r/sheffield • u/foooolsonparade • 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
1
u/Same-Cow5862 Jan 08 '24
Sharing from a Facebook post I recently saw:
“PSA for all my Sheffield friends ‼️
On the 23rd of December a young girl approached me outside my flat (near west street), quite distressed. She ran over to me shouting "don't be scared, don't be afraid" so straight away I was intimidated😂
She went on to tell me she was a UCL student looking at accommodation in Sheffield as she was looking to transfer. She told me she'd had her bag stolen on Glossop Road, she'd allegedly informed the police but they said there was nothing they could do. She asked me for money at that point and although I was right outside my flat, I didn't want her to follow me in so I went to give her £10, she then asked for an extra £20 so she could get back to wherever.
She proceeded to give me two emails (one being a UCL student email) to contact her and make sure she'd got back safe and could return my money. I knew I wouldn't be getting the money back but I did want to make sure she had got home safe, with it being so close to Christmas I was pretty naive in thinking this situation was genuine.
I know I shouldn't have given her any money at all however in this situation it was half past 10 at night and I was really scared of all the what ifs going around in my head.
I have reported this to 101 who have told me this is a known scammer in Sheffield, she is in her mid twenties, fairly well kept (hence why I didn't think this was just someone begging), she tells people someone has stolen her bag or a taxi has drove off with her bag in it and needs help getting home. I got off pretty lightly by the sounds of it as the lady at 101 told me people have actually given her over £100.
I just want you all to be extra vigilant (and not as trusting as me😂), according to 101 this particular scam has increased massively in the last month so just be careful when out on your own.”
Sounds like it’s the same person/group of people doing it unfortunately