Anyone been approached by these people yet? They come up give u a sad story and ask for as much money as u can give them. Happened 4 times to me, they're usually group/single old lady with thick east european accent. Always the same thing they hang out at parking lots, wave u over, give u their spiel, take your money (if ur a sucker). Fell for it first time, old lady saying she had just lost her home, needed to buy baby formula and could i spare any cash. Come out of Giant and she and others are in a van laughing up a storm counting boatloads of cash. Watch out for them, they're old ladies, usually scarfs around their heads, thick east european accents, I've talked to other people who've had same thing happen. They change their sad stories. Springfield Plaza, Fair City Mall, Springfield mall, Main street starbucks!

So that's easy enough to ignore. In other countries they hand you something useless, like a twig or pamphlet, and then try to charge you for it. They wont take it back and spit on you if you dont pay them. These gypies are lightweights.

I've heard tales of them throwing their kid at your so you catch it while another one robs you, mostly in eastern europe. I ran into some gypsie women with babies on their backs in Dublin of all places though. I had an experience once with some karishna guy who walked up to me when I was in college in California and offered me this free book. Them told me he was some priest and could sign the book for me if I wanted and it had all this valuable meditative shit. He then said at this point people usually donated and gave as much money as they could. At this point I gave him the book back.

I've had ladies like this approach me in Springfield years ago.. they find an outdoor ATM and wait there, knowing you can't say you don't have cash. Ravensworth and Bradlick shopping centres.

But, I was hardened against street begging through years of downtown trips as a child, so my automatic reaction is to say nothing and walk away.

Maybe I'll burn in hell, but I only do charity through reputable organizations, the same organizations these people can just as easily go to to get help. If they don't go to them, then they are pretty stupid and maybe a little deserving of the trouble if in fact they are not scamming.

If they are willing to humiliate themselves to ask a complete stranger for help, then what's fucking stopping them from going to a charitable organization that exists for that purpose? The answer is that they are scamming and they won't get cash so easily from Salvation Army, Goodwill, or the DOZENS of other existing help orgs. Those places have the goods the beggars say they are going to be buying in stock and would never give out cash so easily. Want food? Go to a damn soup kitchen. Need baby formula? Same damn thing, you think charity is going to let a baby starve? How would that look?

Plus everyone knows I am going to hell anyway, lots of other stuff ahead of not giving money to beggars.

Funny you should mention babies Mofo, a neighbor who told me these same old ladies w/east european accents approached him told me one had a baby and tried to have him hold it to "see how hungry she was" and they followed him all the way to his car yelling at him in another language when he refused to give them any cash in springfield plaza. But yeah I agree they're lightweights.

These people are the lowest kind of shit. Eastern Europe probably shoudldn't be called Europe becuase it sucks so much and I don't mean the way the French suck. If I ever saw these people and they asked me for money I come straight out and tell the bastards I don't like their kind. Guilt doesn't really work on me I'm pretty much a heartless bastard. Also, If some dumbass in Europe threw their baby at me I wouldn't catch it I don't like little kids.

you know you're low down and dirty when you make the french look like good, upstanding, clean people...

I was backpacking through europe once and had some gypsy bitch toss a puppy at me. when her partner tried to rob me my buddy layed that dude out. I spit in the womans face as she ran off with the dog

If you want to be charitable but at the same time don't want your hard-earned cash ripped off, one thing I do is tell them I'll buy them a sandwich. In the Giant case one could offer to buy the baby formula or a bag of chips or something. If they decline, you know they are just trying to rip you off. If they accept, at least all they ripped off was a grocery product.

One time I was in DC and some woman walked up and gave a sob story about needing money for bus fare. There was a bus nearby and I said ok, let's go over to the bus and I'll pay your fare. She called me a bastard and stormed off.

yeah I have to admit I've done that also, even with my lack of charity otherwise. One time the guy was talking so fast trying to come up with a reason why he should buy it instead (metro fare in this case), I swear he was speaking another language. Needless to say I backed into the metro station and kept walking through the turnstyles.

I've never once had someone take up the offer for me to buy it for them... how amazing. I always say all I have is a credit card or a prepurchased fare card, I would HAVE to buy it for you. Even a begger knows they aren't going to get the credit card.

"you sure you don't have few bucks man?" is always the response. I would love to find the book these guys all read or the class they all take, I find it hard to believe these people are so well in tune without any prior organization.

You know, I have to give it to the crackheads on this one. They always at least offer to SELL you something. Those crackheads know the value of a dollar.

I had something similar happen to me on wednesday near the ballston metro stop in arlington,

Old lady w/a headscarf and accent (dunno if it was e. european) called me over, and told me she needed to get to centreville for an emergency, she said she couldn't take the bus and needed to take a taxi asap, and she would need $50, or as much as I had on me. She said if i gave her my name and address she would send me the money @ later time through snail mail.

Needless to say I didn't give her any cash, although she was very agressive. What made her suspect was that I actually OFFERED to give her a ride to Centreville righ then and there, but she rambled something incoherent and said only a cab would do. Reading this thread makes me wonder if she was part of this gang of vicious no good gipsy brauds =) haha. Either way she didn't get my cash.

Next time one comes up to me I'm punchin them in the gut and askin questions later =)

Don't fuck with those Gypsies too hard, yo.... all I have to say is "Thinner".

In Kazakhstan, we like to play beat the gypsy!

I lived and worked for a while in Romania which has to be the Gypsy capital of Europe. I have seen it all, throwing babies, or multiple women holding babies crowding around someone so they can't move while kids go thru their pockets. A Gypsy chic tried to knife my backpack but did not succeed. A girl I know had her front pants pocket slashed and her money taken from her on the bus without noticing(yeah they are that good). And I have seen many random muggings and thefts.
I am not racist, but after living there and dealing with gypsies, I honestly don't think the world would miss much if every one of them were wiped off the planet. Their entire culture is based on deception and dishonesty. They begin teaching their children to steal from birth. What is worse, many of the gypsy men do not do anything and they make their children beg and steal on the street. They have no desire to work and only squat everywhere they go.
The sad thing is....I'm not exaggerating. I was completely surprised by my experience there.

the Roma ARE the gypsies, I believe Sinti peoples are generally the same ethnically and are also considered gypsies in the formal sense.

They originated in India but for various reasons found their home in Romania...

The term "gyp" comes from them. That's a clue right there.

Virginia was one of the first, if not the first, to encounter Gypsies settling in pockets after immigrating. And so it goes on today.

However, you mentioned wiping them off the face of the Earth... someone already tried to do it. The Nazis. They just lost focus while they were busy killing about 10 million jews and other races...attempts to assimilate gypsies have failed also. They do not want to be part of society and I'm sure there's a clue there, also..

Yes but it was commonly believed that they are from Egypt, hence the name. Beat the gypsy!


> They originated in India but for various reasons
> found their home in Romania...
>
> The term "gyp" comes from them. That's a clue
> right there.

beware of the nomnadic camel heardsmen of arlington, i tell you they're everywhere!

heardsmen? what did they hear?

SO I guess the best defense against the baby-throwing gypsy is to catch him/her, but then drop and roll away, tucking the baby in protectively. Then you can set him/her on the ground and run away.

I think a quick roundhouse kick sending the baby back to the tosser would really throw them for a loop. They'd respect you and leave you alone.

pgens Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> SO I guess the best defense against the
> baby-throwing gypsy is to catch him/her, but then
> drop and roll away, tucking the baby in
> protectively. Then you can set him/her on the
> ground and run away.


If this crap happens to me in Eastern Europe, I'm just going to catch it and throw it back twice as hard. That'll show 'em.

screw that, just dodge the flying baby. if it gets hurt or dies, that is THEIR fault.


"the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."

they should make being a gypsy a felony punishable by a minimum of two year in jail and one hell of a massive fine.


"the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."

Yeah, but a massive fine would just motivate them to harass you even more. Better just turn to capital punishment.

what do we do with all the other animals that roam the street causing a nuisance? we put them down for good....

same thing here, these people are even lower than stray animals..

A "scam" I've started seeing in some of the Metro stations is that when you get up to the machine to add some money to your smart card, a drunkard type will walk up and put in a prepaid Metro card (kind of like soemthing you'd get at work) for something like $5/$10. Then, they ask you for the cash in the amount of a card so they can go buy booze. It's not like they really scam you out of any money since you're not really losing anything, but they do the whole thing very quickly before you even have a chance to say anything and expect you to pay up right there.

Thanks for warning me, can't wait until this happens so I finally have an excuse to see what's it's like to stab a complete stranger in the chest..

Over at the Burke Wal*Mart a friend and I ran into one of these types, I think. She was a little old lady, spoke decent English but looked eastern european and had a scarf around her head. She approached us and and asked if we'd like to buy a Christmas card....

Fool me once Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Anyone been approached by these people yet? They
> come up give u a sad story and ask for as much
> money as u can give them. Happened 4 times to me,
> they're usually group/single old lady with thick
> east european accent. Always the same thing they
> hang out at parking lots, wave u over, give u
> their spiel, take your money (if ur a sucker).
> Fell for it first time, old lady saying she had
> just lost her home, needed to buy baby formula and
> could i spare any cash. Come out of Giant and she
> and others are in a van laughing up a storm
> counting boatloads of cash. Watch out for them,
> they're old ladies, usually scarfs around their
> heads, thick east european accents, I've talked
> to other people who've had same thing happen.
> They change their sad stories. Springfield Plaza,
> Fair City Mall, Springfield mall, Main street
> starbucks!


I had a similar thing happen to me in Prince William County. I had an old lady come up to me in a Wal-Mart parking lot saying her car ran out of gas and she needed gas money. I gave her some, figuring it was probably a scam. About three months later I was in the parking lot of a Best Buy across the street from the Wal-Mart. The same lady came up to me with the same story. I told her I already gave he money once and to get away from me. She looked stunned. It was kind of funny.

I was walking in Roslyn and I had a "courier" looking dude come up and ask for money ($5) because he had a flat tire on his bike and needed to buy a new tube. I told him "NO"... the next day, walking to lunch, the same guy, tried the same scam...

Yes 'BEWARE' of the AGRESSIVE PANHANDLERS. Everyone can and do get everything they 'NEED' thru free church and government services if they are factually IN NEED. The only reason the panhandler is trying to find their 'RUBE' is to get free money to by 'other than NEEDED things to survive. Drugs, alcohol, etc. (for their ADDICTION(s)). As soon as anyone approaches you to 'panhandle', it is considered lawfully, a CRIME and it IS your civic duty to call and report it to the police. Simply DO SO, and the 'message' will 'get out' to the rest, once arrests are known to happen/be made.

If they want money I make them dance for me. It has to be a good dance too, one that lasts at least two minutes. You want my money you will dance.
It doesnt have to be Dancing with the Stars quality but there must be an effort to do their best.

Just don't go to the "art show", like they did in that Eastern Europe country, in the movie "Hostel"!

I've seen the lady in Walmart in kingstowne. I did call the cops. They came and she took off running.
She was chasing me all over the parking lot. They have cameras at that wallmart. It helps.

RESton Peace Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks for warning me, can't wait until this
> happens so I finally have an excuse to see what's
> it's like to stab a complete stranger in the
> chest..


:)

robonthescanner Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I've seen the lady in Walmart in kingstowne. I did
> call the cops. They came and she took off
> running.
> She was chasing me all over the parking lot. They
> have cameras at that wallmart. It helps.


I saw her once too! I was coming out of Chipotle, and she gave me a notecard saying that something about kids and not having a car. After I gave her 2 dollars I stuck around and did some surveillance, and that BITCH HAD A CAR. SHE LIED TO ME..... I followed her for a while, but eventually had to get home.

Why would anyone give money to this woman? When I encountered her she was aggressive and wouldn't stop when I said no.

that shit is all over london, especially harrods for some fucking reason, tell them to fuck off, feel bad for the babies though

Long time and still here.