When I spent a semester studying in Europe, Roma/Romani (also improperly called g\*psy) were common in certain countries, especially France and Italy. We quickly became familiar with a number of scams associated with them. I’m aware of the cultural bias against them (and how Reddit likes to bring up European racism against Roma), but it was obviously important for us to not fall victim to scams.
Now, I’m seeing posts in various local American subreddits that I follow, with a sudden increase of posts about Romani scammers or vagrants, even in areas that previously didn’t have any at all. Is this a post-2020 phenomenon? Are you all seeing this in your areas as well?