I've been taken by con-artists claiming to need money for emergency situations with children. But I'd rather get scammed out of 60 or so bucks than not help someone who genuinely needs it. Homelessness and general poverty is a huge problem here, and people are in real need. I volunteer on a psych hospital hotline, and a lot of the callers are on disability allowance. That's a max of $980 / month. Avg ren on a 1 bedroom apartment is $750. You do the math. The waiting list to get into subsisdized housing is something crazy like 7 years. I've dealt with mental health and addiction issues and was unemployed and unemployable for a year. I was just lucky that I had a generous employer who gave me a decent severance package, so I could get cleaned up with having to rely on welfare, or wipe out my savings. So many people are living close to the edge - it's tragic. You did a good thing.

--splitimage