[arialeks]

Last week I got scammed by some guy that came to my door asking for money so he can have a hand surgery, he showed me his hand which was severly disformed and I got sentimental and gave him some spara change (a few bucks), which considering I'm a student still hurts my tight budget a bit. Anyhow I felt good giving him the money, because I thought it might help him if even just a bit. Turns out he got arrested for being a scammer the next day, I recognized his face in the local news article. The takeaway lesson from that was that if I were ever in a position to help people out, I'd do so only through legal chanells and organizations that have proved themselves to actually give something meanigful for the people in need.

[JoeAltmaier]

I have mixed feelings. A tragic injury used to solicit sympathy has been a staple of beggars for 1000 years (its in 1000 and 1 nights?) And what makes a beggar 'a scammer'? The injury is fake? Well, the need might have been genuine.

I don't know; helping is helping, whatever the path it took.

[pw]

Sorry to hear that. Sadly, things like this can happen. It seems like a lot of that comes from adverse selection, though. By helping those that ask you for help, you become a target for fraud. Instead, I seek individuals out by looking at the "Seeking Work" section of Olx, so it'd be pretty difficult for a scammer to actually target me.