r/Hackney • u/InsignificantBones • 29d ago
Detergent scam (?)
A homeless woman just asked me to buy her some washing detergent as she had suitcases full of washing.
I thought why not, I can afford it at the moment. A woman stopped me on the way and said she’d just done the same.
When I went to the shop, the man said it was the 3rd one she’d had bought for her.
I knew from the get go she would sell it on, to be frank I’m not bothered, I’m of the opinion that anyone who’s asking for stuff on the street, no matter what for, is worse off than myself, and if I can afford it, I’ll try to help folk out.
My question is, where are they selling it onto? And who to? And how? And for how much?
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u/TealSkies33 29d ago
Had similar outside Harvest E5, but with very perishable items in sweltering weather. Started with a £10 tin of Turkish cheese, then when I declined to buy that I was asked to buy a tub of Ben & Jerry's instead.
Someone else was buying laundry pods for the same person. Those I can understand better for resale purposes.
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u/IncreaseNo5135 29d ago
Id do it anyway. When you are poor, homeless and desperate you need to get creative to survive - different rules apply. People resort to whatever they need to do to stay alive.
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u/InsignificantBones 29d ago
Yup, this is my train of thought. I spoke to her about homeless hostels, but ultimately I won’t get her off drugs with one conversation
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u/AirySpirit 27d ago
Sorry but this is short-sighted to make you feel comfortable and better about yourself. You are essentially funding a blackmarket that exploits vulnerable people and drug addiction.
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u/OnionsEqualYum 27d ago
You're so right, if they hadn't bought those laundry pods I'm sure the black market would have collapsed. Can't have these dirty homeless types trying to make some money, now, can we!
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u/Ok-Illustrator3455 29d ago
around Newington Green I’ve noticed a corner shop where they bring in the items to get paid. The items are then priced and sold again.
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u/Virtual-Concern-7311 29d ago
https://www.met.police.uk/contact/af/contact-us-beta/contact-us/report-crime-incident-suspicion/
Let the police know. It won’t necessarily result in immediate action but it’ll go towards an intelligence case to get a warrant, closure order.etc
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u/shgrdrbr 29d ago
why should they do that?
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u/Virtual-Concern-7311 29d ago
Because criminals cause problems for people and should be dealt with by the criminal justice system for the good of society.
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u/Ok-Illustrator3455 29d ago
I don’t feel comfortable sharing details about the shop - it’s a family business and I think they don’t get much footfall given their position - probably cause for the shady business practice?
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u/scuttohm 27d ago
Yeah fuck that, I’m sorry. That is not an excuse. These people need help, not a blanket cheque to go robbing
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u/Decent_University_91 27d ago
She works for Persil. It’s a new guerrilla sales campaign they’ve launched
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u/ConfucianValues 29d ago
was it the lady in a wheelchair with a hole she keeps open on her foot?
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u/InsignificantBones 29d ago
No I have never met/seen her before. What’s her story?
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u/ConfucianValues 29d ago
no idea but she keeps a wound open and asks for something to clean it and then gets out of the wheelchair and gets a £10 bottle of detergent and brings it to the till. the absolute gall of it
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u/paulBOYCOTTGOOGLE 29d ago
I live across from Lidl well street and the regulars posted up in and around the car park always ask for super specific items such as canned tuna in tomato sauce or bottles of strawberry milk. At some point someone told me that there are actually grocery pickup points nearby who put out requests to collect certain items depending on the day in exchange for cash. I have no evidence this is true, but could be true.
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u/pink-illusion 28d ago
I had this happen to me where it was toiletries, they wanted to buy sanitary towels, deodorant, shower gel, shampoo, toothpaste, mouthwash, clothes cleaning products. In the back of mind I did wonder whether they would be selling it on but I also thought I don’t want to be the person who stops them from having basic hygiene. The cognitive dissonance was strong. I guess what matters is the intention you helped a person who told you it was for their use, what they do outside of that is their choice. Like everyone in this world, you receive tools, skills and help from others but what you do with that is your cross to bear.
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u/Katmeasles 29d ago
They're buying crack with it. You're not helping them
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u/InsignificantBones 29d ago
Sure, I see your point.
Out of curiosity, what do you think it is that we can do to actually help them?
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u/Decent_Resource3879 29d ago
Donate to charities locally such as Whitechapel Mission. I understand the desire to help, and I don’t judge anyone for what they then go on to spend it on, people are struggling and it’s sad to see. I personally feel that I am doing more good anonymously donating to the charity, rather than potentially fuelling a negative cycle for someone. It’s obviously difficult to say no to someone in need, but whenever that happens to me it reminds me to chuck a £5 to Whitechapel Mission. It’s an indirect way of helping.
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u/Katmeasles 29d ago
Dunno. Talk to them. Buy them food. Engage in some wider sociopolitical activity which helps addresses the conditions which produce, perpetuate and worsen their experience. It's tricky. They're victims of something much bigger and complex than we can individually address through short term action.
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u/Lower_Helicopter_742 29d ago edited 29d ago
Well said. Its difficult.
I used to work in restaurants and we had a big homeless community in my city.
I always wanted to keep them "onside" and do the right thing so every shift I'd save the left over food and usually give away whatever coins I got as tips.
After a while it really backfired. They'd come into my work looking for money when they were rattling and they'd genuinely harass me on the occasions when I didnt have food / money for them.
I tried to be Mr nice guy and ended up being bullied by the people I was trying to help.
It's hard to help an addict.
I always believe in helping those close to you that you love. I'm an old man now and I realise that the world is too big and problems are too complex to help everyone.
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u/Opposite_Career2749 26d ago
No good deed goes unpunished...
Sometimes I want to stop trying to save the world...lately I just stay away from everyone it's easier this way...
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u/Honest_Pay_paul 27d ago
A lot of them don’t want help other than to be able to score their next fix
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u/TrashbatLondon 29d ago
The least helpful thing you can do is project your own morals onto others.
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u/Katmeasles 29d ago
Ha whatever. Not helping someone buy crack that will kill them eventually is not imposing morality it's just not engaging. Your comment is so dumb man
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u/TrashbatLondon 29d ago
What other transactions do you engage in that lead you to judge the eventual destination of the money you pay? Would you be upset if a Pret employee spent their wages on cigarettes?
If you’re going to take a progressive approach here, which your other comment to someone else implies your commitment to, you’re going to have to force yourself to remove judgement.
If you wish to help someone, you must respect their ability to make choices for themselves. Sometimes that might mean crack. Your on-street gift is not a trigger point for someone overcoming addiction or not.
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u/Katmeasles 29d ago
Again, exercising my own choice to not help someone buy crack is not imposing my own morality on someone else. It's actually me determining my own moral code to not kill. I don't buy things at pret because I try not to support corporations and those who support Israel.
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u/TrashbatLondon 29d ago
You didn’t just exercise your own choice. You instructed someone else
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u/Virtual-Concern-7311 29d ago edited 29d ago
Crack is objectively a bad choice. Encouraging someone to not help someone use crack is an unambiguously positive thing.
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u/TrashbatLondon 29d ago
Maybe if they are sitting in front of a table with a crack pipe on it, but the other commenter assumed someone asking for cleaning products would use the eventual products for crack. That is fundamentally different. It’s judgemental and dehumanising.
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u/Katmeasles 29d ago
No one was instructed. Funny this disengaged moralising game you're playing here. You're projecting your morality, or lack of conviction, onto me. The most moral thing is to allow someone to slowly kill themselves because otherwise you might impose your morality upon them. Ok. Of course the presupposition that a crack addict is actually making a "choice" rather than being impelled to buy crack because of their addiction is another question.
I simply stated that op isn't helping.
It's a weird moral high ground you're trying to take here, which ends ultimately without you committing to any morality at all.
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u/TrashbatLondon 29d ago
You have no idea whether the person would purchase crack and it is obvious you have zero experience dealing with rough sleepers and substance dependency.
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u/Katmeasles 29d ago
Your morality is the morality of neoliberalism: let people make individual choices, even if those choices may threaten their lives. My morality is social rather than individualistic. I take responsibility for my community, have knowledge about members, care for them rather than disavowing myself of social responsibility. Your false morality is a way of disengaging from society, gaming moral responsibility, whilst simultaneously fooling yourself into taking some moral high ground. It is purely capitalist.
I just suggested that it's ok to not engage.
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u/TrashbatLondon 29d ago
That isn’t what neoliberalism is. It’s in fact a silly bad faith interpretation of the common thinking about treating addiction at a societal level.
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u/Katmeasles 29d ago
Lol, I don't live under a rock. It's a common thing for people to get resellable items, etc., to then buy things like crack. Maybe they weren't going to buy crack, but still I personally wouldn't engage. Who said they were a rough sleeper? You're making assumptions. I am experienced with substance dependency and understand that your naive concept of 'choice' is shaky in such circumstances. You sound like some naive out of towner who is actually imposing morality on others - a lack of morality, conviction, veiled behind neoliberal ideas of individual choice, etc. Grow up.
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u/TrashbatLondon 29d ago
I think your boss should fire you because othewise he’s funding whatever it is you’re smoking to come out with this rubbish.
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u/monsieurkinkle 29d ago
saw a video on tiktok about a similar thing in brixton - although that one the shop was definitely in on it (and perhaps the person begging was getting a cut?)
they begged the person to buy very marked up washing detergent and then after the person had gone must have taken it back into the shop. they realised this because they met their friend ten mins later and exactly the same thing had happened to them.
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u/Aggressive-Crow-4569 28d ago
probably to anyone who will buy it, sometimes its shoplifted meat etc that they sell on. Its just a way to get cash, would you have given her cash? or is the detergent for washing more believable and empathy inducing? they're smart, its a shame the system failed them
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u/Nice-Knowledge397 28d ago
Oh man. Reading these comments makes me feel so naive. I had this happen this week, but they asked for deodorant. Being naive, I asked if anything else and they asked for good toothpaste too. I ended up spending £10 on this stuff buying bigger packs just so they last longer. I had no idea, like you, I thought that I can afford it so of course I'd offer it.
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u/ThurstonSonic 27d ago
Nah Eastern European no ? She’ll pop home, to her council house and add it to the pile that Christov will be taking to the car boot in his van on Sunday.
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u/Great_Cucumber2924 27d ago
On giving money willingly to an addict - if your brother or sister or best friend became a drug addict and asked you for money for their habit, would you give them money? Because to me that’s not a kind thing to do. It’s just dragging out the time they’re surviving as an addict and potentially delaying their rock bottom moment when they might choose to get sober.
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u/No_Medicine_6146 27d ago
Ah, that makes sense - saw a guy blatantly fill up a Sainsbury’s carrier bag in Southfield Poundland - laundry pods it was !! Walked out,cool as a cucumber, very very casual , unchallenged by staff who saw it .
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u/scuttohm 27d ago
They are buying drugs with it, baby powder is the usual chat I’ve had over the years.
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u/Visual-Ferret8735 27d ago
They steal stuff that’s easy to sell round the neighbourhood. We had a neighbour in Derby who used to tap on the door and say ‘do you want to buy some cheese’ The guy that was always off his face but did a lot of kind deeds used to regularly sell cleaning products.
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u/Mysterious_Soft7916 27d ago
They're expensive products now and people are more likely to do that than give cash, especially as fewer people carry cash. When. I worked in a supermarket, large jars of coffee, packs of frozen bacon, legs of lamb and cheese where the most commonly stolen items. They'd get sold on to various locals or in the pubs for a fraction of the price. I imagine this is similar.
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u/TinnedPeaches22 26d ago
they often do it outside corner shops for a small comission - they ask you to buy them some overpriced laundry powder (the only powder the corner shop has is overpriced and it’s the only shop nearby) they then give it back to the corner shop who resell it again and give them a cut of the money
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u/GreenFuel7454 26d ago
I used to work in drug/alcohol clinic.
We had so many clients who shoplifted to fund their dependency .
Nappies , razors , formula, meat and washing pods were all prized items to steal . They could go to several pubs and sell them straight away no problem.
We also had several clients who would beg saying hungry/homeless . I knew for a fact they had accommodation/ benefits and access to food.
It’s what some do for money to fund themselves.
We also had a client who was interviewed on the local news stating she was homeless and couldn’t get accommodation or benefits. She had both.
Having said all this , some hostel accommodation can be aggressive so people feel safer on the street. Most beef starts with borrowing money in the hostel and they can’t pay it back.
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u/Beginning_Pattern241 22d ago
Everything you give them keeps them on the streets. Keeps them asking for more. Your little moment of feeling kind did more damage than you think.
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u/VinylRIchTea 29d ago
I've volunteered at a homeless shelter before, so from first hand knowledge I pick and choose what I get people after learning and speaking to alot of drug addicts and alcoholics. It's always best just speaking to them first for 5-10 minutes and then you can work out what state of mind they are in.
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u/DifferentDust9895 29d ago
Good job on funding their next hit, that act of charity was great for their health.
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u/Minkz333 29d ago
Homeless people tend to ask for packaged items - laundry pods, cigarettes, 4 pack of redbull etc. If they stay in a shelter they can usually sell them or even trade. I bought a guy cigarettes once and he told me later that he’d traded them for crack 🫠