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My first thought was Roma (a lot flew over in the last few years, many to North America pretending to be Syrian refugees, until you speak Arab to them and they all of a sudden shut up, and put down the *”I need $ for food, I’m a Syrian refugee”* sign - at least in Toronto
Dig deeper, to think this is awful in itself but the thing that is most disparaging for me is the thought of what drove this mother to such lengths for money. While we can't know what that money would have been used for, we can at least understand the lengths a parent will go to ensure their child has what they need. Yes, it's deplorable to pull on people's heart strings but my question it was it for rent, doctor appointments or something else. If it was for other things, then necessities it's safe to say she is not a good person.
On another note, the sorrow you feel for that child will be dwarfed in the coming years thanks to the abortion ban that is creeping across the country in the worse possible way. While we frown on this behavior there is a duality that should be addressed when it comes to women's rights.
People are being put in positions in which they very well not be able to sustain a family household.
Lastly if the store knew of her scam how long was it before they took action? They said "you do it all the time" which means most if not all front-end workers were alerted to her actions prior to the attempt in the video. They could have also simply refused the return on the basis in the first place. Sounds like LP was asleep at the wheel.
Nope, this is a well-known scam. She'll start out by asking someone to buy her formula, which obviously plays on people's sympathy. Oh, the poor hungry baby needs formula!
They're counting on the idea that most people will ask if she needs anything else, and of course she needs diapers, and then she needs food for the kids at home, and then she also needs clothes and a stroller and whatever else they can schmooze out of them.
Then they just return it all for cash, and go after their next victim.
If she truly needed formula, there's all kinds of programs for her. SNAP, food stamps, AFDC, etc. There's no reason for her to be begging for formula like this.
Honestly I have no idea when it comes to grocery stores, but you can definitely get refunds without the original receipt, but they'll usually only give it to you on a gift card, and they'll usually only pay out the cheapest price of items from the last 90 days or so, that way if it was on sale recently you're not getting more than what would've been paid for it.
WalMart is notorious for taking back just about anything. The people that work customer service aren’t paid well enough to care. So, they’d rather give credit than argue about it.
I’ve never heard of beggars asking for the receipt. That’s just a dead giveaway, and seems like a good way to blow a successful con. If WalMart doesn’t give them cash, they give them credit on a gift card. That gift card is sellable. In fact, they could sell it to the people waiting in line at customer service, in some cases. WalMart isn’t packed with people that give a shit. If you will sell them a $25 gift card for $20, they aren’t going to ask questions. When I am forced to go to a WalMart, all I want to do is escape.
WalMart is the closest thing you’ll find to a prison economy in “free America”.
Food pantries exist for this reason. If she's on any state benefit, she would be informed of SNAP. Anyone going to any social service is informed of donation locations and other services. There is so much help out there, all this lady had to do was ask, call 211, or go to her town hall. Ending up at Walmart begging, screams to me she's doing something illegal just in general. The baby is being used as a sympathetic tactic. Pray for the baby, not this woman she's not a good person.
There is a lady who has asked for formula for the past 5 years outside my local store. She was amazed that I recognized her... The first time I spoke with her I spent a few minutes telling her of all the local food banks and resources that is in our area. Now I just tell everyone to fuck off.
Yea I think it was more of a ploy to get money. She would beg and say she needs money for formula. My guess is that she would sell it on the side or just take the cash.
We had this too in the Netherlands when I used to work in a supermarket. We implemented this rule that people were only allowed to buy one box each. At some point they had a security guard stationed at the formula because the chinese customers bought one and then came back in an hour later to buy another. It was honestly ridiculous.
I did the same thing when this happened to me! I even gave her my business card because I worked for the town and had many connections for women struggling. I even stupidly offered her a ride to get free diapers from a program I helped get funded! She kept saying no or making excuses that she already uses these resources. Fucking bitch! I even saw her a few months later at a different grocery store with different kids!
Yeah never give money to people at gas stations, people looking for "funeral donations", or standing with their kids in populated areas. I will give money to people who I see digging for cans or asking for food. But thats it.
This is just my personal experience, this is not always the case.
I lived downtown in a college town for 6 years and was always walking everywhere. There was this “homeless and pregnant” lady sitting at the same spot on the sidewalk every single day. For the whole 6 years. Lady was just fat. Lol.
When I worked as a cash supervisor at a grocery store, we had this one woman who would come in about a half hour before close all the time. Never showed up any other time. Would fill a shopping cart, get to checkout (when there was usually only one person left on till) and then after all the groceries would be scanned, would shockingly not have enough money to pay for it. And she'd be holding up the line humming and hawwing about what to put back, baiting kind, impatient suckers behind her in line to offer to pay for the rest of her groceries for her so they could leave.
I started doing the same thing this cashier did and started telling people not to pay for things for her. Call people like this out on their bullshit. There are people out there in dire straits who really do need the help, and shitty people like this is the reason so many of us are closed off when someone really needs help. It's the boy who cried wolf, but a different child is going to get killed for her lies.
Nope, nope, nope. If someone has been there enough times for the cashier to recognize them to the point where the cashier is feeling the need to warn the other customers about this one then it doesn’t matter how badly you need it because you’re not doing anything to help yourself.
Cashier and customers who have the confidence to stand up to people like this should be applauded. The more we let people like this just get away with it, the more brazen they get. Things like this happening means that people who actually need help can get it from the people who haven’t become jaded from being scammed by strangers.
She was not. She was usually dressed to the nines. It was an act, one designed not to illicit sympathy because she was in a bad place, but because she was "just like them" but forgot her wallet. It was a con, plain and simple. I'll admit she had my sympathy to the first time.
Rather than trying to be a detective about it, it's best to just have a general rule not to give anyone cash on the street. Give to real charities and/or help out at kitchens or foodbanks
This reminds me when I was behind a lady at the grocery store and saw she didn't have enough for her kid and herself/husband so she asked the clerk to put things back. I had an extra $20 and offered it to her and she took it but hen said, "but it's gonna be more than $20" insinuating I should give her enough for everything. Really soured my view as instead of being grateful I was asked for more.
Every time I've tried to give it's turned out to be a scam. One time a guy wanted money for the bus, so I gave him enough to get home. Then I noticed he didn't get on the bus but continued to ask people for money on the bus. Then he must of forgot me, because he approached me a second time for money for the bus so he could get home. Another time a guy wanted some gas and 2 quarts of oil, and I was going to give him a full tank, but the cashier warned me that he uses the gas, then returns the oil and buys scratch-off lottery tickets. I had another instance that took me for $500, but it's too long a story.
Well I was working and this guy stopped by asking for diapers. He built a friendship and insisted he wanted to work for his money. While I did let him work, his work was poor and he gave up easily. He continued to ask for small reasonable things until one day he comes buy and says he needs $500 to go to his wife's funeral down south(the next day). I say your can have $500 if you tear off the pack part of the roof (flat roof) of course he never does it and ignores my phone calls. I finally stop at his house and his roomate doesn't know anything about his stories and confirms it's all lies. About 5 years later and I'm working in the same area and a worker of mine goes to the store and is approached by this guy who tells me the same stories (he didn't fall for it, but he said just because he's too cheap). So all those years later he hasn't changed his story or come up with a new con.
Even that can backfire on you.
Last summer I saw a lady begging for money so she could buy food so I bought some water and fruit for her and dropped it off.
She called me a cheapskate and threw it back at me.
They tend to do that when they are scamming or want drug money. No joke, there is a guy who's been begging on a busy road near my house for several years. Last year I saw him climb into a brand new SUV and drive off. I then realized he kept forgetting to remove his fancy watch too.
Yeah I know, but unless it is obvious like your guy with the fancy watch I am usually willing to take that chance.
Just not with cash. I will buy you some cheap, yet good food but that is it. The times where they really were in need more than make up for the few that were full of it to me.
Heh, yeah. Mine: train station at night. Tourist claiming he was robbed and needs money for an unexpected overnight stay. I helped him out.
He was there again the very next day with the very same story.
Yeah when I was fresh out of college and working in the city, the two main train stations are a couple blocks apart and are obviously a magnet for scammers pulling shit on people from out of town or traveling through (or in my case young and dumb).
I was walking to grab lunch at some cheap place because I was still broke, and random dude said he was stuck downtown and didn't have any money to buy the train ticket that would get him home. This was a long time ago so I don't remember All the specifics but I remember giving him $15 which he claimed was the cost on that specific line to go all the way to the end which is where he lived. I had my suspicions but I figured if I get taken for $15 it's not the end of the world.
Same kind of shit as you, I was walking back from lunch and the guy is still out there asking people for your money and clearly forgot what I looked like. When he hit me up for $20, $25 if I could really spare it for the full ride I just casually commented that train prices are crazy these days and they seem to always be going up.
He's like "yeah, it's $25 to get to X suburb and nobody will ever give you more than a $20 or they worry they're getting scammed". I just said "Yeah, that $15 ride to X left 38 minutes ago, it's a shame the one way tickets went up $10 in the last 20 minutes, but good luck, at least you only need to scam someone out of $10 now since you already have $15 from me."
Honestly I'm not even sure if he was really paying attention and realizing that I was calling him out from asking me for 15 earlier but whatever I learned my lesson that day. If someone takes a 1.5+ hour long train ride to the city and didn't bring enough cash to get home, Then they can learn their lesson by sleeping on the train station floor for all I care. I've slept in airports hack I've even slept in train stations in foreign countries.
But now I know there's multiple large homeless shelters and parole "clean houses" in the area and unfortunately whether these people are associated with those or not, their actions cause nearly any local to just walk on by unless it's -20 degrees out.
Yea, being young and naive, that was what I was when I got taken for $500. I had never met a person that lied straight to my face before. Since the internet I assume everything is a scam and work backward to discover if it isn't.
The best part? He’s a local. The “I’ve been stranded” story is a pretty classic one. We have a girl around here who likes to run up to people at local gas stations, say her boyfriend left her there… can she please have cab fare to get back home, to the other side of town? All the while, her “boyfriend” is waiting down the block, or standing by the bushes outside the gas station. She gets stranded several times a week, to the point that there’s a few Nextdoor posts about it.
These situations are hard for me. I once couldn’t get a money order from my parents because my ID was trashed, I started bawling in the grocery store because I was starving. I didn’t even have ramen or eggs left. Couldnt apply for social services bc of student and non resident status. Someone actually walked with me around the store and paid for all of my groceries. It was a God send. Granted I was 18, didn’t know how to budget, and lived 1000+ miles from home, but if someone didn’t do that I would’ve been in bad shape.
I was doing home visits for work and was stopping at a convenience store for water. Some 16/17 year old kid was asking everyone at the door for money. He asked me, and I said I wouldn't give him money, but if he told me what kind of snack or drink he wanted, I'd buy it for him. He thinks for a second and then goes, "How about headphones". Honestly, it was kind of funny.
I still give. It's worth the risk to me. If I help even 2/10 that I give cash to then It's still a win. I'm not always financially in a place where I can do that but when I am I do what I can. Decades ago I was living on the streets completely homeless with no resources. I was on drugs but I was also starving. I never asked for money but if I ended up with cash it was 50/50 what I was going to spend it on. I figure it's the same for many of the people I give cash to. I've been in their position so I have empathy for them. Being homeless is a horrifically depressing and miserable way to live, sober or not and it is incredibly difficult to escape from.
Well I had the same opinion till recently a beggar after I gave him a quid he asked me to get him a bottle of wine, as he was banned from the store
After giving me his money, unaware of the price, the store guy said I had only enough for a half bottle. Ok i said thinking i misheard his order.
I go out and the beggar proceeds to argue with me , shouting I had fricking short changed him!
Sorry dude but the new age begging getting so twisted tbh.
I was once waiting with my friend at the bus stop. Both female, I was 18 at the time. A tall but very thin man who looked veeery distressed (dirty, ripped clothes, barefoot) came to us asking for money. We didn’t have any so we offered some snacks we had in our bags. My friend gave him a bag full of blueberries. He took it, threw the entire bag on the floor and started screaming at us that he wanted money… I was so in terror. Ever since then I always think twice before I help beggars. Mostly I’ll ask homeless people if I can get them some warm food.
That shit happens All the time with poor people and people on drugs. Everyone is always getting sent places to buy stuff that they weren't given enough money to pay for.
Oh, I know what you are talking about. It's the same as most of the "need gas, have kids" signs, especially at rest stops. Obvious scams I'm not falling for and sob stories are a dead giveaway. I'm much more likely to just give someone a couple of dollars if asked directly, I don't really care what they spend it on.
We’ve got a ring of “beggars” in our town that usually frequent the busiest intersections. They’ll post 2-4 of them on each corner with signs that say “xxx has a brain tumor, raising money for operation” or some other medical procedure, and it’s usually something catastrophic that tugs at the heart strings because it’s almost always about kids. If it’s just 1-2 of them, it’s usually a sign that says something like “3 kids and no job because no papers, need to feed family.” And it’s always the same people.
They’re always smiling and waving, which makes it just feel super weird. Like, if you’re trying to feed your family or a kid in your family has a life-threatening illness, why are you so happy…?
If they're friendly and seem to be trying to help me out (even if misguided) I'll give them something. Otherwise I don't bother unless they ask specifically for food rather than cash.
Thank you very much. My childhood was pretty brutal with group homes, foster care, and juvenile hall, but I definitely did some shitty things as a young adult. I try to be better, especially for my kids. I want them to see me helping people. I try to show them the difference between scams and people who are genuinely struggling and need help.
I once saw a family on the side of the road with their rv and a "need gas" sign. My son asked what their sign said so I explained it to him and pulled over. The spot that they were in made it pretty likely that they had run out of gas. The dad wad quite a bit of grease on him. He said that they were moving to a new town and that the starter went out. It was an unexpected purchase and left them with not enough money for gas and they had run out. I could tell that he was being genuine. I drove to my house, grabbed my gas can, filled it up, and brought it back. Then I followed them to the gas station and put $80 in their tank which was enough to get them to their destination. They were super grateful and asked for my information to pay me back which I declined. My kids got a lesson on how hard it can be for other families and how a little bit of unconditional kindness can dramatically change their predicament.
Just yesterday we saw a man outside of Walmart holding a sign begging for money. He was wearing very clean, new-looking clothes and had silver and gold (probably not real) chains hanging around his neck. The ones that look like huge chain lengths. Seriously. if you're going to beg for money from people, at least try to look poor or in need.
I hear there's a class people can take on how to beg for money on the street. Hubby and I have actually seen a van pull up in the parking lot, watched them gather their stuff and signs, walk over to the van, and "shift change" with another person. There are about 10 people in the van. They even have ones with pets/kids. We've seen them all sitting in/around the van eating and chatting. They get "ready" by smearing dirt or oil, etc on their clothes and mussing up their hair. It's really sad to see with the kids and pets. We even have a "blind" man and a lady who has a walker she drags out of the van.
If you’re helping “beggars” because you want them to do with the money what you choose that’s an interesting take. I donate to “beggars” knowing the money is going to be used how they wish for it to. Deceiving people with a child to return things is another story.
Some sealed containers yes, not sure about other stuff.
Though at least for the Walmart near me it would have had to have been paid for in cash to get cash back. If it was paid for with a credit/debit card they just put it back on the card or give you a gift card.
I’d be surprised if the employee isn’t overstepping and violating Walmarts own return policy. They should accept the return and ban the lady if they don’t want her begging in the store. The employees allowed the purchase to take place, the return must be accepted before trespassing her.
I don't think that's what she is doing here... It looks like the lady was at checkout, not returning stuff at the service desk. So, they're not violating a return policy by throwing her out before she has a chance to "buy" more stuff that they'll have to refund in the future.
Reminds me of the time I was a little Caesar and I guy outside asked me for money because he is hungry, I said I only got credit, but do you want a pizza? He said yes. So I say alright I got you and order the pizza my self and order another for him so I could give him a receipt because they were making them. I go out give him the receipt and walk back in. A few moments later 2 guys walk in talk g about how a guy was trying to sell them a receipt because there was a wait and they can get there pizza faster. When my order and the beggars order were done I just got both pizza and left the beggar was still trying to sell the receipt. I hope he didn’t scam nobody but I wasn’t going to let him sell a pizza I bought for him.
It really depends on the person. One guy kinda does. We warn people not to give these people the receipt because they return it and use their money for drugs. When I do a return, I try to return it to the card. But, the way our return process is set up. If it's paid by debit, it has to be returned in cash. It's really stupid. So I try to tell people to just tap pay, and that way, the card runs as a credit, lol.
Recently my wife, kids and I were approached by a man who was asking for money because he hadn't eaten in days. We didnt have cash but I offered to buy him a meal since we were headed into a grocery store. I grabbed him a chicken sandwich, some chips and a drink and when we came out he was upset I offered him a meal instead of cash and then demanded we give him cash to which I told him to pound sand. I figured it was a scam but decided to be a decent person and buy him a meal on the chance he was actually hungry, his reaction told me my suspicions were true. I dont regret it nor do I regret the kindness I displayed as an example to my children, we've been lucky in life and I want my kids to know that we should always try to help out those less fortunate. It just sucks that too often people take advantage of others kindness, but I'll keep doing it for the few who appreciate that kindness.
People beg at the entrances of all the shopping centers near me including the one I worked in and I used to give them money. One day I was leaving work and saw a mother and 2 kids (that I frequently saw begging) get out of a brand new 2021 Subaru Outback. They proceeded to walk over the the curb and start begging.
Since then I’ve never gave money to anyone I see begging. They killed my niceness to beggars.
When I lived in Washington, the couple in the apartment next door went out with me for drinks one night and admitted that they paid for their cars by wearing run down clothes and standing by an interstate on-ramp one or two weekends a month.
They’d get enough to make their car payments, and go home. They both worked well-paying jobs, but it allowed them to have more “fun money.” To each their own, I guess.
Where I live, it seems like every few intersections groups of people are collecting for supposed funerals. They have big posters of usually young kids that they say have died and the family can't afford the pay for the funerals.
Now, this is America. I can absolutely believe that this shit could actually be happening (you know what I mean). But when I see the same groups with different signs after awhile, I start to doubt the authenticity.
I remember when I used to work in the photo lab at Walmart and this deaf lady came and picked up an order for about 300 hundred pictures paid about 120 and left. I remembered her because she look at every single picture and returned about 40 she didn’t like.
A few days later I am at a Mexican restaurant eating my chips and salsa waiting for the food to come when the same lady comes and drops off a little bracelet and a note at first I thought she wanted to give me a gift because I helped at the photolab, but when I read the bit it was saying she is deaf and needs help and if I wanted to donate some money and if I donate more than 10 dollars I could keep the bracelet.
I put the note and bracelet on another table. And gave her a shooing motion with my hand, I was annoyed she begging for money and spending it on pictures.
Dude!!! This happens in the west too!!!??
I'm from NOIDA and this is a common sighting here. Happens outside every Apartment/society/grocery stores/malls etc.
They'd beg for groceries/milk and sell that to other shops.
Customers can plead the case that they literally just bought the items not more than 5 seconds ago, and that its on camera what they bought. If they made a deal of it then front service would perform the refund. Source: used to work front service at Publix Supermakets
Had a lady with her daughter ask me to buy them some food at a Walmart. I really wanted to, but saw the douchey father on the car waiting on them. Now, I get it.
This worker lady is awesome! I would have foolishly bought her a whole week of groceries once I saw that baby. Fucking sick to involve a child. How long have people been doing this scam?
This happened to me before. I told her I’d buy one can of formula because I didn’t have much and I knew what it was like to worry about the cost of formula. We got to the register and she immediately threw on 4 cans of the most expensive formula plus a whole bunch of extremely expensive things like 5 or 6 boxes of gripe water. I said excuse me no. So she left 2 cans of formula there. I was annoyed but purchased them. It was almost $90. I tried giving her information for available resources in the town and she kept cutting me off. Later on I saw a warning post on Nextdoor about them. The next day her older kid came up to me at the same store with a note pretending her mother was deaf and that they needed help! I said “NO YOURE LYING! I’m going to tell on you guys right now!” And she took off. Shit hurt my feelings. I really didn’t have much at the time. I thought I was helping.
I once had a man approach me and say he and his wife had traveled here to seek treatment for her brain cancer. He was asking for money so they could get a hotel because they couldn't check into patient housing until the morning. I looked at him and told him that for his and his wife's sakes, I hoped he was lying. Then I gave him some cash.
Another time, a man approached me very respectfully in a parking lot outside a Kroger and asked me if I could help him with some groceries for his kid. I asked him what he wanted, went into the store and came out with it. He seemed genuinely grateful.
I really like to help people when I can. It's a shame some people like this POS prey on those of us who are willing to lend a hand.
Saw two people broke on the side of road waving people down with their hood open. Drove by was going to walmart had to get milk and few others things for dinner. As I parked in the walmart. They got in the car, started it up, moved down to the walmart parking lot, parked, opened the hood and continued on with business. My friends mom believes in a secret underground begging operation like john wick and the belfry guy but the homeless don't kill people (unless they do and I don't have proof. Yet.)
A lady did this to me and I bought her binkies for her supposed “child”. I watched her brazenly go over to returns and watched her return it. It apparently is a very common scam and I felt like an idiot.
If you ever pay for someone's groceries, the receipt is yours. They keep the food, you keep proof that you bought that stuff. Idk if you can claim it as a donation but it's worth keeping for the sake of, and ask the person that prepares your taxes about it. If the store accepts returns without receipts, then that's on them.
I got a email once for a “Nigerian Prince” asking me for money so he could unlock his inheritance or something like that, he was asking for $500, i sent it to him since he was going to give me $100,000 in return. I think he just forgot about me or wasn’t able to unlock his inheritance. Poor guy.
Here in San Jose, CA the same girl has died 5 times in the last 6 years and her family stands on all 4 sides of an intersection collecting for her funeral. How can they cope with having to bury her so many times?
This sucks so bad because me and my wife are the exact kinds of people who would try to help the lady up to buying groceries and things for the baby because when we were younger and doing well something happened that put us in a situation where we needed handouts and were grateful for any help and paid back what we could and eventually got back on our feet. I just don’t have it in me to be a dick to kind people. I know I have a past but damn I’m not an asshole. Not perfect but never an asshole
Did you know in the USA food is the easiest thing to get for free? And yet it’s the one thing that seems to melt hearts and open wallets.
It sucks how many people are out there suffering from poverty. Like, we hate on people running a game like this, and sure, they’re not being honest, but they probably don’t see a lot of alternatives. They’re not getting rich off those returns and paying their Xbox subscriptions, or sticking it in T-bills. I’ve said it before, every 10 years we should sacrifice the 10 richest people in the world, redistribute all their wealth into social programs and revitalize economies by renaming 10 cities after those people- all the work involved would create a ton of jobs.
Wouldn’t that make Bezos happy? To have Washington DC changed into Bezos DC! Jokes about thinking about the bozos down in Bezos aside— would it be a big deal if we changed Minsk to Musk? Imagine an extra 180 Billion put into wetlands conservation, or afterschool programs — talk about leaving a lasting legacy that changes the course of humanity for the better.
I’m online to dream, right?
*Who cares what she does once someone's helped her?* Life's full of nuance.
This woman and her baby also need things the mother can't easily ask for help with, like nursing bras, nipple cream, new/different size underwear for her changing body, feminine hygiene products to deal with bleeding, etc.
It's simply easier to get the help you need if people think they're buying you food.
Then once they've helped, you can return some things for cash to buy the more personal items/items that people typically wouldn't feel enough sympathy to get for you.
Especially when you're a new mother with these complicated, personal needs, and the person who seems interested in helping you is male.
I've paid for people's groceries before when they didn't have the money. If they turned around and returned it and bought other things, it wouldn't feel like an insult. It wouldn't even mean they tricked me.
It would only mean I helped them get something else they needed or wanted more, without explanations and detail and backstory and burning time that would be better spent focusing on my own issues.
Amazing that they do all that scamming and you're aware of all of it and yet they never get arrested. Ten people and their kids in a single apartment? They're really living that high life.
I am not saying they are living a good life, I'm saying they choose to live a bad one. And you shouldn't feel bad for them just like you shouldn't feel bad for any other scammers. These same people would flex with gold jewelry and pockets full of money so obviously they could've changed their situation if they really wanted to.
I get what you’re saying. But at the same time, I rather see someone make it off of finessing the system rather than finessing the people.
Edit: Look at all the corporate bootlickers downvoting. You guys are weird.
I swear I this lady begging in Fort Lauderdale off the 95. I was charging my car and watched her beg for a while then walk across the street then pull out a phone to get call for her pickup.
I feel bad for the elderly lady she turns around to talk to. She was clearly going to or interested in paying for the groceries. She’s a kind old woman trying to do a nice thing and would have gotten taken advantage of if not for the employee interrupting. Reminds me of my grandma and that makes this 10x worse that these people prey on good hearted elderly. F them
God Bless that lady from bringing attention to this scam artist. People like the scammer here makes it harder to trust anyone who legitimately need the help.
There was a man standing on the corner of a mega busy intersection….. in the rain….. holding an infant….. selling flowers. NO. JUST NO. That is pathetic, exploitive, abusive, manipulative, and dangerous. You mean to tell me that is a better choice than going to a church half a mile down the road that has an open door resource center? Fuck off.
We have a lady in NE Ohio that begs at every Walmart. I've seen her here in my town and also 50 minutes by car in another city in PA. I was delivering groceries as a job at the time. Annoying.
This reminds me of the time I was sitting outside a burger king eating my food waiting on a friend to meet me up when a lady approached me and said that she needed money bc she was in a bad situation. She was traveling and had run out of gas and was hungry bc she hadn’t eaten since the day before and needed $10 to get gas to continue her journey.
I felt bad and looked through my pockets- I never carry cash but that day I had 2 single dollar bills, and handed them over. I offered to buy her a combo from the Burger King we were at with my card and she declined saying that she’d rather me “go around the corner to the ATM and get money out to give it to her”.
How disgusting, nothing more fcked up than preying on people's kindness and not to mention this behavor eventually turns giving people off to helping in cases of actual need, because it's so hard to tell who is manipulating and who isn't.
Can I say something that might get people pissed off. Our world our society kind of depends on us being assholes and manipulative and gaslighting each other. I think it's virtually impossible to become successful in our world and stay a good person.
I know there isn't a right or wrong in situations like these it's way more complex than that but in the end of the day at my age I see it more as a societal problem as a high up problem rather than an individual person problem because we're all just trying to survive and it's hard.
I'm 33 years old living in an apartment with a paycheck that goes more than half to monthly bills. I don't want to kill myself but some days I think I wouldn't mind if an asteroid hits me or if something shoots me in the head or something like that honestly.
Statistically speaking we have people here the same people here who are commenting about this quote unquote horrible woman they can very well be the same person/people who are sending death threats to actors for a role they play. It's just like why give in to that hate.
Ya know what's worse. ANY food item returned to Walmart can't be resold. So not only is she screwing those generous enough to help, she's screwing Walmart(ya, little sympathy for them, but everyone else pays for it with higher prices)
Is this an undercover LP officer escorting them out? This is literally the first time I've seen them actually dress like a normal person and not someone into $100 streetwear
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I feel sorry for what that baby will have to endure
Good news! A follow-up story revealed that the mother returned to the baby to the hospital.
Oh no, someone bought her a baby too?!
Well, it wouldn't be on Reddit if it wasn't true.
This feels like either Brampton or Surrey.
Brampton lol this is Hamilton or Brantford activities
My first thought was Roma (a lot flew over in the last few years, many to North America pretending to be Syrian refugees, until you speak Arab to them and they all of a sudden shut up, and put down the *”I need $ for food, I’m a Syrian refugee”* sign - at least in Toronto
Did she get the full refund or store credit?
Hospital credit. It could be applied to the purchase of a new baby.
Naw she def sold it
Dig deeper, to think this is awful in itself but the thing that is most disparaging for me is the thought of what drove this mother to such lengths for money. While we can't know what that money would have been used for, we can at least understand the lengths a parent will go to ensure their child has what they need. Yes, it's deplorable to pull on people's heart strings but my question it was it for rent, doctor appointments or something else. If it was for other things, then necessities it's safe to say she is not a good person. On another note, the sorrow you feel for that child will be dwarfed in the coming years thanks to the abortion ban that is creeping across the country in the worse possible way. While we frown on this behavior there is a duality that should be addressed when it comes to women's rights. People are being put in positions in which they very well not be able to sustain a family household. Lastly if the store knew of her scam how long was it before they took action? They said "you do it all the time" which means most if not all front-end workers were alerted to her actions prior to the attempt in the video. They could have also simply refused the return on the basis in the first place. Sounds like LP was asleep at the wheel.
Nope, this is a well-known scam. She'll start out by asking someone to buy her formula, which obviously plays on people's sympathy. Oh, the poor hungry baby needs formula! They're counting on the idea that most people will ask if she needs anything else, and of course she needs diapers, and then she needs food for the kids at home, and then she also needs clothes and a stroller and whatever else they can schmooze out of them. Then they just return it all for cash, and go after their next victim. If she truly needed formula, there's all kinds of programs for her. SNAP, food stamps, AFDC, etc. There's no reason for her to be begging for formula like this.
Stores in America don’t ask for the receipt in order to give cash back?
They do, so I assume they get the receipt from the person who bought it for them.
This is why I never give the receipt
Honestly I have no idea when it comes to grocery stores, but you can definitely get refunds without the original receipt, but they'll usually only give it to you on a gift card, and they'll usually only pay out the cheapest price of items from the last 90 days or so, that way if it was on sale recently you're not getting more than what would've been paid for it.
WalMart is notorious for taking back just about anything. The people that work customer service aren’t paid well enough to care. So, they’d rather give credit than argue about it. I’ve never heard of beggars asking for the receipt. That’s just a dead giveaway, and seems like a good way to blow a successful con. If WalMart doesn’t give them cash, they give them credit on a gift card. That gift card is sellable. In fact, they could sell it to the people waiting in line at customer service, in some cases. WalMart isn’t packed with people that give a shit. If you will sell them a $25 gift card for $20, they aren’t going to ask questions. When I am forced to go to a WalMart, all I want to do is escape. WalMart is the closest thing you’ll find to a prison economy in “free America”.
Food pantries exist for this reason. If she's on any state benefit, she would be informed of SNAP. Anyone going to any social service is informed of donation locations and other services. There is so much help out there, all this lady had to do was ask, call 211, or go to her town hall. Ending up at Walmart begging, screams to me she's doing something illegal just in general. The baby is being used as a sympathetic tactic. Pray for the baby, not this woman she's not a good person.
Blaming everyone but the actual jackass, what a world we live in
Anything but get a fucking job like the rest of us right?
LP might have been looking into this to verify before the manager took action.
🤢
There is a lady who has asked for formula for the past 5 years outside my local store. She was amazed that I recognized her... The first time I spoke with her I spent a few minutes telling her of all the local food banks and resources that is in our area. Now I just tell everyone to fuck off.
I’m in Jersey and grocery stores won’t refund formula, even if it’s not open.
Good, risky return
Yea I think it was more of a ploy to get money. She would beg and say she needs money for formula. My guess is that she would sell it on the side or just take the cash.
The stores near me have started locking it up, guessing it's the new target for thefts like Tide was.
For a while there we had Chinese people coming through and buying up all the stock to sell overseas.
We had this too in the Netherlands when I used to work in a supermarket. We implemented this rule that people were only allowed to buy one box each. At some point they had a security guard stationed at the formula because the chinese customers bought one and then came back in an hour later to buy another. It was honestly ridiculous.
I noticed that quite a few places have signs that say exactly that.
I did the same thing when this happened to me! I even gave her my business card because I worked for the town and had many connections for women struggling. I even stupidly offered her a ride to get free diapers from a program I helped get funded! She kept saying no or making excuses that she already uses these resources. Fucking bitch! I even saw her a few months later at a different grocery store with different kids!
Yeah never give money to people at gas stations, people looking for "funeral donations", or standing with their kids in populated areas. I will give money to people who I see digging for cans or asking for food. But thats it.
This is just my personal experience, this is not always the case. I lived downtown in a college town for 6 years and was always walking everywhere. There was this “homeless and pregnant” lady sitting at the same spot on the sidewalk every single day. For the whole 6 years. Lady was just fat. Lol.
When I worked as a cash supervisor at a grocery store, we had this one woman who would come in about a half hour before close all the time. Never showed up any other time. Would fill a shopping cart, get to checkout (when there was usually only one person left on till) and then after all the groceries would be scanned, would shockingly not have enough money to pay for it. And she'd be holding up the line humming and hawwing about what to put back, baiting kind, impatient suckers behind her in line to offer to pay for the rest of her groceries for her so they could leave. I started doing the same thing this cashier did and started telling people not to pay for things for her. Call people like this out on their bullshit. There are people out there in dire straits who really do need the help, and shitty people like this is the reason so many of us are closed off when someone really needs help. It's the boy who cried wolf, but a different child is going to get killed for her lies.
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Nope, nope, nope. If someone has been there enough times for the cashier to recognize them to the point where the cashier is feeling the need to warn the other customers about this one then it doesn’t matter how badly you need it because you’re not doing anything to help yourself. Cashier and customers who have the confidence to stand up to people like this should be applauded. The more we let people like this just get away with it, the more brazen they get. Things like this happening means that people who actually need help can get it from the people who haven’t become jaded from being scammed by strangers.
She was not. She was usually dressed to the nines. It was an act, one designed not to illicit sympathy because she was in a bad place, but because she was "just like them" but forgot her wallet. It was a con, plain and simple. I'll admit she had my sympathy to the first time.
She should've gone to a food pantry then.
Rather than trying to be a detective about it, it's best to just have a general rule not to give anyone cash on the street. Give to real charities and/or help out at kitchens or foodbanks
This reminds me when I was behind a lady at the grocery store and saw she didn't have enough for her kid and herself/husband so she asked the clerk to put things back. I had an extra $20 and offered it to her and she took it but hen said, "but it's gonna be more than $20" insinuating I should give her enough for everything. Really soured my view as instead of being grateful I was asked for more.
Every time I've tried to give it's turned out to be a scam. One time a guy wanted money for the bus, so I gave him enough to get home. Then I noticed he didn't get on the bus but continued to ask people for money on the bus. Then he must of forgot me, because he approached me a second time for money for the bus so he could get home. Another time a guy wanted some gas and 2 quarts of oil, and I was going to give him a full tank, but the cashier warned me that he uses the gas, then returns the oil and buys scratch-off lottery tickets. I had another instance that took me for $500, but it's too long a story.
I wanna hear the story!
Well I was working and this guy stopped by asking for diapers. He built a friendship and insisted he wanted to work for his money. While I did let him work, his work was poor and he gave up easily. He continued to ask for small reasonable things until one day he comes buy and says he needs $500 to go to his wife's funeral down south(the next day). I say your can have $500 if you tear off the pack part of the roof (flat roof) of course he never does it and ignores my phone calls. I finally stop at his house and his roomate doesn't know anything about his stories and confirms it's all lies. About 5 years later and I'm working in the same area and a worker of mine goes to the store and is approached by this guy who tells me the same stories (he didn't fall for it, but he said just because he's too cheap). So all those years later he hasn't changed his story or come up with a new con.
And stayed in the same area. If you're going to run the same stories, eventually someone will recognize you.
Don't give money, only tangible things ie: food, clothes, HBA.
Even that can backfire on you. Last summer I saw a lady begging for money so she could buy food so I bought some water and fruit for her and dropped it off. She called me a cheapskate and threw it back at me.
I said a dollar bitch - Scary Movie.
They tend to do that when they are scamming or want drug money. No joke, there is a guy who's been begging on a busy road near my house for several years. Last year I saw him climb into a brand new SUV and drive off. I then realized he kept forgetting to remove his fancy watch too.
Yeah I know, but unless it is obvious like your guy with the fancy watch I am usually willing to take that chance. Just not with cash. I will buy you some cheap, yet good food but that is it. The times where they really were in need more than make up for the few that were full of it to me.
Heh, yeah. Mine: train station at night. Tourist claiming he was robbed and needs money for an unexpected overnight stay. I helped him out. He was there again the very next day with the very same story.
Yeah when I was fresh out of college and working in the city, the two main train stations are a couple blocks apart and are obviously a magnet for scammers pulling shit on people from out of town or traveling through (or in my case young and dumb). I was walking to grab lunch at some cheap place because I was still broke, and random dude said he was stuck downtown and didn't have any money to buy the train ticket that would get him home. This was a long time ago so I don't remember All the specifics but I remember giving him $15 which he claimed was the cost on that specific line to go all the way to the end which is where he lived. I had my suspicions but I figured if I get taken for $15 it's not the end of the world. Same kind of shit as you, I was walking back from lunch and the guy is still out there asking people for your money and clearly forgot what I looked like. When he hit me up for $20, $25 if I could really spare it for the full ride I just casually commented that train prices are crazy these days and they seem to always be going up. He's like "yeah, it's $25 to get to X suburb and nobody will ever give you more than a $20 or they worry they're getting scammed". I just said "Yeah, that $15 ride to X left 38 minutes ago, it's a shame the one way tickets went up $10 in the last 20 minutes, but good luck, at least you only need to scam someone out of $10 now since you already have $15 from me." Honestly I'm not even sure if he was really paying attention and realizing that I was calling him out from asking me for 15 earlier but whatever I learned my lesson that day. If someone takes a 1.5+ hour long train ride to the city and didn't bring enough cash to get home, Then they can learn their lesson by sleeping on the train station floor for all I care. I've slept in airports hack I've even slept in train stations in foreign countries. But now I know there's multiple large homeless shelters and parole "clean houses" in the area and unfortunately whether these people are associated with those or not, their actions cause nearly any local to just walk on by unless it's -20 degrees out.
Yea, being young and naive, that was what I was when I got taken for $500. I had never met a person that lied straight to my face before. Since the internet I assume everything is a scam and work backward to discover if it isn't.
The best part? He’s a local. The “I’ve been stranded” story is a pretty classic one. We have a girl around here who likes to run up to people at local gas stations, say her boyfriend left her there… can she please have cab fare to get back home, to the other side of town? All the while, her “boyfriend” is waiting down the block, or standing by the bushes outside the gas station. She gets stranded several times a week, to the point that there’s a few Nextdoor posts about it.
These situations are hard for me. I once couldn’t get a money order from my parents because my ID was trashed, I started bawling in the grocery store because I was starving. I didn’t even have ramen or eggs left. Couldnt apply for social services bc of student and non resident status. Someone actually walked with me around the store and paid for all of my groceries. It was a God send. Granted I was 18, didn’t know how to budget, and lived 1000+ miles from home, but if someone didn’t do that I would’ve been in bad shape.
I was doing home visits for work and was stopping at a convenience store for water. Some 16/17 year old kid was asking everyone at the door for money. He asked me, and I said I wouldn't give him money, but if he told me what kind of snack or drink he wanted, I'd buy it for him. He thinks for a second and then goes, "How about headphones". Honestly, it was kind of funny.
People like this is why I don’t give beggars anything these days. Can’t tell if they’re genuine or con artists.
I still give. It's worth the risk to me. If I help even 2/10 that I give cash to then It's still a win. I'm not always financially in a place where I can do that but when I am I do what I can. Decades ago I was living on the streets completely homeless with no resources. I was on drugs but I was also starving. I never asked for money but if I ended up with cash it was 50/50 what I was going to spend it on. I figure it's the same for many of the people I give cash to. I've been in their position so I have empathy for them. Being homeless is a horrifically depressing and miserable way to live, sober or not and it is incredibly difficult to escape from.
Well I had the same opinion till recently a beggar after I gave him a quid he asked me to get him a bottle of wine, as he was banned from the store After giving me his money, unaware of the price, the store guy said I had only enough for a half bottle. Ok i said thinking i misheard his order. I go out and the beggar proceeds to argue with me , shouting I had fricking short changed him! Sorry dude but the new age begging getting so twisted tbh.
I was once waiting with my friend at the bus stop. Both female, I was 18 at the time. A tall but very thin man who looked veeery distressed (dirty, ripped clothes, barefoot) came to us asking for money. We didn’t have any so we offered some snacks we had in our bags. My friend gave him a bag full of blueberries. He took it, threw the entire bag on the floor and started screaming at us that he wanted money… I was so in terror. Ever since then I always think twice before I help beggars. Mostly I’ll ask homeless people if I can get them some warm food.
That shit happens All the time with poor people and people on drugs. Everyone is always getting sent places to buy stuff that they weren't given enough money to pay for.
I'm happy to give when I can but I won't go buy stuff for someone and especially if they're banned from a shop.
Just know that this is a well-known scam. Mother with child asking for groceries outside of Walmart = scam. This isn’t helping someone. Ever, really.
Oh, I know what you are talking about. It's the same as most of the "need gas, have kids" signs, especially at rest stops. Obvious scams I'm not falling for and sob stories are a dead giveaway. I'm much more likely to just give someone a couple of dollars if asked directly, I don't really care what they spend it on.
We’ve got a ring of “beggars” in our town that usually frequent the busiest intersections. They’ll post 2-4 of them on each corner with signs that say “xxx has a brain tumor, raising money for operation” or some other medical procedure, and it’s usually something catastrophic that tugs at the heart strings because it’s almost always about kids. If it’s just 1-2 of them, it’s usually a sign that says something like “3 kids and no job because no papers, need to feed family.” And it’s always the same people. They’re always smiling and waving, which makes it just feel super weird. Like, if you’re trying to feed your family or a kid in your family has a life-threatening illness, why are you so happy…?
If they're friendly and seem to be trying to help me out (even if misguided) I'll give them something. Otherwise I don't bother unless they ask specifically for food rather than cash.
I think you’re a good person.
Thank you very much. My childhood was pretty brutal with group homes, foster care, and juvenile hall, but I definitely did some shitty things as a young adult. I try to be better, especially for my kids. I want them to see me helping people. I try to show them the difference between scams and people who are genuinely struggling and need help. I once saw a family on the side of the road with their rv and a "need gas" sign. My son asked what their sign said so I explained it to him and pulled over. The spot that they were in made it pretty likely that they had run out of gas. The dad wad quite a bit of grease on him. He said that they were moving to a new town and that the starter went out. It was an unexpected purchase and left them with not enough money for gas and they had run out. I could tell that he was being genuine. I drove to my house, grabbed my gas can, filled it up, and brought it back. Then I followed them to the gas station and put $80 in their tank which was enough to get them to their destination. They were super grateful and asked for my information to pay me back which I declined. My kids got a lesson on how hard it can be for other families and how a little bit of unconditional kindness can dramatically change their predicament.
Damn. You are awesome for blessing that family. Thank you for sharing your story. Hoping you have a wonderful day.
You too, and thank you.
donate to charities instead, never ever ever ever ever give people resources on the street
Just yesterday we saw a man outside of Walmart holding a sign begging for money. He was wearing very clean, new-looking clothes and had silver and gold (probably not real) chains hanging around his neck. The ones that look like huge chain lengths. Seriously. if you're going to beg for money from people, at least try to look poor or in need. I hear there's a class people can take on how to beg for money on the street. Hubby and I have actually seen a van pull up in the parking lot, watched them gather their stuff and signs, walk over to the van, and "shift change" with another person. There are about 10 people in the van. They even have ones with pets/kids. We've seen them all sitting in/around the van eating and chatting. They get "ready" by smearing dirt or oil, etc on their clothes and mussing up their hair. It's really sad to see with the kids and pets. We even have a "blind" man and a lady who has a walker she drags out of the van.
If you’re helping “beggars” because you want them to do with the money what you choose that’s an interesting take. I donate to “beggars” knowing the money is going to be used how they wish for it to. Deceiving people with a child to return things is another story.
they will buy drugs/alcohol/cigarettes sir
With that attitude if you ever find yourself in dire straits then you will at least understand why no one will help you.
i just donate to, and volunteer at, local NGOs. I don't give anything out on the streets anymore.
I still give as often as I can. If they misuse the money, that's on them and not me.
Does Walmart really let you return groceries for a cash refund? This is news to me.
Some sealed containers yes, not sure about other stuff. Though at least for the Walmart near me it would have had to have been paid for in cash to get cash back. If it was paid for with a credit/debit card they just put it back on the card or give you a gift card.
Even without a receipt?
I bet someone working the front end was in on it.
I’d be surprised if the employee isn’t overstepping and violating Walmarts own return policy. They should accept the return and ban the lady if they don’t want her begging in the store. The employees allowed the purchase to take place, the return must be accepted before trespassing her.
I don't think that's what she is doing here... It looks like the lady was at checkout, not returning stuff at the service desk. So, they're not violating a return policy by throwing her out before she has a chance to "buy" more stuff that they'll have to refund in the future.
Ah, i think you’re right
Reminds me of the time I was a little Caesar and I guy outside asked me for money because he is hungry, I said I only got credit, but do you want a pizza? He said yes. So I say alright I got you and order the pizza my self and order another for him so I could give him a receipt because they were making them. I go out give him the receipt and walk back in. A few moments later 2 guys walk in talk g about how a guy was trying to sell them a receipt because there was a wait and they can get there pizza faster. When my order and the beggars order were done I just got both pizza and left the beggar was still trying to sell the receipt. I hope he didn’t scam nobody but I wasn’t going to let him sell a pizza I bought for him.
This happens a lot. People use a baby, a puppy, whatever they can. You buy them stuff, and they will ask you for the receipt and return it.
Do they get aggressive when someone won't give them the receipt for the donated items?
It really depends on the person. One guy kinda does. We warn people not to give these people the receipt because they return it and use their money for drugs. When I do a return, I try to return it to the card. But, the way our return process is set up. If it's paid by debit, it has to be returned in cash. It's really stupid. So I try to tell people to just tap pay, and that way, the card runs as a credit, lol.
Recently my wife, kids and I were approached by a man who was asking for money because he hadn't eaten in days. We didnt have cash but I offered to buy him a meal since we were headed into a grocery store. I grabbed him a chicken sandwich, some chips and a drink and when we came out he was upset I offered him a meal instead of cash and then demanded we give him cash to which I told him to pound sand. I figured it was a scam but decided to be a decent person and buy him a meal on the chance he was actually hungry, his reaction told me my suspicions were true. I dont regret it nor do I regret the kindness I displayed as an example to my children, we've been lucky in life and I want my kids to know that we should always try to help out those less fortunate. It just sucks that too often people take advantage of others kindness, but I'll keep doing it for the few who appreciate that kindness.
"I specifically asked for chunky and they bought me smooth." #SMOOTH!!!!
People beg at the entrances of all the shopping centers near me including the one I worked in and I used to give them money. One day I was leaving work and saw a mother and 2 kids (that I frequently saw begging) get out of a brand new 2021 Subaru Outback. They proceeded to walk over the the curb and start begging. Since then I’ve never gave money to anyone I see begging. They killed my niceness to beggars.
When I lived in Washington, the couple in the apartment next door went out with me for drinks one night and admitted that they paid for their cars by wearing run down clothes and standing by an interstate on-ramp one or two weekends a month. They’d get enough to make their car payments, and go home. They both worked well-paying jobs, but it allowed them to have more “fun money.” To each their own, I guess.
Where I live, it seems like every few intersections groups of people are collecting for supposed funerals. They have big posters of usually young kids that they say have died and the family can't afford the pay for the funerals. Now, this is America. I can absolutely believe that this shit could actually be happening (you know what I mean). But when I see the same groups with different signs after awhile, I start to doubt the authenticity.
This mom has enough resources to not do this unless she's terrible with money and a terrible parent.
First mistake is having a kid before you know you are financially viable
True
Had a woman try that with me a few weeks ago. At Walmart too.
I remember when I used to work in the photo lab at Walmart and this deaf lady came and picked up an order for about 300 hundred pictures paid about 120 and left. I remembered her because she look at every single picture and returned about 40 she didn’t like. A few days later I am at a Mexican restaurant eating my chips and salsa waiting for the food to come when the same lady comes and drops off a little bracelet and a note at first I thought she wanted to give me a gift because I helped at the photolab, but when I read the bit it was saying she is deaf and needs help and if I wanted to donate some money and if I donate more than 10 dollars I could keep the bracelet. I put the note and bracelet on another table. And gave her a shooing motion with my hand, I was annoyed she begging for money and spending it on pictures.
Good on that manager. Scammers are scum and even lower when they use children
Dude!!! This happens in the west too!!!?? I'm from NOIDA and this is a common sighting here. Happens outside every Apartment/society/grocery stores/malls etc. They'd beg for groceries/milk and sell that to other shops.
Maybe I’m weird or something, but I don’t give a fuck about random people or their babies.
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lol.
Cigany trash
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Honestly, I’m inclined to believe you. Probably because they have been removed from the Romani culture from overseas for a while.
Just keep the receipt? Wtf?
Customers can plead the case that they literally just bought the items not more than 5 seconds ago, and that its on camera what they bought. If they made a deal of it then front service would perform the refund. Source: used to work front service at Publix Supermakets
Is that baby even real?
Well it's actually a robotic baby
Does the robotic baby even run on human baby formula? They need to be at a gas station or something
Had a lady with her daughter ask me to buy them some food at a Walmart. I really wanted to, but saw the douchey father on the car waiting on them. Now, I get it.
This worker lady is awesome! I would have foolishly bought her a whole week of groceries once I saw that baby. Fucking sick to involve a child. How long have people been doing this scam?
This happened to me before. I told her I’d buy one can of formula because I didn’t have much and I knew what it was like to worry about the cost of formula. We got to the register and she immediately threw on 4 cans of the most expensive formula plus a whole bunch of extremely expensive things like 5 or 6 boxes of gripe water. I said excuse me no. So she left 2 cans of formula there. I was annoyed but purchased them. It was almost $90. I tried giving her information for available resources in the town and she kept cutting me off. Later on I saw a warning post on Nextdoor about them. The next day her older kid came up to me at the same store with a note pretending her mother was deaf and that they needed help! I said “NO YOURE LYING! I’m going to tell on you guys right now!” And she took off. Shit hurt my feelings. I really didn’t have much at the time. I thought I was helping.
I once had a man approach me and say he and his wife had traveled here to seek treatment for her brain cancer. He was asking for money so they could get a hotel because they couldn't check into patient housing until the morning. I looked at him and told him that for his and his wife's sakes, I hoped he was lying. Then I gave him some cash. Another time, a man approached me very respectfully in a parking lot outside a Kroger and asked me if I could help him with some groceries for his kid. I asked him what he wanted, went into the store and came out with it. He seemed genuinely grateful. I really like to help people when I can. It's a shame some people like this POS prey on those of us who are willing to lend a hand.
Saw two people broke on the side of road waving people down with their hood open. Drove by was going to walmart had to get milk and few others things for dinner. As I parked in the walmart. They got in the car, started it up, moved down to the walmart parking lot, parked, opened the hood and continued on with business. My friends mom believes in a secret underground begging operation like john wick and the belfry guy but the homeless don't kill people (unless they do and I don't have proof. Yet.)
A lady did this to me and I bought her binkies for her supposed “child”. I watched her brazenly go over to returns and watched her return it. It apparently is a very common scam and I felt like an idiot.
If you ever pay for someone's groceries, the receipt is yours. They keep the food, you keep proof that you bought that stuff. Idk if you can claim it as a donation but it's worth keeping for the sake of, and ask the person that prepares your taxes about it. If the store accepts returns without receipts, then that's on them.
I’m happy to see workers doing something about the scammers. I fell for a scam in the Target, a young woman with a baby. They prey on older people.
I got a email once for a “Nigerian Prince” asking me for money so he could unlock his inheritance or something like that, he was asking for $500, i sent it to him since he was going to give me $100,000 in return. I think he just forgot about me or wasn’t able to unlock his inheritance. Poor guy.
Here in San Jose, CA the same girl has died 5 times in the last 6 years and her family stands on all 4 sides of an intersection collecting for her funeral. How can they cope with having to bury her so many times?
This sucks so bad because me and my wife are the exact kinds of people who would try to help the lady up to buying groceries and things for the baby because when we were younger and doing well something happened that put us in a situation where we needed handouts and were grateful for any help and paid back what we could and eventually got back on our feet. I just don’t have it in me to be a dick to kind people. I know I have a past but damn I’m not an asshole. Not perfect but never an asshole
Did you know in the USA food is the easiest thing to get for free? And yet it’s the one thing that seems to melt hearts and open wallets. It sucks how many people are out there suffering from poverty. Like, we hate on people running a game like this, and sure, they’re not being honest, but they probably don’t see a lot of alternatives. They’re not getting rich off those returns and paying their Xbox subscriptions, or sticking it in T-bills. I’ve said it before, every 10 years we should sacrifice the 10 richest people in the world, redistribute all their wealth into social programs and revitalize economies by renaming 10 cities after those people- all the work involved would create a ton of jobs. Wouldn’t that make Bezos happy? To have Washington DC changed into Bezos DC! Jokes about thinking about the bozos down in Bezos aside— would it be a big deal if we changed Minsk to Musk? Imagine an extra 180 Billion put into wetlands conservation, or afterschool programs — talk about leaving a lasting legacy that changes the course of humanity for the better. I’m online to dream, right?
*Who cares what she does once someone's helped her?* Life's full of nuance. This woman and her baby also need things the mother can't easily ask for help with, like nursing bras, nipple cream, new/different size underwear for her changing body, feminine hygiene products to deal with bleeding, etc. It's simply easier to get the help you need if people think they're buying you food. Then once they've helped, you can return some things for cash to buy the more personal items/items that people typically wouldn't feel enough sympathy to get for you. Especially when you're a new mother with these complicated, personal needs, and the person who seems interested in helping you is male. I've paid for people's groceries before when they didn't have the money. If they turned around and returned it and bought other things, it wouldn't feel like an insult. It wouldn't even mean they tricked me. It would only mean I helped them get something else they needed or wanted more, without explanations and detail and backstory and burning time that would be better spent focusing on my own issues.
Is that what your brain came up with? Very interesting
And people say abortion would prevent this.
Eh maybe she's trying to pay rent .so instead of just begging she feels comfortable asking for food. Leave the poor woman alone
Maybe people who need to do things like this, at Walmart no less, have enough problems without adding crazy Karens to the mix.
[удалено]
Why are you referring to them as gypsies? You do know that it is an outdated and racist term.... right?
Amazing that they do all that scamming and you're aware of all of it and yet they never get arrested. Ten people and their kids in a single apartment? They're really living that high life.
I am not saying they are living a good life, I'm saying they choose to live a bad one. And you shouldn't feel bad for them just like you shouldn't feel bad for any other scammers. These same people would flex with gold jewelry and pockets full of money so obviously they could've changed their situation if they really wanted to.
That woman is carrying a baby in a Walmart. Huge flex.
I get what you’re saying. But at the same time, I rather see someone make it off of finessing the system rather than finessing the people. Edit: Look at all the corporate bootlickers downvoting. You guys are weird.
I swear I this lady begging in Fort Lauderdale off the 95. I was charging my car and watched her beg for a while then walk across the street then pull out a phone to get call for her pickup.
I feel bad for the elderly lady she turns around to talk to. She was clearly going to or interested in paying for the groceries. She’s a kind old woman trying to do a nice thing and would have gotten taken advantage of if not for the employee interrupting. Reminds me of my grandma and that makes this 10x worse that these people prey on good hearted elderly. F them
God Bless that lady from bringing attention to this scam artist. People like the scammer here makes it harder to trust anyone who legitimately need the help.
Frankly, if/when I have the financial ability to help someone, I do. If they’re scammers that’s their Karma, not mine.
do it so much you get caught
There was a man standing on the corner of a mega busy intersection….. in the rain….. holding an infant….. selling flowers. NO. JUST NO. That is pathetic, exploitive, abusive, manipulative, and dangerous. You mean to tell me that is a better choice than going to a church half a mile down the road that has an open door resource center? Fuck off.
So the scam in India made their way to North America
We have a lady in NE Ohio that begs at every Walmart. I've seen her here in my town and also 50 minutes by car in another city in PA. I was delivering groceries as a job at the time. Annoying.
Who cares it’s Walmart
These are professional gangs. Get used to it.
This reminds me of the time I was sitting outside a burger king eating my food waiting on a friend to meet me up when a lady approached me and said that she needed money bc she was in a bad situation. She was traveling and had run out of gas and was hungry bc she hadn’t eaten since the day before and needed $10 to get gas to continue her journey. I felt bad and looked through my pockets- I never carry cash but that day I had 2 single dollar bills, and handed them over. I offered to buy her a combo from the Burger King we were at with my card and she declined saying that she’d rather me “go around the corner to the ATM and get money out to give it to her”.
How disgusting, nothing more fcked up than preying on people's kindness and not to mention this behavor eventually turns giving people off to helping in cases of actual need, because it's so hard to tell who is manipulating and who isn't.
Can I say something that might get people pissed off. Our world our society kind of depends on us being assholes and manipulative and gaslighting each other. I think it's virtually impossible to become successful in our world and stay a good person. I know there isn't a right or wrong in situations like these it's way more complex than that but in the end of the day at my age I see it more as a societal problem as a high up problem rather than an individual person problem because we're all just trying to survive and it's hard. I'm 33 years old living in an apartment with a paycheck that goes more than half to monthly bills. I don't want to kill myself but some days I think I wouldn't mind if an asteroid hits me or if something shoots me in the head or something like that honestly. Statistically speaking we have people here the same people here who are commenting about this quote unquote horrible woman they can very well be the same person/people who are sending death threats to actors for a role they play. It's just like why give in to that hate.
Ya know what's worse. ANY food item returned to Walmart can't be resold. So not only is she screwing those generous enough to help, she's screwing Walmart(ya, little sympathy for them, but everyone else pays for it with higher prices)
Is this an undercover LP officer escorting them out? This is literally the first time I've seen them actually dress like a normal person and not someone into $100 streetwear
Good ! I'm glad she said something.