Legit or hoax

debodun

debodun

SF VIP
Location
way upstate in New York, USA
A woman posted today on Facebook as a single mom with 6 kids between the ages of 11 and 2 years who were evicted from their residence and are newly moved into our area. She was asking for help with Christmas - anything in the way of clothing, toys, food so she can give her kids a good Christmas. Some people really can think of sad stories to get your sympathy, or is it so bad it seems phony?
 

I don't think it would hurt to give her the benefit of the doubt. If she's a user, people will know soon enough. I would not hesitate to pay her a visit, welcome her, get to know her a little. If everyone chipped in, it would be very little off anyone to provide a christmas for them.
 
Does it say where she is staying right now ?
If she just moved into your area, then it doesn't make sense that she would have been evicted already. On the other hand, if she was evicted where ever she lived previously, how did she manage to afford to move to another area, and is she now renting a place to live here ?
Usually, you have to pay a first/last/deposit to rent a house or apartment, plus the cost of moving from one area to another. If she could afford to do all of that, it would have been much easier and cheaper for her to have paid her rent where she was living and not been evicted.

I would check this out a whole lot before handing out any money, or anything else (people even sell food for drug money nowdays). Churches and local charities will usually help these people, and if there is a Rescue Mission in your area, they usually give out food and maybe even presents for needy people at Christmas.
There are a lot of places that help legitimate needy families; so I am skeptical why she would be asking for donations on Facebook.
 

I guess if it's someone who is asking for items for their children, may be a bit easier to believe it's real. But there's plenty of online scammers who ask for donations (go fund me) for completely bogus reasons, just to get the cash and run. They'll claim hard times, and even diseases like cancer to rip others off for some quick cash...http://www.oddee.com/item_98193.aspx
 
It would be doing her a favor to post the numbers and or addresses of social service agencies in her area. With those ages at least some of her kids SHOULD be in school, & schools are usually good at linking their students families with help. And not to be snarky ( well, maybe a bit ) , but why aren't the father or fathers of all those kids helping?
In my city there have been so many "poor pitiful me" scams, at least one thru "go fund me", recently: waitress collected over $3 thou supposedly for the funeral of a coworker who died suddenly, then ran off with it. Their mutual employer replaced it, and Go fund me refunded at least some of the donations. APB out for the thief.
 
Craigslist is full of the sob stories this time of year. I fell for one a few years ago....single mother, can't afford a Christmas tree, ornaments or presents for her son. I actually talked to her on the phone and she sounded very nice, so I met her at a Kmart and gave her a nice artificial tree that I had extra, a lot of ornaments and a couple of gifts for her son. The tree and ornaments were up for sale on Craigslist two days later (I know because she posted pictures and I recognized the ornaments). So, now I give only to recognized charities.
 
jujube said:
Craigslist is full of the sob stories this time of year. I fell for one a few years ago....single mother, can't afford a Christmas tree, ornaments or presents for her son. I actually talked to her on the phone and she sounded very nice, so I met her at a Kmart and gave her a nice artificial tree that I had extra, a lot of ornaments and a couple of gifts for her son. The tree and ornaments were up for sale on Craigslist two days later (I know because she posted pictures and I recognized the ornaments). So, now I give only to recognized charities.
Click to expand...

Wow Jujube, that's some story. :eek:
 
Sometimes it's difficult to know, the scams have hardened me a bit, a couple of years ago, wasn't anything for me to give someone a couple of dollars. I overheard a lady on the bus having a conversation with a friend about she was shy of a few dollars to get a monthly or weekly bus pass, so I quietly eased over to where she was and gave her the money, she hadn't asked. I've done that before, but in my town, there are so many cons going on plus, it's safer to just direct them to the proper resources, there are plenty in town. Things like the following make me scratch my head, one can't be sure if their just creating more of a nuisance or actually helping sometimes.


 
The way I look at it is this: regardless if people are lying, scamming, whatever you want to call it -- if WE do good to them...what have we lost? All good is returned to us somehow, in some way ... I have listened to SO many people crabbing around about the homeless who beg for/accept the money give to them and say stuff like: They probably make more than "I" do!! blah blah blah... Well, just don't give then... If its not done with love...or with a good feeling... it won't benefit you anyway...
 
Well, I would suggest that you be VERY wary of responding to something like this. I certainly would not do so, because it may not be safe. Who knows who is really behind that posting - I mean anybody can post anything on lists like that. It could be legit, or it could be a bunch of bad guys waiting to pounce on the gullible. If you are wanting to help someone, see if your church or local charity like the Red Cross or even a social services department has lists of people who need help over the holidays.
 
Yeah, I'm one of the softies that gives a dollar or two to these people. I figure if I can help one out of four, maybe it will make a difference in their life. It probably costs me $10.00 a year.
 
You can never tell..one of the most successful beggars here simply held up a plaque saying..

''I'm an alcoholic and I need money to buy booze!!''

People were so impressed by his honesty..he made a mint!!
 
If I walk past a beggar who catches my eye..I'll give him/her something..I don't care what he does with it..I call it ''luck'' money!!:D
 
Between wife and I, I am definitely the "cautious" one. I have taught her to be more "cautious". We will give a few dollars to a Firemen's Boot at a street intersection. We know these guys are wearing uniforms and can see the Ladder/Hose Truck parked along side of the street. We also gave a couple of dollars to some type of Veteran's Organization on Veteran's Day at a Buffet restaurant. People we see asking for money on a street corner......nope!

There have been many Seniors that have become victims due to being to nice or being told something from a stranger in order to get some money. They will write out a large-amount check and later find out it was a scam and complain about it. Now, if these Seniors weren't so "nice" in the first place, they wouldn't have lost all that money over a bunch of BS they were told.
 
I worked for a very large worldwide charity..I have never seen so much fraud..theft..and embezzlement in all of my born days..

I'd rather give a beggar $10..
 
Well, if she has a computer to sit in front of and idle away time on Facebook - no vote for my sympathy. Some people had responded to her message suggesting various charities, The woman countered that she went to evey one mentioned and was turned away to they told her that they don't cover the town where she is living now.
 
Do NOT get sucked into scams on the internet! Giving a couple dollars to someone on the street is ever so much safer than getting sucked into one of these internet pleas for help. You have no way of knowing what's (or who's) behind such a plea. People have had their identities stolen, lost large sums of money and even their lives getting involved in stuff like this. There's a reason the authorities are always pleading with seniors not to be victims of internet scams!
 

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