I'm torn between not wanting to disbelieve a person but also, being rational because this is the internet. We are being targeted by scammers at this time of year. I'm sure there are genuine people too. Although I am 
at the number of first time "I can't feed my kids" posters and "I've been here years but name changed" posters who rush in to defend them whilst calling the rest of us cynical, bullying twonks. I know HQ say that they don't appear to be scammers but how can they know?! It's easy to change IP address and new posters could join to target us. I realise that TSSDNCOP and I wouldn't expect you to but I'm afraid, I'm cynical about some of these posters.
There are many of us who aren't totally skint but are struggling at this time of year. I wonder if we could please have a pinned thread on the main boards (AIBU and chat). Then, people can be pointed in that direction, instead of the bun fights that follow in these threads. Every time someone says that they'd rather send money, it gives a green light to those who scam.
Perhaps it wouldn't word but it might be an idea. I'm interested to hear any thoughts on this. Thanks. :)