I agree, it's a con story. Happens all too often. If real, there are safe and structured ways for real unfortunates to get help.

 

Sounds like a scam to me as well, but I guess it could happen to someone. I don't give money to people that ask for it either. I think Barbara did the right thing for her safety.

 

Thanks everyone. I'll let Barbara know about this thread.

 

Yep, happened to me the other day. Guys girl friend was pregnant
and didnt have enough money for gas to get home. I gave the guy
a dollar, just so he would get the hell away from me.

 

It's a classic.

 

I've seen a group of men in a mall parking lot, with one small child. They took turns with the child while asking ppl for cash. Absolutely a con. Call the cops, or mall security.

 

Probably was a scam, but let me offer a similar scenario that turned out well for my oldest son.

My son and a friend were returning from a music symposium and stopped in a service station for fuel. A well dresses man driving a Mercedes asked if he could have 20 dollars to put enough fuel in to get home. It seems he and his wife had met earlier and exchanged vehicles, but he had left his wallet in the vehicle his wife had taken. He offered his business card, which identified him as a recording executive there in Nashville. They got to talking about music and the exec. asked if they played, to which my son said yes. My son and friend paid for twenty dollars of fuel and the man promised to repay them.
When my son told me what he had done I figured they'd received a twenty dollar lesson in scamming and forgot about it. About three days later my son received a letter from the same recording studio with a twenty dollar bill and a letter.
The letter stated that he was thankful for the young men's generosity and that he wanted to repay them fully by letting them record any song they wished in his studio up to 2.5 hours.

Sometimes we avoid opportunities to help others, and rightfully so, hopefully we can discern true need from simple greed.

 

There used to be a couple who would always come and stand outside my store for a few hours, ask for money, get whatever amount they were looking for and leave, then come back the next day. One day, I decided to go outside and confront them about it because some customers were complaining that the two would demand money if their begging didn't work.
As soon as I threatened the couple to please move away from my store or I'd call the cops, the girl began crying (seemed like a fake cry), saying, "See? Even this nice, young shop owner doesn't want us here. Life sucks, baby!" Her b/f began comforting her as he asked me, "Is there anyway you can help us with some money? I'm in need of a lot of cash. We haven't eaten for days."
I replied, "You get at least a dollar from each of my customers, so I'm assuming you should have well over $500 by now since you've been here for over a week." The guy said, "No, you don't understand. We lost the money because we have holes in our pockets."
I pulled out my cell phone and pretened to call the cops; as soon as I did that, they got up and walked away quickly. I haven't seen them for at least 3+ weeks now.

 

And you didn't throw a benefit for them?

 

I knew it was a scam from the way his g/f's cry seemed forced, as though she had planned on crying in case someone said anything negative to them.

Every once in a while, you find someone who is in genuine need of help, but you shouldn't expect everyone asking for money to be really honest about their reason for needing your money.