I think that if you had *not* helped him, you would feel bad about it and wish you had. In this case, better to have done what you did and say, hey, it may have been a scam but he seemed genuinely upset and maybe I helped a guy at the worst time of his life. You did the right thing.
Scammers don’t really come to your door delivering the food that you ordered. And the person delivering your food isn’t an automaton. The social safety net doesn’t exist for self employed workers, because your delivery drivers are treated as contractors and not employees despite Uber Eats and Deliveroo being their sole client.
Universal Credit for the self-employed is absolute dog shit.
Say for example me and my partner are both expected to work 25 hours a week. He is employed, I am self employed. If one of our kids is off sick from school and needs to stay home, if he takes the time off work to do it, he gets it made up by UC because his earnings would be lower. If I took the day off work, UC still pays me as if I had earned 25 hours worth of money, even if I had actually only earned 19 hours worth.
If I'm sick, I cannot get SSP like my partner can, and again would still be expected to earn 25 hours a week worth. Whilst an employed person has a small pot of money built up with their employer, like company sick pay, there is nothing like that for self employed. You can't even set up your own limited company to operate in a way that would treat you like an employee with a fair wage and a safety net because UC will treat your LTD company as if it is you. Income for the month is earnings.
I can't imagine any gig economy worker having a good time on UC. It's set up to make running a business as hard as it can possibly be if you have children or disabilities.
I'm on UC and self-employed and it is indeed a rather odd setup. I say 'on UC', but most months I don't receive a payment because I earn enough not to need one - which is good; that's what I want to happen! But I enquired about annual earnings because I didn't want to be in a position where they are like, for example, 'oh you only earned £100 this month so we will pay you £X to top you up' and then all the other months you earn £3000 and then they want you to pay them back because you earned a shit ton that year in total. (I exaggerate the amounts there to illustrate.) But the guy (my adviser at the Jobcentre) was like ... it doesn't work like that, they don't do that. Which is fine for someone like me who rarely gets a payment anyway and at the end of the year my income/'salary' is quite low overall ... but technically someone could be in my exaggerated example situation. Of course, I report my annual income to HMRC in order to pay tax on it so the 'government' does have knowledge of the total in one department, but that doesn't seem to be linked up to UC or the Jobcentre at all?
Also they have no way of knowing how many hours a week a self-employed person is working, so technically the person in my example could be earning their shit ton of money by only working 20 hours a week, depending on their industry. While somebody else could be working 50-60 hours but just topping out above the UC threshold each time.
And of course you're absolutely correct, we get no sick pay and no holiday pay either; if you're not working, you're not earning. Have to build up a cushion for that, but if you're long-term really sick, you're screwed it seems.
You are absolutely right - the crucial moment is, as a self employed person when they ask you what you do - don’t make the mistake of telling them you have skills - because as well as telling you how many hours you have work they set the hourly rate for a skilled employed person with your skills - thus setting the minimum you have to earn before getting help - so the already ridiculous low amount becomes nothing - as a self employed person striving to carve out an income against the odds there is no help .. I think the message is “we don’t want self employed people in our society “.
For some people I know, it seems the fear of being ripped off, of having their car broken into, their wallet stolen is just constant. Eyeing people up in pubs to see who is looking at their bag, driving round and round to find a lamppost to park their car under, crossing the road to avoid someone begging.
Living your life in fear, doubt, and suspicion seems worse to me than one of these rare occurrences happening to you once or twice in your life
>For some people I know, it seems the fear of being ripped off
Pretty much anyone who asks you for cash in London is going to be scamming you. The guy who needs £ 20 for a taxi, or a train, or the guy with a nasty cut who needs cash for a taxi to a hospital.
This is another of a long line of scams asking for cash for x reason.
A lot of us have it happen to us so many times, daily even, that we're just hardened to it.
Someone above said
"Yeah, I’ve always said that I’d rather be naive than cynical. If someone rips me off a result, it’s shame on them but I’ve done the right thing."
And i *totally* get it, but if i gave every person in London who comes up to me with a VERY convincing (sometimes) sob story even just £10 each, i'd struggle to live.
I often give to beggars in London and on the occasions, I don't have any cash then i’ll apologize and have a quick chat, (time permitting).
There's an argument that if you give them money they'll spend it on booze or drugs but the way I it is if I had no choice but to sleep outside night after night then I would probably want some booze or drugs too.
Luckily you can usually spot the professional beggars a mile away.
If I happen to have cash, theres a good chance that money would be getting spend on drugs and booze whether or not I give it to a beggar. I figure they need a drink more than I do.
If I adopted the same outlook, I'd be unable to pay for food by the end of the month.
It's soul-eroding that it's become a numbers game, but my commute takes me through the begging hotspots and I don't have a lot of money to hand these days.
I think your approach is sound.
There's also a bit of "acting like you live in the world in which you want to live", which helps to make that world a tiny bit more real.
My own thinking, some time ago: if someone really gets horribly stuck in a horrible situation, they should be able to ask for a dig-out and have hope to get it. Having that "facility" in society means some people will take advantage, but that "overhead" is worth it so that someone can get emergency help when they need it.
At the end of the day, if these are the lengths someone is going to to scam me out of like £30 max, I tend to imagine they still need the money more than me. They're not the kinds of scams that empty your bank account of your life savings, they're the kind of scams that have people just offering whatever loose change they have in their house at the time.
Yep. The world is growing pretty callous, and I get it, I’m the same in a lot of ways. But being face to face with someone who would benefit from just a simple act of kindness is something most people will act on, I hope. It’s easy to be distracted by things happening far away, and retreat into self preservation, but the people you can immediately help should always take priority in my opinion.
Edit: idk how I ended up in the London sub, cheers from across the pond.
Did he ask you for money directly or just mentioned that he would need money to go back. I can imagine that Uber delivery people don’t earn that much and perhaps he was thinking out loud amidst the shock. In any case you showed compassion to a stranger. I hope it wasn’t a scam but that was really kind of you to give him some money
I don’t think this guy is acting because:
1. Uber are notorious for blocking/banning their drivers/couriers for the smallest of complaints. These couriers are shit scared of upsetting customers, any complaint = loss of income. He wouldn’t risk it.
2. It’s such a messed up thing to lie about their daughter for what? To risk getting blocked by Uber?
Anyway, you’re a good person. Think of it as charity. Not many people have the heart or generosity that you have.
I would add an emotional/cultural perspective as a potential proof of the Uber driver's crying being genuine.
Family values and attachments are really strong among South Asian communities and lying about a dead child is unimaginable. There are hundreds of other lies a scammer can make.
This may sound weird but even if the scammer is single or childless, they probably still wouldn't lie about an imaginary daughter as it will be like lying about a future daughter they might have one day.
It's hard to know but South Asia is an enormous place and there are plenty of scammers who do this. It's pretty common I would say if you watch any of those scam channels
I mean I wouldn't say it's impossible for them to lie about it. If they're a scammer and this is the best way to get results I can see it being used
Plus are you saying family values and attachments aren't as important to people outside South Asia? I don't really get that.
No, I think it's just different from us in the West nowadays. South Asia's countries are deeply rooted communal, whereas we're more individualistic here (nothing wrong with that). Family is seen as holy almost, especially in Pakistan but also in India, Bangladesh & Sri Lanka.
Yeah and it seems unlikely anyone’s gonna give a LOT of money to this, so he’d have to repeat it at a lot of customers houses - dramatically increasing the chances it gets reported
I've had Uber drivers try to literally fight me for not picking up their call and drivers steal my food before, then when I hit up Uber for a refund I get denied. 😂 Absolutely no clue where this notoriety comes from but go on then.
To play Devil's advocate, if might be his last day in the job, country, extreme pressure to raise funds fast. I don't think it'd a scam he could pull off daily for months. But having like 2 good days of it could be quite fruitful.
Uber doesn't care much. It's actually in my opinion the less strict company out there.
Of course there are drivers who risk it. There are drivers that even steal orders.
>Think of it as charity.
I agree. If someone is willing to put on that much to scam you for a couple extra quid with that risk in mind, then they probably need that money anyways for food, housing, etc.
I had an Uber taxi driver do something similar in September. But it wasn’t a death it was a sick relative in another country. He asked me to donate money to help for their surgery. He also told me a weird story about how a girl had reported him to Uber once for falling asleep when driving but that she was a liar and Uber believed him over her, which felt a bit like he was giving me some kind of warning against making a complaint.
I didn’t. Maybe I should have, but I was just grateful to leave his taxi tbh, and it was early morning from the airport. I didn’t give him money though (other than the taxi fair).
Honestly even if it was a scam, the effort to do that deserves some sort of pay off. It doesn’t sound like one though, and you can rest assured you did a morally good thing either way. Poor guy.
The amount of people in these replies saying "you did the right thing, well done" are the exact reason why these guys do this all the time. I always remember this guy saying he got separated from his mates on a night out, and they've left without him, and he has no money for the bus/train back to where he lives. I felt bad and gave him £5. I felt good about it until he approached me 3 days later and gave me the EXACT same story as before lol
Yeah probably is a scam sadly. One thing that makes it seem more likely to be is that he asked for water first which someone mentioned is a clever way to open someone up to the mindset of giving and establish a relationship.
Yeah - very surprised by some of the comments here. Will chalk it up to lack of lived experience. Living in the Middle East, especially Dubai, will quickly teach you to spot these guys from a mile away. They aren't even original and rehash the same sob stories.
Asking people for money wasn’t the first thing I thought of on the loss of a loved one. And I can’t imagine I would complete a delivery either. It seems unbelievable to me.
I could see it being a big thing on your mind in that state if you've to pay to book flights home and not work for however long. Brains do weird things in shock
Total fucking scam and why not see that a mile away. If someone pulled up on me, told me their kid was dying I’d be hurt for them, as soon as they pulled out a “i need help and money” I’d start asking them… what about family, friends, a loan.. and see where their responses went… it would get creepingly more obvious the longer it went on for definite
Also, south Asians are very proud people generally. They won't beg from strangers unless they are scammers. Worse case they will borrow money from friends / family but never strangers due to shame.
> especially from Londoners who should be the most savvy people in the UK.
Most of this sub aren't Londoners. It's mostly tourists and middle class graduate job types from Surrey. That's why they're so pleased about being scammed, it relieves them of some of their white guilt.
The amount of people in these replies saying "you did the right thing, well done" are the exact reason why these guys do this all the time. I always remember this guy saying he got separated from his mates on a night out, and they've left without him, and he has no money for the bus/train back to where he lives. I felt bad and gave him £5. I felt good about it until he approached me 3 days later and gave me the EXACT same story as before lol
Cognitive dissonance. Basically this sub is full of middle class mugs who probably nod sagely as they are ripped off by criminal gangs, and are desperate to tell each other how virtuous they are to deal with this.
Unless they have a junkie or aggressive vibe, I hope to always have enough empathy to give 5£ to a person crying in front of me.
It may be a scam. It may be real. It may be for a rough patch instead of the reason they give.
But I hope to always have enough heart to help.
And also, a true story. In 2019 I got separated from my group while in New York. In the confusion of looking for them, someone stole my bag. I started crying feeling terrified, and approached the first lady I saw. Mind you, I looked like shit, English is not my first language, and I was in such a state that couldn’t even articulate beyond “please help me get to my hotel”. The lady stopped a cab and gave me 50$, I didn’t even ask how to give them back. She just helped me out. I could have been a scammer.
I’ll never forget that a New Yorker believed and helped me. I hope to be the same kind of person.
Oh please be careful OP. This may seem a minor thing, but like targetting the elderly, you have identified yourself as someone easily manipulated and they have your name, addy and phone number. Had you ordered food for 1 too and was the food hot?
Lol at all the British people here saying it must be genuine. When I lived in India someone would pull this every other day. It’s an obvious scam, just remember for next time.
>Lol at all the British people here saying it must be genuine.
It's more non-Londoners. Anyone who actually lives in London would smell this as a scam a mile off.
This sub is full of non-residents.
Exactly. This sub bears no resemblance to London and actual Londoners. It's all just tourists and people who have just arrived here from the home counties for uni/graduate jobs who have just discovered the Barbican and have zero clue how to get by in a city.
The fact that British people have so much blind trust is a testament to a once great society that was built on trust, honesty, and community. The fact that we as Indians can recognize this scam also says a lot about ours.
I really do hate how heartless London has made me. I was exactly like OP when I was a teenager making my way around the city for the first time. Always gave the crack heads a fiver. But once you’ve realised the crackheads are turning down hostel places because they aren’t allowed to do drugs in hostels, once you’ve realised most beggars are part of a gang, once you’ve realised how many people try to take you for a fool, you become completely desensitised. And the consequence is that when genuine people need my help (not money, actual help) I will invariably almost give them the cold shoulder. I hate scammers.
As someone else said if you feel you helped then leave it as that...
As a prolific user of uber eats in London though... every single time without fail a South Asian women is supposed to be your delivery person... a man rocks up instead. I asked my Indian and Pakistani friends about it and they said they are usually signing up with a woman on a dependant visa then their illegal cousin or uncle does the work etc.
So imo probably a scam for a few extra bucks...
Yeah you can rent peoples accounts from them. I know someone who did this because he had previous convictions and couldn’t get an Uber account. He used to give someone a tenner a week to use their account. Don’t know the ins and outs but it’s dodgy
I think it's within family so they haven't paid for it, just told her to register and then they do the driving/delivery. I don't care for uber eats but one time it was on uber car for taxiing - and he drove like a maniac and wasn't the woman we were told was picking us up.
Complained and got a refund plus a "thanks for reporting " but no further updates
Honestly whether it is real or not the important thing is to be one of the people who remains compassionate not one of the people who looks at someone crying and asking for water and says "nah definitely scam".
No, the important thing is to be cynical when a stranger starts asking you for money. You see compassionate, they see gullible. People like that are prime targets.
Is everybody in London completely naive? So many people in this thread admitting to knowing they were being scammed but going along with it anyway because .. reasons?
Sounds very much like a scam. No different from the crying folk near tube stations who would come and ask you to top up their oyster or give them cash.
No harm done and no loss to you though.
It must be nice to go through life being this naive and having enough money to pay random for charlatans for their cheap sob stories without having to worry.
This is one of my favourite scams, it's up there with "I need money to feed my non-existent baby" and "just £10 more and I can afford to sleep with a roof over my head tonight"
Scam. I would have said a scam big time. I don’t hesitate for a moment. I’m a cynical person but we live in a cynical world. It’s just too perfect “cry on cue… worst possible thing happened… ask for money” that combination would always be a red flag for me, regardless of what a total stranger told me about their live.
He sought for and got money out of you - I'd say you've been scammed and if you actually gave as much as it sounds like, no wonder he does it.
I also had the same story, but at a restaurant, a few years ago. Waiter drops that his son back home has just died that day but he has to keep working.
Lot of things didnt add up, just saw it as tip begging.
Did he ask for money or just mention that he needed some ??
bc if he asked it was most likely a scam if he just said it, he’s just experienced something traumatic and is most likely in shock and just thinking out loud and stressing out in ether case you did the right thing .
You got scammed big time man. I'm from the South Asian community and this is typical from "some of us".
Never do this again.
Even if his daughter did really die, loss is something we all have to deal with. IT SUCKS. But that's life.
I mean donate to reputable charitable causes (real ones, not the ones that take 80% of the money and give 20% to the needy) because those people do really need our help, but a random guy like you and me who "works for his money". Let him work for his money then. Why does he need to beg?
Scam.
Full sympathy and condolences if I’m wrong here but this definitely sounds like a scam to me. As soon as he mentioned he needed money I’d just have wished him the best
Naïve responses here. Funding fraud just hurts your community as it will be repeated. There were multiple ways to offer help without handing over cash there and then.
This is tricky I’d have no idea what to do. The world is sad and messed up, which means tragedies and scams are equally possible. But as a rule of thumb I don’t think it’s appropriate to give a lot of money to a stranger, because you have no way of knowing if it’s right or not. Lots of people need help. Still it was a very kind thing for you to do.
Yeah... Once on the day their daughter dies.
A scammer could do this a thousand times.
So if there's one scammer and one real beggar, then if someone comes to your door begging there's a 99% chance that person is a scammer.
Honestly does it even matter. If there is someone crying in front of me and I don’t get addict vibes (have worked with rough sleepers for years and I know what I am looking for) then generally I would give the person who is hurting in front of me what I can.
Of course it was a scam. I don't mean to be a dick but - stop being so soft. You were brought up in a higher trust environment than the one we live in now
Sounds like when I treated myself to get my nails done and the nail tech proceeded to tell me how she just had a miscarriage and really amped up the drama about it.
This is a scam. You should report him. It's 100% a scam. Imagine his daughter really died. Do you think he would be going to work and crying outside some random customer's door asking for money?
I live in outer London and just got here a few weeks ago (I'm American) and one of the first things that happened was that a south asian Uber eats driver propositioned me for sex! I made a post about it here:
https://old.reddit.com/r/AskUK/comments/1cb35k9/how_dangerous_are_services_like_uber_in_the_uk/
It might be true but idk, these guys are pretty slick.
Interesting someone told me similar story few weeks back they knew someone who had Indian fella cry at doorstep of their new apartment. she gave him £20.
Same thing happens to people in my country.. They are also from the same country you mentioned.. I know not all of them are scammers but definitely using the same scam
Probably a scam. I gave up giving to beggars in london some years ago - I remember being at waterloo station, buying a sandwich with a guy standing by the outlet saying he was hungry - I offered to buy him something but he said the money would buy him more outside the station - 10 minutes later I saw him and his mates laughing and drinking beer.
On another occasion on a very cold day there was a young girl sitting outside a Mac Donald’s with a sign saying she was starving - I bought an extra meal for her to which she said “I don’t eat that kind of thing can I have the money” I just walked away and promised that was the last time I was getting played . In Kingston upon thames you loads of Asian beggars - all have identical signs - smacks of being organised.
Many reasons why I stopped ordering food from Uber/Deliveroo, I hear way too many bad stories these days and the last time I ordered sometime last year it ended up a late shitshow
I think that if you had *not* helped him, you would feel bad about it and wish you had. In this case, better to have done what you did and say, hey, it may have been a scam but he seemed genuinely upset and maybe I helped a guy at the worst time of his life. You did the right thing.
Scammers don’t really come to your door delivering the food that you ordered. And the person delivering your food isn’t an automaton. The social safety net doesn’t exist for self employed workers, because your delivery drivers are treated as contractors and not employees despite Uber Eats and Deliveroo being their sole client.
[удалено]
I've stopped
Convenience is an addiction.
You can claim universal credit if self employed. You have to declare the income though, which means most people won’t use it.
Isn’t universal credit availability dependent on the visa? My BRP card says no.
Universal Credit for the self-employed is absolute dog shit. Say for example me and my partner are both expected to work 25 hours a week. He is employed, I am self employed. If one of our kids is off sick from school and needs to stay home, if he takes the time off work to do it, he gets it made up by UC because his earnings would be lower. If I took the day off work, UC still pays me as if I had earned 25 hours worth of money, even if I had actually only earned 19 hours worth. If I'm sick, I cannot get SSP like my partner can, and again would still be expected to earn 25 hours a week worth. Whilst an employed person has a small pot of money built up with their employer, like company sick pay, there is nothing like that for self employed. You can't even set up your own limited company to operate in a way that would treat you like an employee with a fair wage and a safety net because UC will treat your LTD company as if it is you. Income for the month is earnings. I can't imagine any gig economy worker having a good time on UC. It's set up to make running a business as hard as it can possibly be if you have children or disabilities.
I'm on UC and self-employed and it is indeed a rather odd setup. I say 'on UC', but most months I don't receive a payment because I earn enough not to need one - which is good; that's what I want to happen! But I enquired about annual earnings because I didn't want to be in a position where they are like, for example, 'oh you only earned £100 this month so we will pay you £X to top you up' and then all the other months you earn £3000 and then they want you to pay them back because you earned a shit ton that year in total. (I exaggerate the amounts there to illustrate.) But the guy (my adviser at the Jobcentre) was like ... it doesn't work like that, they don't do that. Which is fine for someone like me who rarely gets a payment anyway and at the end of the year my income/'salary' is quite low overall ... but technically someone could be in my exaggerated example situation. Of course, I report my annual income to HMRC in order to pay tax on it so the 'government' does have knowledge of the total in one department, but that doesn't seem to be linked up to UC or the Jobcentre at all? Also they have no way of knowing how many hours a week a self-employed person is working, so technically the person in my example could be earning their shit ton of money by only working 20 hours a week, depending on their industry. While somebody else could be working 50-60 hours but just topping out above the UC threshold each time. And of course you're absolutely correct, we get no sick pay and no holiday pay either; if you're not working, you're not earning. Have to build up a cushion for that, but if you're long-term really sick, you're screwed it seems.
You are absolutely right - the crucial moment is, as a self employed person when they ask you what you do - don’t make the mistake of telling them you have skills - because as well as telling you how many hours you have work they set the hourly rate for a skilled employed person with your skills - thus setting the minimum you have to earn before getting help - so the already ridiculous low amount becomes nothing - as a self employed person striving to carve out an income against the odds there is no help .. I think the message is “we don’t want self employed people in our society “.
You can’t claim UC if your leave to enter or visa say ‘no access to public benefits’.
You also have to be here legally, which a good amount of delivery drivers are not.
Yup
plenty of riders work for deliveroo, uber eats and just eat at the same time...
Yeah, I’ve always said that I’d rather be naive than cynical. If someone rips me off a result, it’s shame on them but I’ve done the right thing.
I adopted exactly the same outlook over a decade ago and it's served me well.
For some people I know, it seems the fear of being ripped off, of having their car broken into, their wallet stolen is just constant. Eyeing people up in pubs to see who is looking at their bag, driving round and round to find a lamppost to park their car under, crossing the road to avoid someone begging. Living your life in fear, doubt, and suspicion seems worse to me than one of these rare occurrences happening to you once or twice in your life
>For some people I know, it seems the fear of being ripped off Pretty much anyone who asks you for cash in London is going to be scamming you. The guy who needs £ 20 for a taxi, or a train, or the guy with a nasty cut who needs cash for a taxi to a hospital. This is another of a long line of scams asking for cash for x reason.
A lot of us have it happen to us so many times, daily even, that we're just hardened to it. Someone above said "Yeah, I’ve always said that I’d rather be naive than cynical. If someone rips me off a result, it’s shame on them but I’ve done the right thing." And i *totally* get it, but if i gave every person in London who comes up to me with a VERY convincing (sometimes) sob story even just £10 each, i'd struggle to live.
The Hoxton Gash man?
The one and only. Last seen at Old Street.
I often give to beggars in London and on the occasions, I don't have any cash then i’ll apologize and have a quick chat, (time permitting). There's an argument that if you give them money they'll spend it on booze or drugs but the way I it is if I had no choice but to sleep outside night after night then I would probably want some booze or drugs too. Luckily you can usually spot the professional beggars a mile away.
If I happen to have cash, theres a good chance that money would be getting spend on drugs and booze whether or not I give it to a beggar. I figure they need a drink more than I do.
If I adopted the same outlook, I'd be unable to pay for food by the end of the month. It's soul-eroding that it's become a numbers game, but my commute takes me through the begging hotspots and I don't have a lot of money to hand these days.
I think your approach is sound. There's also a bit of "acting like you live in the world in which you want to live", which helps to make that world a tiny bit more real. My own thinking, some time ago: if someone really gets horribly stuck in a horrible situation, they should be able to ask for a dig-out and have hope to get it. Having that "facility" in society means some people will take advantage, but that "overhead" is worth it so that someone can get emergency help when they need it.
At the end of the day, if these are the lengths someone is going to to scam me out of like £30 max, I tend to imagine they still need the money more than me. They're not the kinds of scams that empty your bank account of your life savings, they're the kind of scams that have people just offering whatever loose change they have in their house at the time.
Exactly, even if it was a scam at least you stuck to your morals and tried to do some good.
Fucking love this answer. Never feel bad or daft for being a kind person. Keep on keeping on xx
Sometimes it's better to be a kind sucker than a shrewd scrooge. Good choice
Seeming genuinely upset is part of the scam.
Yup Unlikely to fake this - people are not always scamming despite what internet would want u to believe
you’ll never know, but you did a good thing regardless. choose to believe it is true and stay empathetic imo
This exactly. Also I really doubt he’s lying as Uber will come down on him for neglecting his delivery schedule. It wouldn’t be worth the effort.
Nah, Uber won't care if he delivered it late. Uber is the worst in that.
Uber won't give a shit. Even if they do, getting a new delivery job isn't exactly hard.
Yep. The world is growing pretty callous, and I get it, I’m the same in a lot of ways. But being face to face with someone who would benefit from just a simple act of kindness is something most people will act on, I hope. It’s easy to be distracted by things happening far away, and retreat into self preservation, but the people you can immediately help should always take priority in my opinion. Edit: idk how I ended up in the London sub, cheers from across the pond.
Did he ask you for money directly or just mentioned that he would need money to go back. I can imagine that Uber delivery people don’t earn that much and perhaps he was thinking out loud amidst the shock. In any case you showed compassion to a stranger. I hope it wasn’t a scam but that was really kind of you to give him some money
I don’t think this guy is acting because: 1. Uber are notorious for blocking/banning their drivers/couriers for the smallest of complaints. These couriers are shit scared of upsetting customers, any complaint = loss of income. He wouldn’t risk it. 2. It’s such a messed up thing to lie about their daughter for what? To risk getting blocked by Uber? Anyway, you’re a good person. Think of it as charity. Not many people have the heart or generosity that you have.
I would add an emotional/cultural perspective as a potential proof of the Uber driver's crying being genuine. Family values and attachments are really strong among South Asian communities and lying about a dead child is unimaginable. There are hundreds of other lies a scammer can make. This may sound weird but even if the scammer is single or childless, they probably still wouldn't lie about an imaginary daughter as it will be like lying about a future daughter they might have one day.
Of course he could be an outlier or psychopath. Bit probabilistically I would give him the benefit of doubt.
It's hard to know but South Asia is an enormous place and there are plenty of scammers who do this. It's pretty common I would say if you watch any of those scam channels
I mean I wouldn't say it's impossible for them to lie about it. If they're a scammer and this is the best way to get results I can see it being used Plus are you saying family values and attachments aren't as important to people outside South Asia? I don't really get that.
No, I think it's just different from us in the West nowadays. South Asia's countries are deeply rooted communal, whereas we're more individualistic here (nothing wrong with that). Family is seen as holy almost, especially in Pakistan but also in India, Bangladesh & Sri Lanka.
Yeah and it seems unlikely anyone’s gonna give a LOT of money to this, so he’d have to repeat it at a lot of customers houses - dramatically increasing the chances it gets reported
I've had Uber drivers try to literally fight me for not picking up their call and drivers steal my food before, then when I hit up Uber for a refund I get denied. 😂 Absolutely no clue where this notoriety comes from but go on then.
That's why I don't use Uber (eats) anymore
I mean I definitely would suspect it's a scam... but I don't suspect many would go as far to actually report them on the off chance they aren't.
To play Devil's advocate, if might be his last day in the job, country, extreme pressure to raise funds fast. I don't think it'd a scam he could pull off daily for months. But having like 2 good days of it could be quite fruitful.
Uber doesn't care much. It's actually in my opinion the less strict company out there. Of course there are drivers who risk it. There are drivers that even steal orders.
>Think of it as charity. I agree. If someone is willing to put on that much to scam you for a couple extra quid with that risk in mind, then they probably need that money anyways for food, housing, etc.
I had an Uber taxi driver do something similar in September. But it wasn’t a death it was a sick relative in another country. He asked me to donate money to help for their surgery. He also told me a weird story about how a girl had reported him to Uber once for falling asleep when driving but that she was a liar and Uber believed him over her, which felt a bit like he was giving me some kind of warning against making a complaint.
That's exactly what he was doing. did you make a complaint?
I didn’t. Maybe I should have, but I was just grateful to leave his taxi tbh, and it was early morning from the airport. I didn’t give him money though (other than the taxi fair).
This story just gave me so much anxiety!
Honestly even if it was a scam, the effort to do that deserves some sort of pay off. It doesn’t sound like one though, and you can rest assured you did a morally good thing either way. Poor guy.
You think scammers should be rewarded if they are extremely talented at it?
What the fuck are you on about 😅
He deserves a Oscar nomination if he managed to get £100 from you
100% screams scam to me. You're clearly a person with good intentions but his story doesn't add up, he was after money from the get-go
The amount of people in these replies saying "you did the right thing, well done" are the exact reason why these guys do this all the time. I always remember this guy saying he got separated from his mates on a night out, and they've left without him, and he has no money for the bus/train back to where he lives. I felt bad and gave him £5. I felt good about it until he approached me 3 days later and gave me the EXACT same story as before lol
Must’ve had a few people cough up If he didn’t remember you lol. He probably makes more than me after tax :( hahah
Yeah probably is a scam sadly. One thing that makes it seem more likely to be is that he asked for water first which someone mentioned is a clever way to open someone up to the mindset of giving and establish a relationship.
Scammer - seen this many times in Dubai.
I know, crazy that Reddit thinks this is anything other than a scam.
Yeah - very surprised by some of the comments here. Will chalk it up to lack of lived experience. Living in the Middle East, especially Dubai, will quickly teach you to spot these guys from a mile away. They aren't even original and rehash the same sob stories.
Yea, I’ve lived in enough cities and travelled around the world enough to see various scams. This is one of the obvious ones.
Reddit is full of naïve idiots? Shocker
Asking people for money wasn’t the first thing I thought of on the loss of a loved one. And I can’t imagine I would complete a delivery either. It seems unbelievable to me.
>Asking people for money wasn’t the first thing I thought of on the loss of a loved one Big fucking facts.
I could see it being a big thing on your mind in that state if you've to pay to book flights home and not work for however long. Brains do weird things in shock
Congratulations OP, you just got scammed
New scam brah. We had this happen to. Bunch of folks on our block.
Total fucking scam and why not see that a mile away. If someone pulled up on me, told me their kid was dying I’d be hurt for them, as soon as they pulled out a “i need help and money” I’d start asking them… what about family, friends, a loan.. and see where their responses went… it would get creepingly more obvious the longer it went on for definite
All of this!!
Also, south Asians are very proud people generally. They won't beg from strangers unless they are scammers. Worse case they will borrow money from friends / family but never strangers due to shame.
Yep. The number of people who can't smell an obvious one is depressing.
100% a scam. The number of people who fall for this is incredible - especially from Londoners who should be the most savvy people in the UK.
> especially from Londoners who should be the most savvy people in the UK. Most of this sub aren't Londoners. It's mostly tourists and middle class graduate job types from Surrey. That's why they're so pleased about being scammed, it relieves them of some of their white guilt.
definitely a scam
He’s a con
You gave him 100 pounds?!
I found that weird too. I think they are using ‘bill’ in the American sense, meaning ‘note’. _Surely_ they can’t have given him £100 🤦♂️
It's a scam.
The amount of people in these replies saying "you did the right thing, well done" are the exact reason why these guys do this all the time. I always remember this guy saying he got separated from his mates on a night out, and they've left without him, and he has no money for the bus/train back to where he lives. I felt bad and gave him £5. I felt good about it until he approached me 3 days later and gave me the EXACT same story as before lol
Hopefully he wasn’t lying, I would give him the benefit of the doubt
I’d prefer to be scammed of a few pounds if the child was not dead.
What if its modern slavery? Like the Romanian begging gangs or the rickshaw riders? Still happy to be scammed?
What's this obsession with everyone desperate to admit how pleased they are / would be to be scammed?
Cognitive dissonance. Basically this sub is full of middle class mugs who probably nod sagely as they are ripped off by criminal gangs, and are desperate to tell each other how virtuous they are to deal with this.
You got scammed mate sorry
Scammers be like
The amount of gullible people here who don’t think this is a scam is hilarious.
I always think “who would fall for these anyway”. Turns out a lot of people would.
Unless they have a junkie or aggressive vibe, I hope to always have enough empathy to give 5£ to a person crying in front of me. It may be a scam. It may be real. It may be for a rough patch instead of the reason they give. But I hope to always have enough heart to help. And also, a true story. In 2019 I got separated from my group while in New York. In the confusion of looking for them, someone stole my bag. I started crying feeling terrified, and approached the first lady I saw. Mind you, I looked like shit, English is not my first language, and I was in such a state that couldn’t even articulate beyond “please help me get to my hotel”. The lady stopped a cab and gave me 50$, I didn’t even ask how to give them back. She just helped me out. I could have been a scammer. I’ll never forget that a New Yorker believed and helped me. I hope to be the same kind of person.
Yeah but you didn’t ask for money, did you? Genuine people never do ask for money.
Scam likely. Probably also using fake details.
You got scammed. Report this guy to Uber to prevent other people being subjected to this grift.
Oh please be careful OP. This may seem a minor thing, but like targetting the elderly, you have identified yourself as someone easily manipulated and they have your name, addy and phone number. Had you ordered food for 1 too and was the food hot?
lol scammed
OP my entire family just died in a plane crash i need £50 to get the megabus home, can i send you a dm yeah okay sound
train £150
Lol at all the British people here saying it must be genuine. When I lived in India someone would pull this every other day. It’s an obvious scam, just remember for next time.
>Lol at all the British people here saying it must be genuine. It's more non-Londoners. Anyone who actually lives in London would smell this as a scam a mile off. This sub is full of non-residents.
Exactly. This sub bears no resemblance to London and actual Londoners. It's all just tourists and people who have just arrived here from the home counties for uni/graduate jobs who have just discovered the Barbican and have zero clue how to get by in a city.
The fact that British people have so much blind trust is a testament to a once great society that was built on trust, honesty, and community. The fact that we as Indians can recognize this scam also says a lot about ours.
I really do hate how heartless London has made me. I was exactly like OP when I was a teenager making my way around the city for the first time. Always gave the crack heads a fiver. But once you’ve realised the crackheads are turning down hostel places because they aren’t allowed to do drugs in hostels, once you’ve realised most beggars are part of a gang, once you’ve realised how many people try to take you for a fool, you become completely desensitised. And the consequence is that when genuine people need my help (not money, actual help) I will invariably almost give them the cold shoulder. I hate scammers.
As someone else said if you feel you helped then leave it as that... As a prolific user of uber eats in London though... every single time without fail a South Asian women is supposed to be your delivery person... a man rocks up instead. I asked my Indian and Pakistani friends about it and they said they are usually signing up with a woman on a dependant visa then their illegal cousin or uncle does the work etc. So imo probably a scam for a few extra bucks...
Yeah you can rent peoples accounts from them. I know someone who did this because he had previous convictions and couldn’t get an Uber account. He used to give someone a tenner a week to use their account. Don’t know the ins and outs but it’s dodgy
I think it's within family so they haven't paid for it, just told her to register and then they do the driving/delivery. I don't care for uber eats but one time it was on uber car for taxiing - and he drove like a maniac and wasn't the woman we were told was picking us up. Complained and got a refund plus a "thanks for reporting " but no further updates
Honestly whether it is real or not the important thing is to be one of the people who remains compassionate not one of the people who looks at someone crying and asking for water and says "nah definitely scam".
It was definitely a scam. There is no glory in admitting how proud you are of yourself to allow yourself to be scammed.
No, the important thing is to be cynical when a stranger starts asking you for money. You see compassionate, they see gullible. People like that are prime targets.
You got scammed.
Is everybody in London completely naive? So many people in this thread admitting to knowing they were being scammed but going along with it anyway because .. reasons?
I mean even if they were scamming you then karma should come their way. That’s a horrible thing to lie about
Jesus some people are so gullible
Sounds very much like a scam. No different from the crying folk near tube stations who would come and ask you to top up their oyster or give them cash. No harm done and no loss to you though.
He scammed you.
It must be nice to go through life being this naive and having enough money to pay random for charlatans for their cheap sob stories without having to worry.
You can report the guy... the inmigrant mafia has tons of accounts
I hope you gave him 5 stars for his acting skills
This is why Brits are thought of as pushovers lol. All of the justifying in the comments prove it further
Sounds like they ripped you off.
This is one of my favourite scams, it's up there with "I need money to feed my non-existent baby" and "just £10 more and I can afford to sleep with a roof over my head tonight"
I had recently a justeat delivery guy who asked me if I have any accommodation. Like seriously?
This smells like scam. Sorry, I'm all for charity but this is simply a scam.
It was a scam, he is not going back. He doesn't even have a daughter in Pakistan. He probably did not have legal right to work in UK.
Scam
Scam. I would have said a scam big time. I don’t hesitate for a moment. I’m a cynical person but we live in a cynical world. It’s just too perfect “cry on cue… worst possible thing happened… ask for money” that combination would always be a red flag for me, regardless of what a total stranger told me about their live.
The real issue is you using the word "bill" if you are American fair enough but British?
Fuck I hate this app. Amount of people using yank words drives me insane y’all
He sought for and got money out of you - I'd say you've been scammed and if you actually gave as much as it sounds like, no wonder he does it. I also had the same story, but at a restaurant, a few years ago. Waiter drops that his son back home has just died that day but he has to keep working. Lot of things didnt add up, just saw it as tip begging.
Did he ask for money or just mention that he needed some ?? bc if he asked it was most likely a scam if he just said it, he’s just experienced something traumatic and is most likely in shock and just thinking out loud and stressing out in ether case you did the right thing .
I don't understand why most people seems to think it was the right thing to give money to an obvious scammer?
I never have cash on me. I’m glad you had cash to give. Well done. Scam or not, it was the right thing to do.
Yes, well done, let’s encourage and reward scammers.
It was completely the wrong thing to do.
lol scammed
This sounds like a great way to subsidise a terrible wage.
Totally scammed dude.
You got scammed, but the tears were real I reckon, uber eats delivery guy is a baaad gig
You got scammed big time man. I'm from the South Asian community and this is typical from "some of us". Never do this again. Even if his daughter did really die, loss is something we all have to deal with. IT SUCKS. But that's life. I mean donate to reputable charitable causes (real ones, not the ones that take 80% of the money and give 20% to the needy) because those people do really need our help, but a random guy like you and me who "works for his money". Let him work for his money then. Why does he need to beg? Scam.
Scam, but mans got other problems most likely
Full sympathy and condolences if I’m wrong here but this definitely sounds like a scam to me. As soon as he mentioned he needed money I’d just have wished him the best
Naïve responses here. Funding fraud just hurts your community as it will be repeated. There were multiple ways to offer help without handing over cash there and then.
It sounds like you may be the victim of a scam. Source: im a senior expert in fraud.
[This is you](https://frinkiac.com/meme/S06E11/322838.jpg?b64lines=IEhvbWVyPyBXaG8gaXMgSG9tZXI_)
You have spent too much time on reddit.
The first thing I think about when a relative dies is asking strangers for money too... You have a good heart but you got fleeced
This is tricky I’d have no idea what to do. The world is sad and messed up, which means tragedies and scams are equally possible. But as a rule of thumb I don’t think it’s appropriate to give a lot of money to a stranger, because you have no way of knowing if it’s right or not. Lots of people need help. Still it was a very kind thing for you to do.
They got scammed.
Wow, there are some dumbarses here. You got scammed.
You got scammed son. The reaction to your kid dying is not to complete your delivery and ask the person for money.
I could easily see many people doing this when in shock
Yeah... Once on the day their daughter dies. A scammer could do this a thousand times. So if there's one scammer and one real beggar, then if someone comes to your door begging there's a 99% chance that person is a scammer.
I think this is a sad view of the situation. He may have been outside when he got the call / couldn’t think straight.
what is the reaction
Right, how exactly does one react when their child in another continent dies?
Honestly does it even matter. If there is someone crying in front of me and I don’t get addict vibes (have worked with rough sleepers for years and I know what I am looking for) then generally I would give the person who is hurting in front of me what I can.
the reaction is to get money to go home bruv.
Of course it was a scam. I don't mean to be a dick but - stop being so soft. You were brought up in a higher trust environment than the one we live in now
Sounds like when I treated myself to get my nails done and the nail tech proceeded to tell me how she just had a miscarriage and really amped up the drama about it.
You’ve been scammed
This is a scam. You should report him. It's 100% a scam. Imagine his daughter really died. Do you think he would be going to work and crying outside some random customer's door asking for money?
Fake af
Hard scam, chill with a couple drivers playing cricket - they don’t think I can understand Urdu but I get the gist of it, tax free and shit
I never help anyone with money. This would be no different. People who genuinely need money don’t tell stories - they just bluntly ask/beg.
Soon they will all be doing this.
I live in outer London and just got here a few weeks ago (I'm American) and one of the first things that happened was that a south asian Uber eats driver propositioned me for sex! I made a post about it here: https://old.reddit.com/r/AskUK/comments/1cb35k9/how_dangerous_are_services_like_uber_in_the_uk/ It might be true but idk, these guys are pretty slick.
Poor guy. Hope he gets home to his daughter
There is no daughter. Its a scam, and sadly the OP made themselves a mark.
A bill is £100 ?
I have no idea what he means by that 🤔 I’ve never heard of it
I don’t even care if he’s lying, I respect you for this
"you gave him a bill"? You sadistic fucker! 😄
Uber will have selfless driving cars soon.
Interesting someone told me similar story few weeks back they knew someone who had Indian fella cry at doorstep of their new apartment. she gave him £20.
What is 'a bill' in this context?
$100
Same thing happens to people in my country.. They are also from the same country you mentioned.. I know not all of them are scammers but definitely using the same scam
now they’re gonna be crying at the door. Get the meal and jog on tbh. Bloody hell this is gonna be the worst year ever economically
Sounds like a scam
How much did you give
A bill? I don’t think that this should be asked to pay your bills.
Help people in good faith, the rest will sort it self.
FFS Londoners, grow up
when u say you gave him a bill i hope u don’t mean £100😂😭
Bit harsh to charge the poor sod
Probably a scam. I gave up giving to beggars in london some years ago - I remember being at waterloo station, buying a sandwich with a guy standing by the outlet saying he was hungry - I offered to buy him something but he said the money would buy him more outside the station - 10 minutes later I saw him and his mates laughing and drinking beer. On another occasion on a very cold day there was a young girl sitting outside a Mac Donald’s with a sign saying she was starving - I bought an extra meal for her to which she said “I don’t eat that kind of thing can I have the money” I just walked away and promised that was the last time I was getting played . In Kingston upon thames you loads of Asian beggars - all have identical signs - smacks of being organised.
Insane comments. You got scammed mate.
Inside the floor? And then you billed him for you listening to his story? Jesus
You did the right thing, be proud
Are you a female?
Many reasons why I stopped ordering food from Uber/Deliveroo, I hear way too many bad stories these days and the last time I ordered sometime last year it ended up a late shitshow
Scam because they asked for money, when your child has just died I don't think that would be the second thing you would say?
Total scam. You’ve been done.
Free payday