People asking for spare coins, is it usually legit in UK?

31 comments

1. Total scam.

2. Never give anyone money on the streets. There are legitimate charities and organisations who will help homeless people so if you want to donate use them. The people begging on the street are usually needing a quick fix for their addiction.

3. I had a young lady come up to me flustered at the hospital saying she didn’t have enough to get out of the car park. I pointed out that the barriers were open and the machine was off. When I came out of the hospital later she was trying it on with someone else.

4. Oldest scam in the book. Xp for bus/train.

5. Human nature doesn’t vary that much across country borders. They are just scams here as well.

6. It’s a scam. Ignore them.

7. You had a close call pal, could of had you right in the bag

8. It’s a junkie.

   Sometimes they pose as homeless, sometimes they pose as being lost or something. It’s all the same.

9. Total scam. If you’re in the area enough you’ll recognise the people on approach. They often say I need change for the bus but turns out they live local.

10. 100% scam. Almost always at transport hubs. If you gave her money she would probably respond with disappointment and say ‘is that it?’. Speaking from experience. And then never give disguised beggars money again.

11. 50% chance they want it to spend on something else. 49% chance they’re being controlled by organised criminals who will be taking the beggings. 1% chance they’re honest.

12. Degenerate drug addicts. Tell them to do one

13. 99% a scam / grift, they will try to get you to give money with a sob story, the most common is train / bus fare but can also include food or a hotel

    It sounds callous but it’s easier to ignore them than say no as someone will follow you and ask for less or even try other shady shit.

    Majority are drug addicts or alcoholics, they don’t tend to be homeless.

14. Almost always a scam. Majority of busses take contactless payments these days, but the beggars haven’t updated their playbooks yet.

15. In England and Wales, begging is illegal under the Vagrancy Act 1824. But the police are usually unlikely to enforce the law on this ground alone. Beggars are prosecuted, but,, as a general rule,, this happens where the police have multiple grounds for detaining a person, and vagrancy is the easiest charge to prove.

16. who cares? It’s 60p.

17. 100% scam.

18. I used to live in London, and needed to get the last tube home at night after work – I realised I was a bit short on change so asked a passing woman if she could help me out.

    She looked absolutely mortified, shoved some money into my hand saying yes yes just take it while not properly looking at me.

    I always wondered if I just looked homeless/threatening to her because it seemed a strange way for her to react.

19. Try it, ask where the bus is going and offer to just pay it yourself. They just want the cash, funnily enough .

20. It’s like if you offer to buy someone asking for money for food a meal deal, they’ll often just be wanting the cash and decline, often quite rudely

21. The fact that they want money is legit. Them saying it’s for the bus etc, total scam. Had a guy ask me for busfare, told him I’d swipe him on, excuses followed.

22. The reason is usually lies but they do need the money so it’s not really a scam as such

23. It’s not for a bus. It’s for drugs or alcohol, usually. You can’t pay for a London bus with cash.

    If you watch them sometimes, you might see them do the fast walk away down to somewhere secluded as soon as they’ve got enough change for their next bit of Class A.

24. People are saying it’s a scam but it’s really just begging. Maybe the story is bullshit but they’re still desperate enough to be asking for a few pence. I don’t really care what they need the money for – it’s just a bit of a story to make things less awkward. It’s pretty obvious it’s going to be spent on a bottle of Frosty Jack.

25. It’s for drugs

26. My sister-in-law is one of the kindest people on the planet and if anyone asks her for money she’ll give it to them if she has it on her. Every single time I’ve been with her when someone asks her for 50p or some other small amount of change for ‘parking’ or ‘bus fare’ and she gets out her purse, the person immediately asks for a larger amount of money.

    Trust your intuition, if it feels off, it probably is.

27. Woman used to ask me for change for bus fare because she had lost her Oyster card (work that out!) She also needed to get home to Canary Warf from Hammersmith every Saturday morning and only needed £0.50 to do so!

28. There’s a typical scam, usually on the London Underground, where a woman pretends to be pregnant and is begging for money. Seen plenty of videos where people expose them for having some sort of cushion strapped to their bellies.

    In my home town, we have plenty of fake homeless people. They actually have proper houses just up the road from me and opt for begging as a form of income rather than more traditional methods.

29. It is typically not legit, they ask for a low amount of change and frame it as the ‘final piece’ to their ability to get home or to an important location & time to encourage you to help, because 60p seems very reasonable as a cost to helping someone,then they do it to someone else.
    In some cases it is also a probe, because if you are willing to give 60p maybe you’re willing to give more & more.
    The false homeless & beggars are typically very selfish people who are willing to use others, including those in their own community.
    And think nothing of the impact on those who are genuinely homeless and desperate for acts of kindness from strangers.

30. Usually not legit but who cares? The question I ask myself at times like this is: do I have the money spare to give them regardless what it is for? Either way you’ll be out 60p, I’d they use it for a boss or buy a can of cider it won’t make any difference to you and I would say it’s best to not think of the end result

31. I’ve had one, got stopped at a roundabout by a woman crying asking for to buy her fuel as she had to visit her mum in a care home….it’s was 2am on a Saturday. Not today crazy lady!