I could kick myself. A young woman politely stopped me in food store parking lot, needing money

[Nye Bevan]

15. Yep. Scam.

"Mister, can you help me? Me and my husband ran out of gas, and we've no money to buy any — we spent what little we had on formula for the baby. If you could spare a twenty, we could get her home 'cause it's getting awfully cold out." Her voice drops a bit. "It's just a loan I'm asking for, mister. I'll mail it right back to you, soon as I get my paycheck this Friday." At this point you see an equally scroungy-looking young man standing by the van clutching a blanket-swaddled bundle you assume is the couple's infant.

Your kind heart says to give this young woman the twenty dollars she asks for. But your common sense says otherwise. So which do you listen to?

If you're like a great many folks, you fork over the twenty . . . only to later discover you've been had. The "stranded baby-toting couple at the gas station" is but one of the many successful "distressed stranger" scams common to the urban experience.

These swindles are a fact of modern life, and it is only a matter of time before you encounter one being run on you. Our desire to believe what we've been told coupled with our urge to perform occasional good deeds leaves us vulnerable to such cons. We take folks at face value, which sets us up as pigeons to be taken advantage of.

Read more at http://www.snopes.com/fraud/distress/stranded.asp#T7yTWczmmeb8pP3S.99

By all means I would pump them some gas and pay for it myself. But I'm not handing over any cash.