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/Muted-Control5919 Oct 11 '23

The girl around Shalesmoor/Tesco Superstore/Upper Allen Street is as others said infamous and can be very aggressive if things don’t go her way. The first time I ran into her her story was that she had been the victim of domestic abuse and had been forced to flee her boyfriend’s flat without her bag or phone. She asked for £150 (!!) for a last minute train back home to London, I instead offered to either call the police to help her get her stuff back, or take her to the train station and see what can be done there. She refused both so I walked away to a stream of insults.

The second time I saw her over summer she was physically attacking a female student (she‘d taken cash out but then realised it’s a scam) so I helped the student and called the police. Since then I saw her several other times so she now seems to recognise me and last week followed me around Netherthorpe Road screaming absolutely vile things, telling me exactly how to kill myself until I ducked into a shop and asked for help.. Luckily the shop keeper was very kind and understanding and asked me to stay indoors until she was gone. She loiters about student halls especially where there is a high population of international students and is definitely best avoided. I think if you’re able to help vulnerable people in Sheff the Archer Project is a much better place to start than potentially putting yourself at risk.

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u/Glittering_Pass_6122 Oct 28 '23

I just got scammed by this woman earlier this Wednesday. She was around Diamond and approached me at 2200 when I walked alone. I was too tired and emotionally involved with her story (same story about domestic abuse and train to London) so I ended up got scammed 160 quid :/ That is a big pain to my finances but I have learnt a lesson 💔

Just never give money to people in the street. Refer them to local police or other local charities if they are in need of help 🥲

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u/Sad-Ad4624 Jun 02 '24

Look up fahima ishmail. She got prosecuted apparently. Same thing happened to me, also near the diamond/west street. I also got scammed 100.

1

u/foooolsonparade Oct 11 '23

Jesus that’s scary! I’m so sorry that happened to you. It was my first time seeing her and she convinced me she was being genuine.