Begging scammers outside shops

StereoSound

Several shops I see people begging outside with a sign beside them written " I am homeless, please don't judge me, I have had a hard life " .... Same pretext in the same format, they obviously know each other. I always see one of them pulling out a mobile phone and then hiding it again behind him when people approach. These are just begging scams right? If he has a charged mobile phone then he must have accommodation somewhere.

wakka12

It could easily be a scam but I feel like theres better and faster ways to make mroe money than pretending to be a street beggar.
And I think having a charged phone doesnt mean hes not homeless. plenty of shops and cafes have charging docks, and so do public buildings like libraries.
And you can buy a cheap phone for30 or 40 euro, a blockia. Even less if secondhand
So not out of the question that a homeless man could have a charged phone

kylith

wakka12 wrote: »

It could easily be a scam but I feel like theres better and faster ways to make mroe money than pretending to be a street beggar.

Not really. It involves no skill other than looking pathetic. If there was a better way to make quick money we wouldn't be seeing organised begging gangs like there are.

elperello

Most homeless have a phone.
They need it to access services.

If you see people begging and they have the same signs it may be an indication of a scam. It could be that they don't have enough English to write one and somebody who has wrote the signs for a few of them.

Hector Bellend

You could always tell them to f*ck off and get a job

Hande hoche!

Hector Bellend wrote: »

You could always tell them to f*ck off and get a job

Best done when wearing a sharp suit and toting a briefcase.

RocketRaccoon

I was in New York recently and I reckon out of every 10 signs homeless people were holding, at least 8 of them said that today was their birthday. That'll soon catch on here too.

Hector Bellend

Hande hoche! wrote: »

Best done when wearing a sharp suit and toting a briefcase.

It brings me particularly great joy when done that way.

bucketybuck

A very busy shop in the area I lived when at college was beside a train station and always had beggars sitting outside the shop door.

One of the staff put a simple sign in the window which said something like: "Please don't give the beggars any money, I walk home, they go home in a Mercedes".

Hector Bellend

RocketRaccoon wrote: »

I was in New York recently and I reckon out of every 10 signs homeless people were holding, at least 8 of them said that today was their birthday. That'll soon catch on here too.

Maybe this is why birthday bashings were invented.

Joeseph Balls

RocketRaccoon wrote: »

I was in New York recently and I reckon out of every 10 signs homeless people were holding, at least 8 of them said that today was their birthday. That'll soon catch on here too.

Quiet high that. Surely being born on a certain date increases your risk of homelessness so. Why has there been no studies into this!!!

joe stodge

bucketybuck wrote: »

A very busy shop in the area I lived when at college was beside a train station and always had beggars sitting outside the shop door.

One of the staff put a simple sign in the window which said something like: "Please don't give the beggars any money, I walk home, they go home in a Mercedes".

the same can be said for the lads outside Lidl collecting for charities, i worked in the Coolock branch and it was a constant problem.

usually collecting for "Irish soup kitchens" or "animal ark" charities.

never had any ID and usually scarpered once they were threatened with the Gardai

myshirt

I seen a lady with a walking stick and back bent at a full 90 degree angle and in apparent visable pain.

I am convinced she is a fraud though, because I'm a genius and I am better than these vermin.

If I gave her money she would probably drink it, but then again who I am to judge because that's exactly what I was going to do with the money. At least if I did give it to her I would be safe in the knowledge that it was going into the till at the off license. If you gave it to certain charities who assure you 'We will make sure they get it', you actually don't know where the money is going, bar their own private pension.

PARlance

RocketRaccoon wrote: »

I was in New York recently and I reckon out of every 10 signs homeless people were holding, at least 8 of them said that today was their birthday. That'll soon catch on here too.

Let them eat cake!

Knex*

It's the fuckers sitting beside ATMs that I don't get.

As if you're going to hand them a 20.

Pat Mustard

StereoSound wrote: »

These are just begging scams right? If he has a charged mobile phone then he must have accommodation somewhere.

If he has a charged mobile phone, he could be charging it anywhere that he can get to an electrical socket for a period of time, before being moved on by security or Gardai. Could be a public building, shopping centre, etc.

Homeless people have certain access to food and accommodation as well and there have been threads about that on boards.ie in the past.

But I wouldn't call it a scam. It's no way to live.

Dr Crayfish

Pretending to read a book is one they've been doing a few years now in Dublin. It's hilarious when you see some heroin addict holding some Jeffrey Archer airport thriller!

Foxhound38

A lot of them live in studio accommodation - not rich by any stretch of the imagination but not homeless either. There's a dilapidated looking house over on the North Circular Road that an army of the Eastern European ones stream out of with sleeping bags, crutches and signs in hand every morning to catch the morning commuters on their way to work in different locations around town. It's been happening there for years.

Dr Crayfish

Foxhound38 wrote: »

A lot of them live in studio accommodation - not rich by any stretch of the imagination but not homeless either. There's a dilapidated looking house over on the North Circular Road that an army of the Eastern European ones stream out of with sleeping bags, crutches and signs in hand every morning to catch the morning commuters on their way to work in different locations around town. It's been happening there for years.

Yeah I know the house. I don't really get the Roma, like what are they looking to achieve ultimately?

Foxhound38

Dr Crayfish wrote: »

Yeah I know the house. I don't really get the Roma, like what are they looking to achieve ultimately?

Yeah, I've seen the place getting raided by the Gardai every once in a while (although I'm only assuming it's for them and not anyone else there) but that house has always been a fairly large source of the ones I see around town for the last few years.

I don't think it's a case of "achievement" per say, I think a combination of problematic cultural tradition and lack of other options due to no formal education and illiteracy is the cause of it. If they weren't doing that, what else would or could they do?

Dr Crayfish

Foxhound38 wrote: »

Yeah, I've seen the place getting raided by the Gardai every once in a while (although I'm only assuming it's for them and not anyone else there) but that house has always been a fairly large source of the ones I see around town for the last few years.

I don't think it's a case of "achievement" per say, I think a combination of problematic cultural tradition and lack of other options due to no formal education and illiteracy is the cause of it. If they weren't doing that, what else would or could they do?

Can't they not just get menial jobs and try to encourage their kids to do well in school, etc? Like the Chinese do? I wonder how the kids get on in our schools, if they even go?

kylith

Dr Crayfish wrote: »

Can't they not just get menial jobs and try to encourage their kids to do well in school, etc? Like the Chinese do? I wonder how the kids get on in our schools, if they even go?

Why would they get menial jobs when a good beggar can make more money?

Remember that guy who used to beg on Grafton St. with no shoes? The Gardaí had to issue a statement asking people to stop giving him anything and stop buying him shoes because 'he [had] more shoes than Shoe Locker at this stage.'

Jesus, I seem really harsh. I have sympathy for people who are genuinely homeless and begging, but there are a large number of organised groups for whom begging is a career.

suicide_circus

Remember, the Roma people you see begging ARE NOT HOMELESS. Some beg because it is a way of life and they know no different. Others because they are forced into it. But they are all part of organised large scale industrial begging.

retalivity

Speaking of shoes, have a look at the kicks on the next 'homeless' person or beggar you see. Theres loads knocking around dublin with brand new nikes and adidas, giving the poor mouth.

Dr Crayfish

suicide_circus wrote: »

Remember, the Roma people you see begging ARE NOT HOMELESS. Some beg because it is a way of life and they know no different. Others because they are forced into it. But they are all part of organised large scale industrial begging.

Well there don't seem to be as many around these days, maybe people are copping on finally. I work in the Grafton st area, doesn't seem to be as many Roma now but the mother-daughter Traveller Combo and that "PLEASE HELP ME" traveller woman still seem to be knocking around, they've been going for years.

Foxhound38

Dr Crayfish wrote: »

Well there don't seem to be as many around these days, maybe people are copping on finally. I work in the Grafton st area, doesn't seem to be as many Roma now but the mother-daughter Traveller Combo and that "PLEASE HELP ME" traveller woman still seem to be knocking around, they've been going for years.

I think "PLEASE HELP ME LOVE" woman has moved over towards the Baggot Street/Dawson Street direction lately. I work over there and she's always hassling me on the way home from work.

You're right though, she's been at it for years at this stage.

For some of them it's best to regard it as performance art. There are genuine cases all the same and they are the ones I feel sorry for, especially as they are often drowned out by the career scam merchants.

McMurphy

There is a lad who is always outside my local Aldi, an Irish lad, who seems to have just after been made homeless that very day, for about 2 or 3 years now, who hangs around the trolley area wanting to know if he can have your €2 coin.

I found it funny for the first few weeks that he approached me, mainly because of the shameless nature (like as if I don't realise it's the same lad giving me the same bull story)

These days I just smile at him. Even pretended not to speak English once.

If he just told me he wanted a few bob for a nagging (or whatever he really needing it for, because he's no more homeless than I am) he might get it occasionally.

It's treating me like a tick and the bs same lie that gets my back up.

Foxhound38

Rick Shaw wrote: »

There is a lad who is always outside my local Aldi, an Irish lad, who seems to have just after been made homeless that very day, for about 2 or 3 years now, who hangs around the trolley area wanting to know if he can have your €2 coin.

I found it funny for the first few weeks that he approached me, mainly because of the shameless nature (like as if I don't realise it's the same lad giving me the same bull story)

These days I just smile at him. Even pretended not to speak English once.

If he just told me he wanted a few bob for a nagging (or whatever he really needing it for, because he's no more homeless than I am) he might get it occasionally.

It's treating me like a tick and the bs same lie that gets my back up.

That's what I never understood - the "I just need a euro for the bus/hostel/medicine" bs story that every heroin addict in the city seems to half arsedly give now. Why bother with the bull****e? Why not just ask for the money and leave it at that.

There used to be a young fella who did the rounds over at the abbey street luas stop a little while ago (not sure if he is still there) who would stop in front of you and almost aggressively belt out "DYA HAVE 2 EURO?" and if you said no, he simply left and went to the next person. Whatever about the delivery but at least he was direct about it.

GhostyMcGhost

Joeseph Balls wrote: »

Quiet high that. Surely being born on a certain date increases your risk of homelessness so. Why has there been no studies into this!!!

Studies show that people who have more birthdays, live longer!

Avatar MIA

wakka12 wrote: »

I feel like theres better and faster ways to make mroe money than pretending to be a street beggar.

Of course there are, there are also jobs that take more energy and don't reward as well. A minimum wage worker will earn approx. €9 per hour after tax.

Do you think a beggar achieves less than this on a busy street?

ohnonotgmail

Rick Shaw wrote: »

There is a lad who is always outside my local Aldi, an Irish lad, who seems to have just after been made homeless that very day, for about 2 or 3 years now, who hangs around the trolley area wanting to know if he can have your €2 coin.

I found it funny for the first few weeks that he approached me, mainly because of the shameless nature (like as if I don't realise it's the same lad giving me the same bull story)

These days I just smile at him. Even pretended not to speak English once.

If he just told me he wanted a few bob for a nagging (or whatever he really needing it for, because he's no more homeless than I am) he might get it occasionally.

It's treating me like a tick and the bs same lie that gets my back up.

jaysus you really do have to pay for everything these days. I thought most men got those free*

*just my sense of humour. ignore me.

Capt'n Midnight

RocketRaccoon wrote: »

I was in New York recently and I reckon out of every 10 signs homeless people were holding, at least 8 of them said that today was their birthday. That'll soon catch on here too.

You don't think it was a coincidence that they all had the same really, really bad horoscope about becoming homeless ?


Astronomy is real , heed the warnings !

Stonedpilot

Some in Dublin are aggressive and aren't the dilapidated broken looking people holding cups on the side of the street people presume.

Some folk with walk straight up to you face invading personal space and demand money quite abruptly standing very close to you. Not the best tactic, intimidating people.

kildare lad

theres roma gypsys begging in my town. they get the bus out everyday from dublin, and start begging. The priest even said not to give them any money during mass one day. Most of them Gypsys have houses and get social welfare anyway. I wouldnt give them the steam off my piss. They should all be deported for milking the system

darkdubh

Dr Crayfish wrote: »

Well there don't seem to be as many around these days, maybe people are copping on finally. I work in the Grafton st area, doesn't seem to be as many Roma now but the mother-daughter Traveller Combo and that "PLEASE HELP ME" traveller woman still seem to be knocking around, they've been going for years.

They must have all moved down to Cork then cos theres loads around here lately.

jippo nolan

darkdubh wrote: »

They must have all moved down to Cork then cos theres loads around here lately.

They migrate south for the winter!

Mrs OBumble

suicide_circus wrote: »

Remember, the Roma people you see begging ARE NOT HOMELESS. Some beg because it is a way of life and they know no different. Others because they are forced into it. But they are all part of organised large scale industrial begging.

The Roma who were in Galway over summer had family meetings in Eyre Square each day. We reckon that they were comparing location results, and may even have a sophisticated analytic engine to figure out who to place in each location each day for maximum overall returns.

That family have moved on now, the new one doesn't seem to meet so publicly.

Ted Plain

I saw a lad once - not in ireland - who was perched up above ground level and who had fashioned a sort of fishing rod and was dangling a coffee cup down in front of passers-by.

aoh

There's a (presumably not homeless) woman who sits outside my local shopping centre selling The Big Issue. My problems with her are 1. Yakking on the moby. 2. Feeding treats to her dog and 3. Smoking. Not all that hard up! She's also been doing that for as long as I've been living here - over 20 years!!!