To be annoyed by scam big issue sellers, and those behind this set up?

[Creambun2]

In my area of London a cohort of women sell the big issue, always outside waitrose stores. They rotate around different stores in the area on different days, so seller A will be at one store on Monday then move another on Tuesday to be replaced by B etc.

Several times I have seen these women using very recent iphones (and trying to be discrete about it) and I saw one last week being picked up by a man in a very new luxury car.

I think the big issue should be more aware of situations like this and try and prevent it? Aside from anything else I'm sure these women may be being exploited themselves.

So why don't the big issue care about this?

I also donate 'old' iphones to homeless charities without asking:

A. Who/or what nationality is going to use
B. Where is it going to be used
C. How is it going to be used

Are they selling big issue?

Then these are questions that need addressed -

1. How do you know the rotation of the sellers?
2. Time period of observation?
3. Evidence of nationality?

If you feel the big issue selling is being mis-used that is dreadful as it was intended to support homeless to gain self - esteem and earnings.

Would you consider contacting the big issue with your observations?

In the past in my home town the sellers were all British males in their 30s, my dad in particular built a relationship up with several and was a regular buyer.
Now they are all Eastern European now (mostly female). The ones I see getting on buses to villages (between 4-8) each day are ALL Eastern Europeans. Their general behaviour towards females on the bus is not pleasant.
It might be a generalisation but literally it’s all I have seen for the last 2 years.

There's a difference between Romanians and Roma Gypsies . Just sayin'...

I suspect they are all Eastern European (Romanian gypsies) because now to stay in UK you need a job for the initial few months, before you can claim benefits. These people exchange information on immigration forums and get help and advice from the community that is already settled in UK. They arrive as a family, the woman starts working as a big issue seller, the whole family gets the right to stay (family permit), while the male partakes in illegal activities, like stealing metal for scrap, drugs, etc etc. After a few months they start claiming benefits and often get council accomodation due to overcrowding.

They do it as a way to get benefits. They can claim they are self-employed and this gives them access to housing benefit, tax credits, child benefit etc even though most of them probably sell hardly any issues so not genuinely self employed and it is a big scam - none of them are actually homeless. Unfortunately they have taken the place of many genuine sellers. I don't touch the Big Issue these days.

So sad, it was such a good idea in the first place.

I agree with previous posters, it is seeing the one seller we have in our town do it for so many years that first made me doubt the model. Then I read on here about the issue with scams. And please, is there not a middle ground between ‘turn a blind eye to the facts virtue signalling’ and ‘you couldn’t possibly understand poverty’. Healthy scepticism and oversight go a long way to avoid the vulnerable being exploited or harmed.

From the Big Issue website it is clear that they are aware of the issue, but judging by their comments they dont care at all about Roma gangs using it to get access to benefits:

www.bigissue.org.uk/news/2014/october/6/setting-record-straight

often get council accomodation

Do they fuck. There's no housing...

RebelRouge, maybe not on London, but I translated for a family in the North and helped them to fill the paperwork. They were found an accomodation within weeks, it was 2-3 years ago.

@Notapushymum1 just out of curiosity...
Did they get priority? (i see this banded over and over again)
How were they as people?(you might not know if you weren't involved past the translation papers)
Did someone else have to go without due to them getting that house?

Rebel, it was a woman with a boyfriend, teenage son, twin daughters and a baby. They rented a room and the woman pretended to be a single mum. Then they went crying to council crocodilebtears about being all in one room. They got accomodation pretty quickly, not sure about priority, or how it works - I only translated and helped with the paperwork. But they texted me later to tell me they got a house.

*crocodile tears

How come you were able to translate? Damn I'm being really nosey sorry.

rebelrogue world's most pointless question? Translators are able to translate as they are able to speak and work with that language?

Rebel, because I speak their language.

many, if not most, rough sleepers have mobile phones

@Notapushymum1 buna ce faci? :)

@Creambun2 do i get a cookie for that ?

RebelRouge, try harder ;)

@Notapushymum1 e tarziu si mi-e lene. "Ana are mere" e suficient?

You can be homeless and have things like iphones. A cracked phone that takes calls can be bought cheaply too. It doesn't need to do anything else.

We have 2 nearby that take turns at Sainsbury's, and both are Sikh. One is a lovely and jolly man and always says hello even if I'm not buying.

But the lady worries me. Once she asked me if I could possibly get her something to eat because she hadn't had anything that day. Another day she said that her landlord was threatening to evict if she couldn't bring him X amount of money by that evening. I don't know if it was a story to get more money out of people, but she didn't seem to be in a good way.