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

Sophisticated beggars are quite common in London. But just because she hasn’t actually had her wallet stolen and her cards blocked doesn’t mean she doesn’t need the money.

If she had reported the “crime” to the police they would have given her a lift to her hotel if she had no money.

I thought the exact same thing.

Sorry op, this is a well known scam in london :(

Thank you for at least making me aware of it, because I had no idea! x

I've had similar a few years ago, a distraught but well presented woman. But it was in Chester le Street and £5 for the bus 😂

I afterwards thought she earned the fiver either way.

Would a person in genuine need approach a stranger and ask for money? I doubt it.

She could have gone in to a UK bank and asked them to contact her bank who could then wire her some money. I’ve done this when I worked at Barclays and Nationwide.

Why did she go to Paddington not her hotel? Sounds like a scam

You'd have got quite a fright if you'd told her you didn't believe her

They turn it off in a second

Not cash- I would have purchased her train ticket for her.

one of the oldest scams in the book. When I used to commute in London 10-15 years ago would have people coming up to me on regular with a similar scam. Sometimes the same Person on more than once occasion. Best way is to offer to pay for an uber for them - they will always reject it if not genuine.

Complete scam.

I was once on the tube and a woman came down the carriage asking for money with 2 young kids. She looked Romanian, Albanian, Bulgarian - that kind of area.

Everyone ignored her but I put my hand out at gave her a £20 note. She looked at it in astonishment and then looked at me and said “God bless you” with such sincerity that I’ve never forgotten it.

No idea what her circs were.

She was so happy too when I gave her the money and just looked so thankful. I hope at least she needed it

100% scam. When I was living as a student in London I had a desperate ‘pregnant’ lady come up to me asking for cash because of x,y,Z. Realised afterwards I’d been had after talking to others. Sorry.

I mean a lot of them will have bigger houses than you

I wouldn't swap lines of work but I do wish people would stop encouraging them it's like feeding seagulls

100% a scam. Sorry op you were had.

I would say I’m pretty financially savvy, well educated and in a professional role and it would NEVER occur to me to go to a local bank and ask them to contact my home country bank to wire money over (where to?!) so asking a stranger for help would have ranked higher on my list than doing that (until now that is).

I wouldn’t pay up because I’m weary of everyone.
if I was in the position of losing or having my purse stolen, I don’t think I would be so brazen to ask a stranger for cash.

Sadly she probably need it for:

• drugs
• to pay a pimp/trafficker

I'm a Londoner and once gave a teenager some money when he approached us and asked if we can help him with his fare to get home. It was years ago, I can’t remember exactly how much we gave him, I was with my BF at the time and think he might have had cash. It was £3-£5. The boy genuinely seemed distressed. My BF thought it was probably a scam, but I said I felt comfortable helping in case it was genuine, and it was an amount of money I could afford to lose and not get back. I don't look back on it as someone getting the better of me, I think I did a good deed, regardless of their motive.

There's one near me who spends it in casinos and betting shops

Ds and I were in Rome when 3 well dressed 20 somethings asked us to take a photo of them as if they were tourists. However there was something about them that made me wary, as if they were acting.
I said no and pulled ds away, I explained that they would almost certainly drop the phone as they handed it over, claim I'd broken it and demand money.

Of course she looked thankful - she'd just scammed you out of £30. Most people had probably already given her a firm no.You weren't the first person she approached - it's probably her 'job'.

Actually just remembered a teenager trying it at a bus stop giving it the big doe eyes as my friend looked through her purse and I said wait you've got a free bus pass you little scaff those are nice trainers by the way and the bus came and he flipped me off then used his bus pass to ride away

My office is near a train station. We get approached and asked for random amounts of cash several times a week. There is always a sob story that goes with it - lost cards, lost train tickets, need to get to Birmingham to see my sister in hospital, I'm running late and only brought enough for an off-peak ticket could you help me with the extra, my boyfriend is abusive and won't let me have any money etc.

Sorry OP but I will now have to add stranded Dutch lawyer to the list of scams!