Begging trolls

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This isn't an AIBU, more of a question. Just seen on another post a reference or two to there being a number of "begging trolls" on the AIBU threads. Have I missed something? Do people genuinely come on here with the intention of saying how poor they are with the expectation that someone with DM them with cash?

yes

Yes it happens, and yes people do give.

Yep and there was an incidence a couple of years ago where a chancer scammed posters into donating to a go fund me page

Happens all the time ,usually the scenario is a single mother , with a very young child, no money or food,milk, nappies etc and about 50p left on the electric meter , for several days, they never have friends or families that can help.

why do people get pulled into this con on here ? these 'poor' cases could be anyone posting, i could be kate cambridge for all you know, or living in a squat.

It's horrible that people can be exploited and emotionally pulled on a certain subject.

Also shows kindness of some people who would give money to a stranger based on their perceived troubles. Some may say gullible.

Wow. It has to be said I have often thought oh that poor person but I have never seen anyone blatantly ask so it never occurred to me that it was actually a request for help.

There was a time on MN where someone would post in dire needs and posters would offer money, nappies, clothes etc and I think some of those OPs weren’t genuine. People have become a lot more wary now but you still get the odd one or two offering help.

Have I missed something?

I think you’ve missed something big here in all honesty, and (trying to say this nicely) if you’re going to use Internet forums you really must stop being so naive. It’s not just begging threads, people lie about all sorts on here and it can cost you emotionally as well as financially if you don’t carry a bit of common sense. MNHQ are quite right in noting there’s never really any way of proving who you’re talking to online, so never give more of yourself than you can afford (and never ever give money type dontaions at all).

There have been a few big intastances of trolls making shit up for money and attention in the last few years, always be wary.

It happens a lot on forums. Especially around Christmas time

To be fair, most of the begging trolls have caught on now and aren’t as blatant as they used to be. Outright demands for nappies, clothes and cash aren’t as common as they used to be. Now they will start with a long and involved backstory and keep it going into a multi-page thread before slowly drip-feeding in the real purpose of their post.

As beggars and scammers get cleverer, trusting naive posters have to be one step ahead.

There was a sad fecker 2or3 years ago who had a special mobile number to co-ordinate donations or some such ridiculous nonsense and she had a sockie who received the goods too

There are usually twins....

Other ones will be in the form of " I have £8.37 until payday, will I be able to feed us all with what I've got in the fridge? " type or " please give me a meal plan for the next 11 days until I have money for food "

I've been on here for 5 years now and used to be very naive in the beginning but it becomes much easier to spot.
I think that most people who are very desperate would be too proud to post on here in the hope of receiving money.

Plenty in real life, too, particularly on selling pages. The ol' 'Can I get a discount on this? I'm moving into a flat from homeless/had a fire/lone parent fleeing violence.'