My experience with the bus fare scam

I am pretty sure it is the same person who got me in Rotherham in October 2014.

I was on my way to a Scout meeting and was passing through All Saints Square when a young woman came up to me looking rather upset.

She got my attention and told me she was not from around here and lived in Bolton near Manchester and that her bag had being stolen in a nearby restaurant and said she had no way of getting home.

She then asked if I could give her a pound to go towards her train fare which would have cost her around £16.

Straight after she asked if I could give her £20 and then said if I gave her my address she would send me a cheque as soon as she got home.

After all of this I gave her £20 and my address.

Then as I was walking away she grabbed my attention again and asked if she could borrow my phone to ring home. I said no. She seemed very grateful but no cheque ever came. My advice to anyone is do not give money to anyone on the streets.

Christopher Bailey

by email

n I have no sympathy for ‘name and address supplied’ (letters July 13) on loaning £27.40 to a distressed young woman claiming to have lost her handbag and wanting the bus fare to Skipton.

You could have told her to give her name and address to the bus operator or go back to the police, who she claims she had already reported the loss to.

Or even gone to the university she claims to have enrolled at, who would have had all her personal details.

G Ellison

by email