Strangers asking for money.

[ALongHardWinter]

Is it just me who's experienced this? There seems to be an epidemic of people approaching me in the street,while I'm waiting at a bus stop and even actually on a bus,either asking me directly for money,or spinning me a convoluted story about they've lost their wallet/been mugged. In the high street of the nearest town to where I live there has always been the odd homeless person sitting outside a shop and asking for any spare change.
But this is on a different level. Yesterday evening,I kid you not,I had 4 different people approach me on the space of an hour while I was making my way home from the town. Requests varied from 'Can you 'lend' me a fiver?' (Yeah right,like I'm ever going to get it back!) to 'Can you give a few quid to buy some food'. I (politely) said no to all of them as I am really not in a position to be handing out money to total strangers. But by the time the fourth person approached me,I was like WTAF?! I can guarantee that barely a day goes by when I'm out and about when I don't get at least one person asking me for money. Is it the area I live in? (West London) or is it because of benefit cuts and people are feeling the pinch?

Where I live there are about 5 of them in our high street they get dropped off at around 7.30 and they get picked up by the same van at around 7pm in the evening. Definately not homeless as I have yet to see any of them sleeping on the street. I Fucking hate beggars!

The fake Big Issue sellers make me 😡

I can't understand why there is such a high proportion of people selling the Big Issue who, going on their accents, very limited English and general demeanour, appear not to have been in the country for very long - even often in small not-internationally-significant market towns. I'm not anti-immigrant at all and if people can find a job to come over to in this country to support themselves and their families then the best of luck to them; but I can't help finding it abusive - selling the Big Issue is for people in this country (whether born here or originally from wherever else) who have, despite the best intentions and efforts, fallen on hard times and are trying to regain some dignity. It is NOT meant to be an active career choice that people deliberately move to this country and go straight into. I know it's not begging, but I can't believe many people would objectively choose to pay that amount of money for the magazine if it was just on the shelf in WH Smith with nobody approaching you and beseeching you to buy one.

They're not homeless - it's their "job"!
YY to this. Like so many of the CFs about whom we all love to read on MN, some people have no shame whatsoever and seem to genuinely believe that they're using their well-honed self-employed skills and experience to earn whatever they make from obliging punters - no different in essence from, say, a city tour guide who actually pays taxes on their income touting for business from their licensed pitch. They justify it by insisting that people have a choice to say no and that they're actually helping better-off people do their civic duty to share their wealth and allowing them to feel good about themselves in so doing. Of course, most of their marks are NOT well off, but they assume that they must be because they can't comprehend basic human decency and altruistic generosity.

A group of them play 'Hit the Road Jack' horrendously on some random instruments. Then they shove a dog-eared paper cup in your face for the money.

I'm going back a bit here, but does anybody else remember Xylophone Man - an elderly, dishevelled gent and a constant fixture in Nottingham city centre (until he died a few years ago)? He used to just hit a few random tuneless notes on a child's toy xylophone with his stick-with-a-bobble-on-it and then look up at passers-by smiling and hopeful that they would financially reward his virtuoso efforts. He always seemed harmless enough, though, and I never saw him actively approach people to badger them for money.

The posters who mentioned kids asking for sponsors for their fun run,etc (yes,I've noticed they always seem to be Irish!) I get this quite regularly when I go in coffee shops. But they want the money upfront. When I was a kid,if you asked someone to sponsor you,you collected the money AFTER the event,and you were given the appropriate amount depending on how many laps you'd done/lengths you'd swum etc. none of this 'Give me 2 quid now' malarkey. I've suspected for a while that it's a scam,and it seems I was right.
I've had people turn nasty when I've refused to give them money. About 6 months ago,a woman who was very smartly dressed and carrying what looked like a designer handbag,asked me for 10 quid as she had 'lost her purse'. When I said sorry but I couldn't help,she followed me down the high street for a few hundred yards shouting abuse at me. Thankfully,a man stopped and asked if I was OK (nice to see there are still some gentlemen around) and she promptly hurried off in the opposite direction.

When I was a kid,if you asked someone to sponsor you,you collected the money AFTER the event,and you were given the appropriate amount depending on how many laps you'd done/lengths you'd swum etc.

Plus the money was actually genuinely destined for charity - and it was often something at least slightly gruelling or unpleasant, such as a repetitive bike ride or sponsored silence, which you'd endure for the sake of the charity.

Nowadays, many people - of all ages - will try and score themselves a free holiday or big lifetime experience by asking people to sponsor them for doing something hugely enjoyable. Often, the charity subsidises their place in the hope that they'll gain much more than the minimum sponsorship, their friends and families are put upon to stump up said 'sponsorship', so they get a free holiday of a lifetime and then proceed to crow to everybody for months or even years about what a generous, sacrificial, selfless soul they were.

I was having lunch in a cafe once and noticed a weathered homeless man. As I was getting the bill I quietly told the waitress I would pay his too as he looked down on his luck. She equally quietly told me he was just scruffy and owned a fishing trawler and was pretty well off

It's been a worry with my son going to uni in Manchester, he'd be walking to train station and get stopped, worse story was a foreign lady handing some laminated card, followed him shouting.
The thing is he has aspergers and it's a real struggle and stressful for him, he was giving money away often but we had a chat about it and on a Friday he would give a bit but just to ones who were not pestering.

Where I live there are about 5 of them in our high street they get dropped off at around 7.30 and they get picked up by the same van at around 7pm in the evening. Definitely not homeless as I have yet to see any of them sleeping on the street.

A similar operation is going on close to us. I've seen a van dropping people off early in the morning ready for the commuters and then picking them up in the evening. I'm not sure what to think, some of them look as if they've been through a lot (perhaps addictions), others are young, but who knows what's happened to them.

I do give money sometimes, and think lots of people are in genuine need but am very wary of distraction theft or mugging so am reluctant to get my purse out.

I gladly give to charities now instead of individuals. I gave up on the Big Issue though. When it started, it was supposed to be temporary, to help people get money for a deposit so that, with an address, they could get a permanent job. Years later I saw the same people still selling so how has it changed their lives? Also, while the writing had remained edgy, I sadly had not.

Our local big issue seller has been there 4 years.... Hardly temporary.
He often asks me 4 times in the same day to buy a copy... I never do... Not that I'm not sympathetic to homeless causes just think he's taking the piss

It happens to me sometimes, but not as often as some on this thread. I live in a rural and poor part of Brazil for context too. Although we don't have any homeless people where I live, we do have some regulars. Most are drunks, one old lady got used to doing it I think from the days when poor meant hungry, I always give her money because I often wonder if some relative is cashing her pension or something, she can't read or write so it's quite possible she's not getting what she's entitled to. Then there's one woman who is a real chancer, she's taught her son to beg for ice-creams/sweets in the supermarket/fairground rides/candy floss etc. and he's really annoying, he pesters and begs. I've stopped buying him stuff as he's getting really pudgy on all his begged candy.

They always seem to go after me. Even when I'd been sanctioned by the DWP and was basically eating a minimal diet to keep a roof over my head, they'd still cuss me out for not giving them any money.

It's put me off doing what I thought were normal things I was supposed to aspire to, like going into town and having lunch. If I eat it inside the noise is too much (I'm autistic), if I eat outside, I get harrassment, abuse and nearly marched to the cash machine. Some of them are very scary.

I appreciate that they're desperate, but taking it out on people stuck in the same screwed up system isn't going to help either of us. I usually give food if people ask, even my own food at times - I know how much it sucks not to be able to afford it, but if I gave money to everyone who asks, I'd be homeless myself.

I live in Liverpool and every single time I go into the city centre I am shocked at the amount of homeless people.

Last Tuesday there was actually a big tent ( approx 8 man ) outside the main Halifax bank with tons of crap thrown about and people asleep half in/half out of the tent.
It takes a lot to shock me but I was gobsmacked.

We have a lot of tourists and I think they're likely to be targeted.

There is an old guy who stands outside H and M with either a cardboard or plastic guitar, wailing and singing an incoherent tune with an old hat at his feet for donations.
Locals don't bat an eyelid, he looks like a troubled old soul and is obviously unwell and off his tits but the tourists faces when they see him. He is there rain or shine every day.

I am all for genuine people being helped with a coffee and sandwich but I hate seeing people taken advantage of.

I can't understand why there is such a high proportion of people selling the Big Issue who, going on their accents, very limited English and general demeanour, appear not to have been in the country for very long

I suspect this is partly due to the change that DWP brought in a few years ago so that if you are from the EU and do not have "real prospects of work" (eg because you speak English very poorly) then you cannot continue to claim Jobseeker's Allowance after IIRC a year. So the choice is either to return or beg, and many choose the latter.

I have not given cash to anyone on the street on principle for years. I used to when I was younger but I worry what it is being spent on. I find the drug trade especially concerning; there are so many awful things that happen in the production and importation of illegal drugs and I don't want to take the chance that my hard-earned wages will ultimately end up in the pockets of drug dealers. I'll offer food if I have any on me, although this is usually turned down. I used to get approached a lot by both chuggers and homeless people, but bulky pair of headphones generally limits the number of people approaching me when I'm out and about now.

And I remember xylophone man. My dad said after he died that he wasn't really homeless and it was an act, but I can't find anything online to support that so I assume he was probably genuine. You would have thought with 15 years of practice he might be able to do something more than scales but I think he probably got more sympathy by being a bit rubbish at it.

How many genuine people would need to be overlooked because there are some addicts that beg to? Begging is not something that majority of humans aspire to. Actually I doubt, anyone has ever aspired to become a beggar. Yes, I'm aware that some gangs force vulnerable people to go beg for them. I get more concerned about them than a random homeless person as they hopefully get to keep the money they begged for. I seen a lot more begging since the benefit cap and universal credit. How do you expect those people to continue on living? It is nearly impossible to get a job without an address. Would you rather get mugged compared to being asked? This thread lacks basic compassion and forethought.

I offered to buy a homeless guy some food in town from McDonald's . He said no but but he wanted me to go and get him a kebab from a shop a mile away. I said no.

There are many more young women near us than before. They tend to be aggressive and do look like addicts.

I worked for a charity and we worked with other local charities, so I interacted with addicts, the homeless, troubled kids, people with mental health issues daily. I'd say a fair number of people I see being near us are not genuine - or people who could be helped but feel it's 'too hard' or they aren't worth it.

Yes, give to charities but not to people on the street.

DiegoMad0nna obviously not but she was clearly looking for more than just a couple of quid off me!

@Flairhead - were you a student in oxford? Just wondering as when I was there a friend did “lend” £500 to a woman who told him she was going to be evicted with her kids if she couldn’t pay the rent. She was apparently very convincing that her benefits check was coming through the next day, but the landlord wouldn’t wait, and promised to meet him to pay him back. Obviously she didn’t!

I mean cheque :)

No, this was in Scotland. Getting into Oxford would have been nice though!

I've had the money to get to see his mum in hospital.

"Hospital is only a ten-minute walk that way, mate"
"No, not this hospital, she's in Birmingham"
"Oh right"
"So I need to get on the train to go see her, it's really serious"
"You can't get a train to Birmingham from here"
"I'm sure I can"
"No - the nearest railway station is 15 miles away and on a different line, you'd need to change twice. It'll take you about six hours 32 minutes"

A friend of mine was also stopped by someone asking for a quid. When she said "I'm really sorry, I don't have any money on me" he replied "That's OK, I'll come with you to the cashpoint"

Have any other Londoners noticed the Eastern European (?) women, playing the accordion, and with a huge fluffy orange dog beside them (I think the breed is a chow-chow)? The dogs are often wearing sunglasses or bandanas. It's such a distinctive setup that they must all be part of the same group / gang. I just started noticing them over the summer - saw about 5 or 6 in the space of a few weeks.

Earthmoon
Would you rather get mugged compared to being asked? This thread lacks basic compassion and forethought.

Lots of posters on this thread (including me) who strongly disagree with giving money to people on the street have said to give to charities that work with the homeless instead.

Giving money directly to people on the streets is a mistake, you can't tell who is a scammer or not and giving money encourages MORE scammers and gangs.

I hate this it makes me feel guilty and sometimes they can get aggressive when refused. I always just say ‘no sorry mate’ and swiftly walk away. I’ve never even asked as much to borrow a lighter from a stranger let alone take money from them!