful moment in his video.
The characters were unhappy that they walked away with no money after Asif repeatedly said he had no money to give
He started telling other tourists that they could “walk away” and not pay the characters like he did. Other Times Square characters also ended up fighting him, one of which wasn't even in his video
TikTokers responded with their own stories of their clashes with Times Square characters.
One user wrote: 'I didn't know you had to pay them and Liberty's status haunted me. I had to hide in toys, it still traumatizes me to this day.”
Asif was able to get Elsa, Elmo, Mickey Mouse and two Minnie Mouse characters to join him at the end of his TikTok video
“I remember this happening to me but it was the grinch and two days later he zoomed by in a sickly glowing car with 5 other grinchs lmao,” another user wrote.
Another TikToker who came across a different Times Square character commented, “This one dressed as Batman came up to us to pressure us about taking the photos down, lol it was kinda creepy.”