Reply #97: Good for you, but we have some fake homeless in Indianapolis

[IndyPragmatist]

I work in downtown Indianapolis, and I have a view of one of the busiest pedestrian areas in the city from my office. I watch and notice that homeless people on this corner tend to get a donation every 15-30 seconds. I can't tell how much the donations are, but even if it's just a dime, that adds up to $12/hour. Some people give bills, so it's probably more than that each hour.

I went to lunch once with a friend and he recognized one of the "homeless" men. He said this guy spends every afternoon at another high volume intersection on the northside. In fact, there was a discussion on a local radio station about the fake homeless that specifically mentioned the guy on the northside who gets into a white Toyota Camry every afternoon when he is done begging.

What has happened is that people have identified about 5 or 6 great spots in Indianapolis where you get a lot of donations. And if you pay attention, you notice its the same people. One lady had a sign claiming she was pregnant...she had that sign well over a year and never showed any signs of pregnancy. Another guy had a sign saying "Need $50 to visit my daughter in the hospital in Atlanta", he was around for months. When I walked by this guy one day, I knew he was a fake, so I offered to walk to the Greyhound station and pay for the entire ticket myself. He asked for the cash instead and refused to go with me to the bus station.

Those of us that live and work downtown have identified the scammers. There are about 10 of them. Word is getting out and people aren't giving these people any money. So the people that do need it, aren't getting as much because of the fakes that realized they can make more money begging than they can with most unskilled jobs.

They set up donation boxes for the homeless around town, but I don't know how much they get used. I just wish we didn't have to deal with these fake scammers so we could do more to help those that really need it.