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Video: "Bogus Beggar" Makes $$$ Pretending To Be Hurt


By

Christopher Robbins

Published Feb 12, 2012

Modified Feb 12, 2012


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By

Christopher Robbins

Published Feb 12, 2012

Modified Feb 12, 2012


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In this economy, you can't just click on those "Single Mom Makes $500 a Day At Home" ads—you have to get proactive when it comes to making a living. Inside Edition went to 5th Avenue ("the Avenue of Avenues," as they put it), to find a female entrepreneur who is pulling herself up by the bootstraps crutches with a begging scam that will probably ruin the reputation of the genuinely infirm.

As "sad" and "pathetic" as the woman appears hunched over on her crutches, Inside Edition follows the beggar after her "shift" and finds that she exits a waiting minivan, completely healed. "Why, it's a miracle," the anchor crows. Indeed, a miracle of capitalism.

Also: those people who ask for donations for the homeless in Times Square? Yeah, they're all lying pieces of shit too. It's a cold world, people. Take a dozen dog photos and call us in the morning.

Tagged

bogus beggars

charity

charlatans

fifth avenue

fraud

homeless

sad stories

sick people

the sting


Christopher Robbins

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Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.

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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations


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