Well dressed beggars in casinos. Old or new Scam?

Talk about needing a helping hand.

Last week when I went to my local Walmart, there was a woman with a roller bag standing on the corner of the exit street from the shopping center holding a sign asking for gas money. Today, the same woman was on the same corner with another woman. Same sign, but the luggage count had grown from one roller bag to 5 or 6, and the luggage all looked new.

Begging is a chosen profession/lifestyle for some people.

dec 20-24th trip a month ago. Standing outside a store on Freemont at night, waiting for GF to do some shopping. A well dressed and very cute 20 something girl comes up to me and tells me all her girlfriends got on the bus and left her behind and she needs bus fare to find them,and says it like she is reading off a cue card. Also on the pedestrian cross by Wynn, a girl was begging with a sign saying: pregnant, homeless, need meds. The next day she was there again, and there was a line of ppl waiting to give her money

Dang. They're giving begging a bad name.

I drive home everyday and stop at Eastern and Sunset stoplight. There are always homeless looking people there with the signs. One day a car parks in the bank parking lot, comes walking over with a brief case, and the 3 or 4 homeless people walk up and empty there pockets into the brief case and the guy leaves.

I was filling up at a gas station near Buffalo and Lake Mead and a guy, fairly well-dressed, approached me and gave what sounded like a legitimate car broke down, gotta go somewhere, need 5 or 10 bucks story and I declined. About amonth and a half later, in the parking lot of Fiesta Rancho, the same guy tries me with the exact same story. Bottom line is that unless they're absolutely disheveled, they're probably scamming you.

I was walking down the sidewalk one night and a guy talking on a cell phone was coming the other way. As he got close to me he put the cell phone down and then hit me up for money. My reply was "What for? To pay you cell phone bill?" and kept walking.

There'sd a scam born every minute. A few months ago, I was reurning to my car in the Albertson's parking lot. A man approached me to ask if I had any spare money for gas as he had run out and was broke. He went on to explain that his car was at Fred Meyers (Kroger owned dept/grocery outlet) which was about a mile north of there. I asked him why he would walk a mile south to look for money when FM would as many if not more customers to solicit, plus the have gas at that location!!!! He obviosly wasn't aware of that and became indignant. I told him that he was eather a liar or awfully stupid. If it was the former, no way. If it was the latter, it wouldn't help him anyway as he'd be too stupid to find his way back! His reaction was to show me his extensive educational backround as he expounded on his colorfull vocabulary.

The sad thing about these scams is that most probably originate from desperate circumstance. There are actually people asking for money that could legitimately use it, but the scammers ruin it for them.

Good Luck!
Ric at Joes

A few years ago I was walking from the FSE to the cal, between binions and LVC. A well dressed gentlemen (he had a coat on) came up to me and asked if I could give him a few bucks for a meal and help fix his flat. He said that he didn't have a spare tire and need some money to fix his flat. since he was leaving vegas he didn't have any money.

I asked him why he didn't just call home and ask his friends or relatives to wire him money to get home, including money for gas. He said that he didn't want to call and wake them since it was the middle of the night for them (!!!).

I just shook my head and said "sorry" and walked away.

it is unfortunate that because of some of these people discussed in the thread, many people who really need the money for a meal won't be getting it.