The homeless are fighting back

Have you ever wondered where the homeless get money for simple things like soap and shavers. OK, so a few of them don't need those things, but some do. Well today I was reading an article were the homeless have figured out a neat scam. It ensures that they get some spending money and it also teaches some people not to take advantage of the homeless.

The scam works like this.

It appears that some company makes fake money as souvenirs and sells them to the general public as gifts. The fake money is well marked on the outside package as fake and if you look close it is easy to spot. The money is also made to look like very old coins so they are not easy to validate by a non-knowledgeable person on the street.

Well the homeless have taken to purchasing these for a dollar and taking them out of their original packages, They then migrate downtown to wealthier parts of town and attempt to sell them. The wealthy/smarter people take a look at the coins and think “Humm- this guy is down on his luck and is selling something of real value. He doesn't even know that this coin is worth thousands of $$”.

So the homeless person is persuaded to sell the coin for $20.00 or so. The “Smart one” heads off thinking he has the upper hand, but when he gets home or tries to sell it, he finds out that the coin he has purchased from a street vendor can be had for a $1.00 anywhere else.

Of course the homeless person has made sure that he never represents the coin as legal tender. He lets the greed of the purchaser take care of what is right and wrong. This keeps the street person out of jail.

So the next time you pass one by, stop and shake his/her hand. In a very small way they are fighting back at what is wrong with some things in this world.

Take care all