We see this a lot of this kind of fraud here in the Twin Cities (MN). People who take advantage of goodwill are the worst of the worst. Recently, while downtown, a woman asked me to "bless her with money to buy something to eat." I told her I'd walk with her I didn't carry Chad but would buy her a sandwich...she turned me down.
It's crazy how much people try to get away with. I remember when picking up a girlfriend's son from Children's World, a man approached us and asked me for $5 because his car supposedly broke down. I didn't want her son to get a bad impression of people so I gave him the $5 and told him I hope I don't see you again. We then stopped for fast food down the road and when I was coming out of the door with the food the same man told me the same story then he looked up and saw my face and turned around and ran like a bat out of hell.