Early morning doorstep beggar

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6 am Saturday 15 Sept 2018 we answered door to well dressed man who asked for a lift to hospital where girlfriend was in labour.

After long discussion including fact that our car was at the menders my husband gave him ?20 for a taxi. He had never asked for cash.

Anyone else see him?

[Sue]

Assuming you live in East Dulwich and he was going to Kings, the taxi fare is six pounds ....

[singalto]

Why couldn?t he get the bus?

[Townleygreen]

well known scam, I'm afraid.

[JohnL]

So why would he want a lift - or just part of the scam ?

[El Presidente]

Lol. Clear scam. People keep doing it because people keep paying.

[DulwichFox]

If he was walking door to door ..

Could he not walk to Kings.. 20-25mins.

I'm assuming that as his girlfriend was in labour he is likely to be a young person..

Probably a scam.

DulwichFox

[Jenny1]

One of the saddest things about such scams is it that they make people distrustful of those who are really in need.

[Sue]

I don't understand this.

If the OP's car hadn't been off the road, would this man have been given a lift to Kings?

And if so, what was the scam, exactly?

Or was the man assuming that nobody would want to give somebody a lift at 6am?

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Sue Wrote:

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> Assuming you live in East Dulwich and he was going

> to Kings, the taxi fare is six pounds ....

No. He wanted to get to St George?s Tooting.

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Sue Wrote:

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> I don't understand this.

>

> If the OP's car hadn't been off the road, would

> this man have been given a lift to Kings?

>

> And if so, what was the scam, exactly?

>

> Or was the man assuming that nobody would want to

> give somebody a lift at 6am?

It was St George?s but you?re right about not wanting to get up at 6 am on Saturday

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singalto Wrote:

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> Why couldn?t he get the bus?

Cos there isn?t one that goes to Tooting from here.

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DulwichFox Wrote:

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> If he was walking door to door ..

> Could he not walk to Kings.. 20-25mins.

>

> I'm assuming that as his girlfriend was in labour

> he is likely to be a young person..

>

> Probably a scam.

>

> DulwichFox

Don?t know if she was in labour but he was young and smartly dressed. All I wanted to know was if anyone else had had a visit from him.

[Mscrawthew]

Anyone who had a girlfriend in labour would of walked to kings to ensure they didn't miss the birth. They knock at weird times in the hope you are sleepy and a bit fuzzy and get your purse out to get rid of them and go back to bed. The other scam is the" moved into number blur down the road and have no money for bread/milk/ gas etc etc and there is a baby in the house. Very good conmen and women but have been doing it for a very long time.

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Mscrawthew Wrote:

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> Anyone who had a girlfriend in labour would of

> walked to kings to ensure they didn't miss the

> birth. They knock at weird times in the hope you

> are sleepy and a bit fuzzy and get your purse out

> to get rid of them and go back to bed. The other

> scam is the" moved into number blur down the road

> and have no money for bread/milk/ gas etc etc and

> there is a baby in the house. Very good conmen and

> women but have been doing it for a very long time.

Strange that no one else has seen him.

[Angelina]

possibly, but maybe they did and they just haven't been looking at the Forum.

The thing is, they are so believable and they appeal to your good nature which is why you are validating the con to yourself.

When my mum got caught, she really believed that the lady would bring back the ?10 she had borrowed and couldn't believe someone would lie that well.

[Mscrawthew]

Another story...

http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?5,1941872,1941872#msg-1941872

[Sue]

It's easy enough to get to Tooting from here.

Bus to either Oval or Elephant, then Northern Line.

[jrpfinch]

You could just order an Uber for them. Or offer to go and buy them a bottle of washing up liquid or whatever they?re after.

If their collecting for charity, ask them for details of the website and give online

Etc

[lavender27]

My friend had a well dressed man knock at the door , and he gave him ?12 for his men to clean the windows, my friend called himself a "stupid bastard" for being conned like that. The windows are still dirty. Beware of con men.

[BrandNewGuy]

Problem: someone you don't know is at the door asking for money.

Solution: don't give them any.

[JohnL]

BrandNewGuy Wrote:

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> Problem: someone you don't know is at the door

> asking for money.

> Solution: don't give them any.

The problem with all solutions is they then try and get you into a "to and fro" about it, so you need to end it fast and unequivocally.

[Angelina]

It's very hard to say no to someone who has a convincing story - and you don't actually ever know if it's real or not.

I suppose you just go with what you feel comfortable with at the time and try not to beat yourself up about it later.

It's human nature to want to help people and we shouldn't suppress that just because there are scumbags out there who take advantage of other people's kindness.

[edcam]

I was take in by a similar scam years ago. These ones are often successful because the scammers appear entirely credible. Discussion of how to get to King's is sadly irrelevant here.

[yeknomyeknom]

It?s incredible to me that someone wakes up early, ie before 6. Gets all dressed up and heads off to swindle a stranger out of their money. I mean, they aren?t playing around. That?s doing a fully dedicated job of swindling. Impressive and abhorrent.