Legit or hoax

Today this was posted on the Facebook page where I saw this (name deleted for privacy):

Notice to Members: XXXX XXXXXX was removed from this and several other groups for being a scammer and trying to get people to give free stuff to her children. We have received several reports that she is indeed pulling a scam. Don't fall for these type of practices during the holiday season.
 

debodun said:
Today this was posted on the Facebook page where I saw this (name deleted for privacy):

Notice to Members: XXXX XXXXXX was removed from this and several other groups for being a scammer and trying to get people to give free stuff to her children. We have received several reports that she is indeed pulling a scam. Don't fall for these type of practices during the holiday season.
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I agree. Honest people would not be 'begging' on Facebook. They would do what they can for their children at Christmas, and if they can't buy stuff, then they don't.My Mother, would have been ashamed to beg like this,we were poor but managed [just.]So much of this type of thing goes on now.
 
Bettyann said:
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...
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You've made some really good points Bettyann. You just never know when you might be that 'angel' for someone.

When I was a little girl, I remember one Christmas when we were really poor (well actually we were pretty poor for most of my Christmas's but this one must have been the worst). No Christmas presents and my dad even stole a tree off a closed lot on Christmas eve just so there was something. I know, I know, bad action but coming from a good place right?

That night, some church people knocked on our door and came in with some food and a huge box of old toys. I remember so well to this day, how excited I was as I scrounged through this box of old cast offs.

There's always a chance that you might be conned, but like some here have said, if you aren't sure, you can always donate a toy to a Christmas toy fund group or Salvation Army or someone so that they can reach out on our behalf.
 

Butterfly said:
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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Keeping in mind my last comment, haha, here's a response to your suggestion that it's safer giving someone a few dollars on the street.

My husband used to run a business with multiple job sites in downtown Vancouver. One day he was approached by a young fellow, who wasn't rich but he wasn't a vagrant type either. His story was that he'd just heard from his wife that she was going into labour and he was out of cash for a taxi and the bus wouldn't be fast enough because of where they lived or something along those lines. My husband has a pretty good instinct about people so he just said he was sorry and couldn't help. The young guy was polite about being refused and my husband went on to his next job site.

So a couple days later and he happens to be back in that area checking on that job site and lo and behold, who should he see, but the same young guy, standing at the curb at the corner talking through the rolled down window of a pick up truck that had stopped at the light. His back was to my husband so he didn't see as my husband kind of sidled closer to listen. Then my husband 'intruded' on the conversation to inform the truck driver that this guys wife must be in the longest labour ever because he'd heard the same story a couple days before. Needless to say, the 'new father' didn't stick around.

Personally, my feeling is that we're better of working with some kind of grass roots community agency. If you aren't able to help directly, those folks can always use a few dollars to help with buying another potato for the pot if you know what I mean.
 
It's disgusting how many people are willing to take advantage of the rest of us. The safest way to get help to the truly needy is to use an legitimate charitable organization. If you believe as I do in Karma, the scam artists will get theirs sooner or later.
 

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