To ask you to not give money to posters

[LushLemonTart]

There was a scam poster on here yesterday. I reported it. They were asking for donations for tarot readings..
I've nothing against tarot but go to a reader in person if you want one. Don't be giving your details to randoms on here.
Poster is blocked now thank goodness.

They were taking advantage of people who may be feeling vulnerable at this time of year.

Tarot reading itself is a scam so a charlatan asking for money for it is the cherry on top.

People are stupid if they give to people online.

I fear you may be wasting your time OP. Just look at the number of troll begging posts that have kind people offering them money.

The "I have 20p to last me until next year" ones get me the most. Some posters fall over themselves to offer money. Then the OP goes "oh no I couldn't that's too kind" and then cleans up.

People need to wise up. Scammers everywhere.

Someone will be along soon to say how they'd rather help and get scammed in case it's genuine than stand by and do nothing. They don't realise they are the reason these scammers perpetuate.

Same goes for people saying they have no money to feed their children etc. Sadly you have no way of knowing who is genuine - you are better giving to a food bank or charity if you want to help strangers suffering hardship.

My sister was into all that tarot and medium shite when her kids were small...our dad died when we were kids and she was convinced they could communicate with him. Apparently she was going to have 3 kids and I would have 2 according to one medium. Well,, she stuck with 2 kids and I'm having my 4th so that was bollox

I nearly paid for a ladies shopping in Aldi on Monday. She had some kind of vouchers, and a basket full of shopping, her shopping was £1.50 over the voucher amount and she didn't have it, so had to put something back. I felt so sad for her as my trolley was full and I'd put whatever I wanted in it.

As I shuffled forward to offer it to her, I realised she absolutely stunk of weed. It was so strong, I just stopped. I know it was only £1.50 but she could pay for that but not her shopping.

In hindsight I should have just given it to her as I then felt guilty for such a small amount.

Why fund her drug addiction? She can buy weed so she can buy her shopping. It’s not your problem.

Well there are 'give you a reading' posters cropping up often and posters here (masses of them) trip over themselves to get there first.

Stupid is as stupid does. There's no point moaning about it, people do what they want, regardless. Nobody really needs telling not to give money, those who do will do it anyway.

Starting a thread like this though highlights the possibilities which seems counterproductive to me.

MNetters have got a bit better over the years but when I first joined nearly 14 years ago, it was like Scam Central.

So many people who miraculously didn't have money for food/formula/nappies/gas/electric just over a month before Christmas 🙄

But alarmingly, so many MN 'aunties' who couldn't get their purses open quick enough, whilst declaring they'd rather be scammed than see kids go hungry/cold.

They will be the same MNetters who have children for whom they're responsible when it comes to teaching internet safety, and NOT believing everyone is who they say they are.

It's as old as time. Was anyone here on Handbag.com, way back when the internet was young?

There was a situation bare-faced scam on there when a girl claimed to be pregnant in NI and needing to travel for a termination. Loads of people gave money but nothing was ever heard of her again...

I haven’t seen any begging posts at all…

That's because over the years, people fall for them less and MNHQ tend to delete them pretty quickly if something in the poster's history doesn't add up.

It's also the reason HQ had to compose their standard response a few years ago.

I think anyone who is stupid enough to give money for tarot reading to some random person online deserves what they get.

Me neither, I don't recognise the posts above about people falling over themselves to give money.

I think it possibly happened in the past but no one's that's stupid nowadays and the threads get deleted pretty quickly

I think scamming posts would get much less frequent if MN locked down the persons PMs as soon as a potentially begging post appears.

They can stay on the thread and get advice, but there's always some people who put "sent a PM" and the suspicion that they've had more, which encourages others to try.

It very much happened in the past and sadly, still happens today, although a lot less frequently.

Only 2 weeks ago (roughly) there was a similar thread and at least two people felt the need to announce 'Message me and I'll send you some money'.

Thankfully the thread disappeared pretty quickly.

Begging threads aren't always obvious, but they are rife. I won't mention specific scenarios, but generally the OP mentions a situation, e.g. "I missed the last bus home and I'm stuck in the cold". The next few posts will be OP giving a reason why they can't do any of the sensible suggestions given by posters, with hints thrown in around money - "I'm skint so can't afford another bus/train/taxi", "I can't sit in a cafe as I have no money for even a coffee", "I don't have any friends who could help and my parents are struggling to pay bills" and so on. That's what will generally prompt some posters to offer to send OP money. Even if it's just £2 or so for a coffee, if enough people send it the OP makes an alright amount for the sake of a few posts.
Not all threads like that will be scams, of course, but a good chunk of them are. Practical support is always much better, I think. It's the posters who throw up barriers to literally every sensible and reasonable suggestion that make me suspicioius.