Man knocking on door at 1am asking for money

[Sue]

eberg Wrote:

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> Aren't we all lucky that we don't have to resort

> to such desperate tactics to survive eh?

xxxxxxx

You think it's OK to survive by lying?

Many people manage to survive without regularly asking complete strangers for ?25.

This country may be going to hell in a handcart, but there is still some remnant of the welfare state hanging on by a thread. Sorry for mixed metaphors or whatever they are.

[eberg]

I'm glad that I don't feel that I have to survive by lying, but like a few others Sue I benefit from an event of pure luck.

I'm a white, middle class man born into an educated white middle class family. Things are stacked in my favour. I'm very lucky indeed.

[cle]

eberg Wrote:

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> I'm glad that I don't feel that I have to survive

> by lying, but like a few others Sue I benefit from

> an event of pure luck.

> I'm a white, middle class man born into an

> educated white middle class family. Things are

> stacked in my favour. I'm very lucky indeed.

Or their lack of decency and character which probably got them into the situation where they can only scam and lie for a living?

Which came first - product of bad luck/unfortunate upbringing, or the opportunism and greedy to scam a few lazy quid through lies?

[Drackie]

Oh my goodness, this happened to me last year summer in Peckham - she showed me her breasts...and expressed some milk, I didn't actually have any money on me but have always wondered about her and have always felt guilty in case she was actually in desperate need - as she seemed! In a way, I'm glad this doesn't seem to be the case but what did concern me is, if she was still expressing, there was possibly a young baby somewhere without it's mother while she was running up to any stranger who would stop!

[Sue]

Drackie Wrote:

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>what did concern me is, if she was

> still expressing, there was possibly a young baby

> somewhere without it's mother while she was

> running up to any stranger who would stop!

xxxxxx

Had this discussion on Saturday night!

We decided probably she was using a breast pump to keep the milk going and that possibly the original baby might now be a teenager (the alternative to the breast pump if said baby was a teenager being too horrible to contemplate ......)

[Sue]

eberg Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I'm glad that I don't feel that I have to survive

> by lying, but like a few others Sue I benefit from

> an event of pure luck.

> I'm a white, middle class man born into an

> educated white middle class family. Things are

> stacked in my favour. I'm very lucky indeed.

xxxxxx

There are many people for whom things are not stacked in their favour, but most of them don't feel entitled as a result to earn what is probably a pretty good living by scamming others.

[uncleglen]

If you want a job in the public sector in London and you are a white, middle class man- odds are well and truly stacked against you

[Dopamine1979]

This thread is impressive.

It's gone from Crimewatch to Daily Mail via Little Britain.

[Sue]

uncleglen Wrote:

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> If you want a job in the public sector in London

> and you are a white, middle class man- odds are

> well and truly stacked against you

xxxxx

And your evidence for that statement is - what, exactly?

[Voyageur]

Happening a fair bit in Crystal Palace too.

Would never open my door to a stranger at night TBH.

[KJJ]

I got the boob lady in Sydenham a couple of weeks ago. I have to say when i saw jer and told her no she actee a bit crazy and started tugging my arm and crying her eyes out. I felt awful so gave her some dosh. More fool me :(

[Greengramaphone]

.

[Crissy]

This was happening in SE25 too. It was knock on the door in the early hours of the morning and then asking for taxi money to get to the hospital.

[Greengramaphone]

.

[MrsDanvers]

Have you notified the police? These are all well-known criminal practices and if the police can catch the fraudster/thief (which is what these people are) they can take action. Another common one is a man claiming to be a new window cleaner in the area and asking for money in advance, with a promise to come back later in the week and do the windows then. Of course you never see him or your money again.

[stevie23b]

w

[Sally81]

I've just come across this thread and I'm pretty sure I saw this woman on Sat in Peckham. I happened to notice a lady dash towards a man and look as though she was begging . She looked like she may be homeless as she was extremely dirty and generally looking a bit down in her luck. Anyway , he tried to walk away and I could have sworn

She tried to show him her breast , but thought I must have got it wrong. Now I'm thinking that sadly, it must have been this same woman. I desperately hope she does not have a child depending on her somewhere.

[charlesfare]

I've been seeing that woman around for years now. She talks about not having enough money to buy milk for her baby/electricity for the kettle. Sometimes she exposes her self to prove that she can't breastfeed or something...hard to know what to say about someone like that. I doubt she does/hope she doesn't really have a child depending on her.

[SLad]

In relation to the lady who supports her attempt to obtain money by manual expressing, I know we all wish to appear very knowing and are probably somewhat jaded by repeated attempts by people we see as undeserving to extract our hard-earned money from our children's mouths etc but is it possible that in so doing we could exercise a little bit of human compassion? I cannot think for a moment how desperate this woman can be to act in this way. It is plainly not the action of a well person who has appropriate regard for the sanctity of her own person. Surely what she needs is care and help rather than condemnation and opprobrium from her local community.

[LondonMix]

That is so condescending...

Moral integrity isn't the preserve of the white educated middle-class. There are scam artists of every race and socio-economic background. Rich scam artists just perform different scams-- like ponzi schemes...

eberg Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I'm glad that I don't feel that I have to survive

> by lying, but like a few others Sue I benefit from

> an event of pure luck.

> I'm a white, middle class man born into an

> educated white middle class family. Things are

> stacked in my favour. I'm very lucky indeed.

[charlesfare]

I think people from educated middle class backgrounds don't often end up becoming so desperate for money that they end up doing the sorts of depressing things described in this thread though. Not saying their immune to those hardships, but y'know... Bit of a hard topic to approach, but I think there's a marked difference in being a scam artist and someone who literally begs and debases themselves for money.

I think that eberg fella is on to something in saying that he's very fortunate not to be in that sort of a position.

[LondonMix]

These aren't beggars, they are con-artists. Some might be drug addicts and all drug addicts can behave like this.

[charlesfare]

Yeah, you're right. Now that you mention it, I've seen the whole crying and lactating scam on an ep of the Real Hustle. Oldest trick in the book.

[LondonMix]

Ok, if you run into her and she does the same routine she has for others on here, offer to buy her some baby food instead of cash and see how she reacts

[charlesfare]

I have run in to her, several times over the course of several years. I never once said you should give her money, I never have because it's clear that she's someone with a lot of mental health issues and possibly a drug addiction.

I'm just saying that a) she's clearly someone who is in a really awful and desperate situation b) that there's a difference between being someone that's clearly in desperate need of the kind of help that goes far beyond just money and a greedy con artist and c) we should count ourselves fortunate that we're not in her shoes.

I'll try and keep thoughts like that to myself next time though, sorry for being such a nuisance!