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What's the proper way to deal with someone begging?

I walked through my local highstreet, for the most part I spend my time walking around with earphones in.
Anyways one woman spotted me coming and attempted to ask me for money, I chose to ignore her.
The second woman less than 5ft away tried the same thing.

I do feel guilty as i feel like if I give to one I have to give to them all.

What bothers me is that here in the uk, you can claim benefits.
But I worry these people are not here legally.
And I worry if I stop and talk someone might mugg me.

I'm not judging, I just avoid talking to them because on another seperate occasion recently one woman swore at me for saying I no longer walk with change, which since the pandemic is true.

😔

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kayoshin · 41-45, M

There's no perfect answer. You're right, some people are scammers, robbers, some will act weird - it makes sense especially if they're a woman since women are less likely to end up in a begging/homeless position, when they are it's usually because of mental issues, addictions things that make it hard for people to help them even if they want to. So it makes sense to have weird reactions like the woman that cussed at you.
Benefits are not really a universal answer. Some people simply won't know how to take advantage of those benefits. To some noone brothers explaining their options, others simply are mentally disabled to some degree.

So there's no real way to know a scammer from a needy person unless you really observe them for a longer time and make a decision (or they're a really obvious scammer).
If your decision is just to move on, it's ok. You felt unsafe, you have doubts about their intentions, it's not wrong it's just a way to deal with it.