AIBU to wonder if giving cash to a stranded tourist was naive

[LovingLilacDuck]

I just got approach by a tourist woman in Paddington who said she got her purse stolen in Oxford Street. She asked me for some cash as she had to put blockage on all her bank cards because they were stolen. And she needed the cash to go to her hotel or something like that. She was good looking, she said she was a lawyer from Amsterdam and was soft spoken but also a little nervous. And she was so happy when I gave her the cash that she gave me a hug and thanked me in a genuine way.

I helped her because she seemed genuine. Of course, there is a chance she could be a scammer herself so a part of me feels a bit sad and naive. But I just want to hope that she wasn’t and I helped a woman in need.

What would you do in this situation? I am just curious. xx

In this day and age she would be able to access money on her phone or could have downloaded the oyster app to get a tube. Sorry she cant have been genuine

Always a good idea not to give cash to strangers OP, it’s pretty much always a scam… And yes, this has been a fairly well known one in major cities for many years. Just say sorry I don’t carry cash and move on or ignore entirely.

You were probably scammed, but take comfort in the fact that you’re a nice person who thought the best of someone and generously helped them.

My phone nearly died when I was in London the other day and I wouldn’t have had any way of paying for anything, travelling anywhere or contacting anyone. I wondered what I would have done in that circumstance! Probably asked someone like she did 🙈 But I would have connected on LinkedIn and paid you back after.

Actually this reminds me to not to travel around without remembering some phone numbers and carrying a charger pack.

Please be careful in future!

Not so easy nowadays with police stations closing their offices to casual public visits.

Complete scammer. I had a very feasible woman approach me a while ago, and I worried after I'd said no and walked away from her. By coincidence two weeks later, she approached me again with the same story. Worry over!

Sounds like this is the latest scam going round because on Thursday I was approached by a woman saying exactly the same thing and asking for £40, just round the corner from Victoria station. I said no and when the person I was meeting arrived about 20 minutes later, she mentioned that she had also met this woman. I wonder if it was the same person!

It's very likely she had her phone if she had cancelled all her cards.

I'm 99.9% sure it was a scam. But on the off chance it wasn't you did a good, charitable thing OP and should be at peace with that.

Id rather walk than ask a stranger for money

of course you were scammed she got off her tits on £30

she could have asked the tube people to let her on for free - if she was good looking chances are she’d be fine

You will never know.
But I am forever grateful to the man who gave my 18 year old DD £20 to get a train home after her bag was snatched in london, which had her train ticket, phone and cards in it. She went to the police station and it was when she was leaving in tears that, in her words "A Dad" gave her the cash with strict instructions to dry her eyes and get straight home.
So sometimes taking things at face value is the right thing to do.

Please stop saying "you did a good thing". No she did not. She was scammed. Giving money just perpetuates the scam.

Seems to be a lot of people who are happy to pay scammers to make themselves feel charitable.

Who knows. My mum had a terrible experience in her 70s on her way somewhere and I can't remember the detail but she was left with no access to money that she needed on a Sunday night.

She was left completely hopeless and it's only thank to a good Samaritans who gave her some cash to get to a hotel that she managed to be okay.

There's fraud and there are rare circumstances when this can genuinely happen. Choose to believe that in your case, it was the latter.

That’s a completely different situation! Scammers don’t generally go and report their imaginary losses to the police and hang about asking for cash in the police station! And are you saying that the police refused to let her make a phonecall home??

In case helpful for the future or anyone else to know, London bus drivers are obliged to give a free journey to a vulnerable person in need (not sure of exact phrase but something like that) so if genuine she could have asked for a free bus journey.

In any case sorry this doesn’t add up and I agree it was a scam.

Do you feel glad that you might have helped a woman in trouble and that it was worth it for £30? If so, don't worry but be aware it was almost certainly a scam.

I'd be far more worried about the hug being an opportunity to steal from you and also it being a distraction from what someone else, hither to unseen, might be up to.

Literally the same thing happened to me near King's Cross 20 years ago but the lady was Irish. I was 18 but didn't fall for it. I just said I was sorry didn't have any cash and walked on. One of the oldest scams in the book.

@mixedbouquet It was a few years ago now. She didn't make a call home and I'm certain that if it had been offered to her she would have.

It may be a scam or it may have been completely genuine. Either way you followed your instincts in the moment and did something kind.thats to your credit and to the woman’s discredit if indeed she was a scammer. Either way, let it go and don’t let it trouble you further.

Scam, scam, scam. These low lives (or the people controlling them) pray on people like you who think it’s unlikely that a softly spoken person (usually female) with a sob story and a supposedly professional job will gladly screw you over. Did you ever think where that money may have gone?

Ignore the ‘Pollyanna’ naive people on here because there’s nothing from the experience you should be taking comfort in.

Totally the wrong thing to do. These scams are increasingly sophisticated. I used to work in the City of London and heard them all. The City police are very clear not to give.
I worry about the genuinely homeless and to that end give to charities that support them. I’m afraid you probably encouraged crime a little more by your actions OP. Sorry.

Sadly this is likely to be modern slavery, or 'forced begging'

This thread is making me angry. It is NOT KIND to give to these people. It’s propping up criminal networks and gangs who are exploiting these poor women. If no-one gave them money, this would not exist. So please stop congratulating yourselves for being ‘good people’ and give to actual charity not to abusers of women.

It was a scam. Similar thing was a regular occurrence in Hastings when I lived there. Drugs money, probably.

And this is why these scams are so successful - because mugs like you and your DH keep handing over your money

If you're talking about the post directly quoted beneath our thread, s/he said you did 'a nice thing', not 'the right thing'.