This is why I don’t give to beggars and panhandlers. You never know if you are being scanned.
If I want to help the poor, I’ll give to a reputable charity. Hopefully, in this way someone who really needs assistance will be more likely to get it.
Whole group of “exit ramp” panhandlers around here, some with military clothing (and one with a para helmet). This one had a sign “vietnam vet”. He was at most 35 years old.
A while back in GA they rounded up a Dickens like gang of panhandlers-— tracking the “homeless” from their spot at the end of the day to a mall parking lot where they met a Mercedes, and leader was caught taking his percentage of each daily. Real nice.
Don’t give cash to anyone on the street, sign or not. More often than not it is a scam.