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Comment by jianghong | Hacker News Reader

I usually try to help out and give the less fortunate the change in my pocket when I can, but this one instance really made me reluctant to continue giving.

He was inside starbucks and was walking out the door while I was waiting for a chance to enter. He stopped me and told me his name was Marcus, he was really hungry and needed some money for food. I gave him what was in my pocket, about ~2 bucks. He took it, looked at me and said "That's it?". He scoffed and walked away.

I know, I know, one person can't represent everyone. It just stung and comes to my mind whenever I think about giving.

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I see a lot of people in this thread who don't seem to have heard that many, if not most, of these people are scammers.

I also see a lot of people who don't seem to understand that you get more of what you subsidize, whether you want it or not.

Just putting that out here.

What does it mean for a panhandler to be a 'scammer'? They're not really homeless at all, they actually live in a mansion in Beverly Hills with a two car garage, and manage to pay for it all by asking for change on the street all day pretending to be homeless?

It's more like a guy who has been living in a $400 rent controlled 2BD apartment on Fell since 1991. He charges his roommate $800 a month, then goes and scams people on Haight for pizza money, but mainly just for kicks.

Yes, there was a case in Toronto where a TV crew followed a successful beggar back to her car and then to her house. http://www.torontosun.com/2013/02/14/infamous-sticker-lady-m...

Panhandlers and the homeless are two totally different things. Of course one doesnt have to be homeless to panhandle.

By scamming, the parent poster was probably referring to stuff like "hey can I get a few bucks for a bus ticket" or "hey can I get some money for gas". That's pretty much always a scam.

That's way more common than we expect it to be.

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