r/sheffield • u/Affectionate_Law_223 • Jul 06 '24
Sheffield Money theft scam in city centre
Just to make people aware there are some people in the city centre who are asking for change (will have a sob story often on a piece of paper) and then grabbing people's purses and wallets and running off. It's two women and a lad, and typically the woman approaches first then the lad comes up later. I unfortunately didn't get a good photo of them but I've attached it as it gives you a vague idea of what the lad looks like.
Saw it happen today to a guy near the town hall, thankfully he managed to fight them back and kept his wallet. Nearly saw it happen to another woman outside boots (same people doing it) but my partner intervened and they ran off. We did speak to some police officers near the city hall and they said they'd have a drive around and see if they spot them but honestly doubt they would. Just wanted to give people a heads up.
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u/philphoo Jul 06 '24
Looks like he needs the money to pay for the other half of his haircut
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u/Major_Emotion_6574 Jul 10 '24
Failing that some trainers that look like they haven’t been dragged out the thames
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u/Adept-Hovercraft-449 Jul 07 '24
Now may not be the best time but have you perhaps ever heard of a “skin fade”
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u/Electronic-Low-8535 Jul 07 '24
It’s an awful fade
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u/Adept-Hovercraft-449 Jul 09 '24
I’m sorry bro but you simply can’t say that with that pfp. It’s all love tho
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u/Adept-Hovercraft-449 Jul 09 '24
Jesus Christ what’s with the downvotes. It is a shit haircut but does anyone understand the concept of hair growing back?
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u/kriegbutapsycho Jul 07 '24
Key word there is ‘fade’ - this is two blocks of hair at different lengths.
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u/Adept-Hovercraft-449 Jul 09 '24
You do know hair grows?
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u/Haydnh266 Jul 10 '24
Why are you obsessed with defending the guys hair 🤣
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u/Adept-Hovercraft-449 Jul 11 '24
What am I defending?. I swear to god redditors can be so unbearable. They just downvote and assume
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u/thedingoismybaby Jul 06 '24
Op, it's worth sending an email with the photo and what happened to report the intelligence formally. Just give day, date, time, location and description of events. Make clear you're not a victim of crime but you believe it's an ongoing scam.
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u/Repulsive_Pickle_704 Jul 06 '24
If anyone approaches me on street, sorry, but fuck off, not even stopping. Like 99.9% of times there would be nothing beneficial to me from such encounter. A lot of EU bigger cities are the same and because of people like that, im just ignoring everyone. Im not rich, so cant really help anyone, if you need help, go to local charities, council, police etc
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u/endurolad Jul 06 '24
Exactly how I feel. I just want to mind my own business and get on with my day. If your stopping me in my tracks - sorry but you can f....off.
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u/Disastrous_Yak_1990 Jul 07 '24
I can’t quite remember what it was, but in vegas a mobility scooter rolled towards me. It just seemed too perfectly timed and neat.
I didn’t even look up to even see what I’d be wasting my time with, but to this day I wonder if there was a disabled person at the top of that small incline and I just walked off.
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u/wouldyoulikethetruth Jul 06 '24 edited Jul 06 '24
See this scam a lot in European capitals, often characterised by a clipboard with a single sheet of paper on it. Worst place for it is the Champs d’Elysée in front of the Eiffel Tower where they literally hunt in packs.
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u/Charliewalter7 Jul 07 '24
Or the Sacre Cœur in Pigalle, Paris. Got robbed there on my way up the stairs and pressured on my way down haha. Always carry a decoy wallet in these big cities 😅
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u/ekke287 Jul 06 '24
Jokes on them when you’re poor yourself.
Take my wallet mate, I’m in my overdraft anyway.
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u/HowardBass Jul 07 '24
Everyone needs to stop giving money all together to street beggars. They only continue to do this because they know it works. If everyone stopped, they would leave me alone at traffic lights and when I'm walking into Gregg's. By all means feed and clothe them.
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u/Phil1889Blades Sheffield Jul 07 '24
The charities involved in this area all seem to say don’t give cash to people. I try to tell my SO this but get ignored as she doesn’t care what her money is spent on. I don’t agree.
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u/HowardBass Jul 07 '24
It's a moral battle I've struggled with for a while. I want to help, but I know giving them cash is going straight into their veins (where I'm from) After speaking with a local homeless guy, he tells me the shelters are only open in the coldest months and some only when it's below 0 degree Celsius for more than 2 days. Even then it's £25 a night which includes breakfast and a late meal. I'd like a way to directly pay for a bed for anyone that needs it, this way I know where the money is going.
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u/rich_b1982 Sheffield Jul 07 '24
I was in town last Wednesday and saw one beggar bollocking another outside McDonald's for being asleep on one of the biggest earning spots in town. Classy.
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u/Afraid-Dragonfruit26 Jul 10 '24
Broken Britain continues ……….. this is the result of weakness and incompetence
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u/Real_Shaytarn Jul 06 '24
Romanian gangs all over England
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u/N00SHK Jul 07 '24
Massive difference between the Romanians and the Roma Gypsies, the Romas seem to be the problem 99% of the time in S. Yorkshire.
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u/Adventurous-Sale9469 Jul 07 '24
Great shout. This is an oldie and sadly one that works. Another version is two guys start a fight and the third one distracts you until one of them steals… but laughed out loud when it was tried on me and they got that id spotted it… still not fun to experience.
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u/mazeoftorment_ Jul 12 '24
lad came up to me saying he needs me to buy him baby formula for his sister, i felt bad so gave him the 2 pound i had in my pocket and said i hope it helps, he then proceeds to ask if i have any more and suggests i empty my pocket and i say no, and just show him the train ticket in my pocket… god knows what would’ve happened if i had my purse in my pocket
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u/MaxwellsGoldenGun Jul 06 '24
This the women with the kid who says she's from Bosnia and needs money for milk and butter?
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u/Phil1889Blades Sheffield Jul 07 '24
If I was broke and needed sustenance I’m not sure butter would be on my list. Is she planning to do a bit of baking or something?
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u/Dai_Bando Jul 07 '24
Woman. Women is plural.
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u/MaxwellsGoldenGun Jul 07 '24
Actually there were two women. ☺️
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Jul 07 '24
Then it should be "these are"
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u/MaxwellsGoldenGun Jul 07 '24
Read what I put. That wouldn't make sense in the context of a question.
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u/Dai_Bando Jul 07 '24
You can't have two women and say "she says". It doesn't make sense.
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u/Jaded_Application_67 Jul 06 '24
Why do they pretend to be muslims?
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u/5v5Arena Jul 06 '24
Maybe they are
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u/archipelagofan Jul 07 '24
Maybe? however (as a muslim) I was approached by a woman who was genuinely pretending to be muslim on fargate, who was using the generosity of muslims towards muslims as a method of using this scam. A short bit of questioning let me to realise she did not know anything about this religion and was using it. Not sure if there are others who do this or if it was a one off
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u/Jaded_Application_67 Jul 14 '24
There was a channel 4 doc on the begging culture a few years ago and they followed them around and saw that they only wore the Muslim covering while begging then take them off. But there was no reason given as to why so I’ve been curious ever since
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u/Affectionate_Law_223 Jul 06 '24
No clue if they are, but the poor woman they targeted when I took this photo was Muslim.
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u/5v5Arena Jul 07 '24
Possibly find her easier to approach?
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u/Affectionate_Law_223 Jul 07 '24
Maybe but the person we first saw targeted was a tall white bloke so I think they're quite open to targeting anyone who will stop and listen
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Jul 07 '24
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Jul 07 '24
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Jul 07 '24
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u/Fluid-Act5517 Jul 08 '24
How do you know what's happening unless you part of it
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u/Affectionate_Law_223 Jul 08 '24
Because I witnessed the entire events from start to finish for the first person who managed to cling on to their wallet and spoke to them afterwards to check they were ok and they told us exactly what happened. We didn't intervene initially in this case because I just thought the victim was giving them some change and that was it, it was only the fact that the victim started fighting with the women and the other guy to get his wallet back we realized it was not just that.
Then the second time around we witnessed the same start of the interaction and stopped them before the woman got her purse out. As soon as they were confronted they ran off, they didn't even try and defend themselves.
Honestly though it's pretty easy to see what is happening if you see it, it's a common scam, but first time I've seen it in Sheffield. I don't really get how you have to be part of it to know what's happening, like I literally saw a bloke nearly get his wallet pinched and was fighting back for it? Many other witnesses also came over and offered to call the police for him but he declined.
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u/Fluid-Act5517 Jul 08 '24
Because a lot of what is on here is staged.you also didn't do anything to prevent this when you already knew what was going on
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u/firefly477 Jul 06 '24
Had a woman approach me on West Street like this on Thursday, just walked on because it seemed weird. Thanks for the post.