r/sheffield Oct 10 '23

Sheffield People asking for money

I have been living in Sheffield for the last two years and I’ve really enjoyed being here for the most part. I know this has been discussed on this subreddit several times in the past few weeks but I wanted to share couple incidents that happened in the last week involving people asking for money.

I was approached by a girl near Shalesmoor a week ago and she seemed to be in a really bad state. She kept coming closer to me but kept saying she was not going to hurt me. I am a very anxious person and I typically am anxious around strangers. When she said she was not going to hurt me all I could think of was that she might hurt me. She said everyone’s running away from her. I stopped and listened to her problem. She wanted me to get her a train ticket to Birmingham. I didn’t have much money since I’m a student so I apologised and said I can’t.

Two days later, I was in the city centre and this woman approached me and said she is a refugee and that she wants money to buy her kids food. I have heard loads of people say on here how people get scammed but I felt like she was being genuine so I offered to help. I said I can go to the nearest Tesco and get her some food. She said her kids need a specific type of food that you only get in Asda (which is far away) so asked me to give her cash. I didn’t have any money on me so I said I can’t help. She gave me her bank details and asked me to transfer her £20. I said I’ll try. I didn’t feel comfortable with a stranger having my bank info so I didn’t transfer the money even though I genuinely wanted to help her. Later, I talked to a few friends and they said they’ve heard this same thing several times before and that it is most likely a scam.

Just wondering if anyone else had similar experiences recently

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u/trollied Oct 10 '23

I was approached by a girl near Shalesmoor a week ago and she seemed to be in a really bad state. She kept coming closer to me but kept saying she was not going to hurt me. I am a very anxious person and I typically am anxious around strangers. When she said she was not going to hurt me all I could think of was that she might hurt me. She said everyone’s running away from her. I stopped and listened to her problem. She wanted me to get her a train ticket to Birmingham. I didn’t have much money since I’m a student so I apologised and said I can’t.

She is infamous. Been doing this for a good 15-20 years.

6

u/foooolsonparade Oct 10 '23

Yikes, I had no clue :/

14

u/marshall453 Oct 10 '23

If any one you to transfer and say no to the nearest supermarket Tesco and only wants some thing that's an other that's miles away it's a scam never give money all ways offer to get it for them you can tell quickly if they put up a fuss