To think a lot of the hard luck stories on here are people hoping to be sent money and goods?

[silverpurplegold]

It used to happen a LOT more. I was reading some old threads this morning looking for something I remembered and came across a lot of tales of woe and hardship.

Have you ever sent money or goods to anybody? Were they genuine?

I think.often they are ,some will be genuine ,but posters that post along the lines of no food in the freezer ,no money for nappies ,milk for the baby , 20 pence on the gas meter and have no way of borrowing money ,they are in the middle of nowhere so. no food banks always make me think I can't afford to.donate to random strangers anyway ,it also makes me when other posters say openly on the thread check your messages to the Op ,I mean by all means donate it you want but why do it publicly ?

To all the people offering food, I can PM you my address and mince pies will feed my (not so) starving self 😏

I post this every year when this thread pops up but years ago, 2 days before christmas, I went to the bank, withdrew all my money to hand in my rent to the letting agency and when wandering around the shops, got my wallet stolen. I posted while I was in the garda station to whine about it, how miserable it was, I was fecked now for Christmas because we had to find the money and to top it off it was raining and I was soaked through.

I went off to speak to the guards and when I got home there was so many messages, very few positive. The thread ran to several pages, people questioning why I took out so much money, why I hadn't got Christmas sorted already etc. PM 's from a few people offering stuff but then one pm sent to me by error saying "Ive offered her money let's see if she takes the bait and I'll out her. " so trying to catch me out.

I was sorted for christmas, my DP was just paid and we weren't asking for anything. I was just moaning. Even MN stepped in and said I was here years people needed to calm down.

Big mistake. Never again. Not even when I've been on the bones of my arse would I post looking for so much as a recipie.

That's what scammers have done, ruined trust and made every post seem so unbelievable, it's not worth posting.

One person went a step further and had a link to a crowdfunding site to give her money.

Posters should never send anything to strange people. Sorted.

You can usually tell the scammers because they ignore all the good advice offered, and never seen to have a single friend or neighbour they could borrow £10 from to tide them over.

I'm actually glad my mum doesn't post on here, she'd definitely be a likely candidate for offering money and gifts to a blagger.

Not all are but an awful lot are.

I suspect most of the scammers aren't even badly off, but they'll know that sites like MN are a soft touch, especially in the pre-Christmas period.

Next time you see one, have a Google - it's amazing how often they'll just copy paste the same threads on different forums several times over in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

Even if they only get £5 or £10, they haven't exactly had to expend a lot of effort to get it. It's always worth a go as far as they're concerned.

I think a healthy degree of scepticism should always be exercised before giving any money to a stranger on the internet.

I can’t believe anyone would send money to random internet posters. Of course loads of them are scammers! MN is an easy target unfortunately.

You wouldn't believe the number of fake ill children on fb between November and Christmas day... Well, fake.
They take pics of real ill children from google and use it.
Disgusting.

I really think all people should just have a rule of donating only to official causes, transparent accounts or REALLY confirmed cases.

There is not many begging threads here this year.

It’s nowhere near as bad as it was in the past. There were always lots of begging posts or collections for posters going on.

Much better nw MNHQ step in and the SS no longer happens.

This time of year always brings a few despite Christmas being at the same time every year so not an unknown event.

There’s loads who checked out but we’re still scammers

Someone can be a mum and a scammer

Didn’t someone receive food parcels every WEEK for months and Christmas to order once?

God yes, SW was sending parcels to another poster, that was awful.

If anyone is genuinely struggling, your local St Vincent de Paul society is a good source of help.

I haven't seen any on here for a while. People are probably a bit wiser to it now? Or they get a better response on FB?

It used to be a lot worse and one poster used to have the same problem every bloody Christmas and a couple of times in the year too.

You used to be able to flog stuff on here but scammers started to use that, 'If I can't sell this I'll have to sell myself on the streets'.

MN has been a good place for emotional support for ages

Hasn't been not has been

One woman on our local Facebook is begging for food and rent money to see her through to January as her change to Universal credit means she’s had no money since September. She has also set up a Justgiving account.

I see loads of them on aFb group I’m on.

I’m amazed when people come on and knock down every single suggested when they are struggling.
They always live miles from anyone but don’t even say what part of the country they live in.
I hope no one sends them money.

I’d be happy to drop some food to someone locally. No one on here should be sending anyone money.

The SW situation was shocking.

I think it's always suspicious when they haven't got any friends or family to ask for some help, and they always reply with a x.

I got scammed a few years ago actually. Typical sob story on here, nothing for new baby etc etc. I sent a lovely bundle of expensive but used clothes and things.

Never got a thank you and saw the whole lot on eBay that same week.

Naomifrom milkshake This reminds me of a story my Nan used to tell me ,about a Guy Grandad worked with, who "had had his wages stolen"! (This was in the 50s as well)! Everyone was sorry and had a "whip round" for him .However he same thing happened about two months later!. Needless to say no whip round was forthcoming on that occasion! Sometimes people may be struggling ,and in genuine need other times they may mismanage their money and want everyone to dig them out!

YABU

Hadn't occurred to me at all, and I'm usually quite cynical.
I offered someone a piece of equipment that they'd posted about; I had a spare that I'd been intending to put on freecycle, but they declined as they lived too far away.

Wouldn't offer money.