I found this old post on google, because I was trying to find out if I was scammed today. I live in Herts and a young man scammed me out of £3, with the same sob story about his electricity meter. Saying the council had housed him in a flat up the road and he had no electricity to cook a meal. I was wary and said couldn't he ask someone else. He said no one would help him, apart from one neighbour who had given him £1. He kept saying how embarrassed he was. I was still wary and said I would only give it to him, if I could take a pic of his id. He held the British Gas top up card up and an Oyster card. No id on the Gas card but there is a number on the Oyster card. I wonder if the police could identify him from this. That's if it is his card. He said he would pay me back on Thursday but after reading this post, I am even more sure I have been scammed. £3 isn't much but I am still kicking myself and feeling such an idiot! I noticed in the pics I took, his thumb is very discoloured and chunk of skin missing. Is this a sign of drug use? Or just a heavy smoker? I feel scared that he might have been 'casing the joint' with future burglary in mind.

A lot of this is fuelled by drugs. Did she have red eyes or skin and hair that looked, well, unhealthy? If so, she Probably wants to pay for her next hit. So the money is going to fund drugs and likely other crimes, terrorism and heaven knows what.

In a way, the money given to them through the opium trade funds the bullets fired at our soldiers - my dear brother - in Afghanistan.

Give them a train ticket if you are feeling charitable.

Happenedto me last night on North End Road Fulham.A White english woman acting stressed out for lising her oyster and hasno money needed cash to get anew oyster to get back home to Richmond.I gave her £10 for a new oyster and travel...Then i noticed another one asking an old couple for cash as she run out of gas and had no money.They did not help her...2 people needng money on the same road st the same time!?!?Highly unlikely!

Yep the knockers are back as the evenings get lighter.

Saw a pair heading towards the Toastrack Friday afternoon,

The identical cheap oblong nylon holdalls looped through their arms, on their back stuffed with Poundshop reject cloths etc were a dead giveaway.

I was ready to peer out the front window as opposed to opening the door when the doorbell rang.

Never, never answer the door to these scammers who falsely claim to be part of an official ex-offenders rehabilitation scheme - there is no such scheme involving door to door calling!

If you do be prepared for 15 minutes of your life to disappear while they ask ou to "Just hear me out" eventually ending with your capitulation in buying this inflated rubbish or a torrent of abuse and/or veiled threats!

The door-to-door sellers with cheap household products are also scammers - google "Nottingham Knockers" for details. They're looking to see if you have cash in the house, security systems, dogs, etc and selling your details onto less friendly types who come back later and rob the place.

It's the door to door sellers that I find really pushy

Offspring - that's such a good idea! We get sooo much junk mail - would be great to cut that down. Would you be able to send me a link to the type of latch you used please? Ours is clearly too simple too negotiate!!

After too many cold callers interrupting bath time, teatime and waking up the children after they have gone to bed, we have put a very simple latch on our gate. If someone needed to open the gate they could but it would take a few minutes to work out why it won't open from the street side. So far it has put off any cold callers and leaves us uninterrupted in the evening! It has reduced our junk mail too!

I'm in Abbeville village too and I have had people coming around asking for help with their electric meter too!

Looks like this one has had a resurgence... in the last month I've had 2 people come to the door early in the morning (6-8am) saying they need cash for their electric meters. We're round Abbeville Road way. Very frustrating because if it's genuine I obviously want to help but not if it's a scam!

I fell for this about 7 years ago and I've also had the man who had locked his keys in his van, though he was so unconvincing that I told him I had no cash on me. The latest one to beware of though is a guy who rings doorbells at about 8-9pm (and he rings for ages so no chance of kids sleeping through that one). He is super friendly and says they've just moved into the area, and has some convoluted sob story about how his wife has gone into labour and he needs £20 for a cab. He also proclaimed to live 6 doors down from us, but obviously didn't realise that the house he picked is that of an old lady who is very friendly with everyone, so not many people down our road would have fallen for that one. When we started asking him questions, he soon said his goodbyes and took off.

Fortunately I've only read about this - but sounds like it's been going for quite a while. It's in the opening chapter I think of Zadie Smith's NW.

This happened to me last night, a woman knocked on my door at around 8:30pm with the exact same story about having no electric and a young child at home ect she asked for £8. Luckily I have heard about this scam before so didn't fall for it. She said her name was Joanna.
I live just off Northcote road

I am 3 years' late to this post.

But please be aware that this is still happening.

This just happened to us in Clapham, Battersea. She knocked at the door at 08:30pm, told exactly the same story about electricty and asked for 8 pounds. Said that she would charge at co-op and this is an emergency. We asked her where she lives, the address she said is 8 doors from us.

We have reported this to the police already. Hope more people is aware of this , and realize that this is a scam, instead of someone who has a genuine need. Best is to ask them seek help from the police or the local church directly.

It happened to me in Fulham two times. First time I gave a woman £10(she asked for £20!), to supposedly buy a train ticket so that she can retrieve a house key from her brother blah blah. I knew something is dodgy with the entire situation, but she had a child with her (about 8yrs old), so I just gave the money. Second time round, another woman, again in Fulham, was telling me that she left her husband, and whether I could lend her money to buy a train ticket so that she can go to her sister's. I just said I had no cash on me...