A menace in the square

Continuing the theme of observing the street and square while I am on the treadmill, every once in a while I can see a scam going on. It works like this:

A lad, apparently upset, will approach a passerby and ask for help, claiming that he earns money to aid his young siblings by selling sweets to passengers on the nearby trains. This is forbidden, of course, but does actually happen. He says he has been caught by an inspector and his goods confiscated. He does not beg for money but asks you to buy him a box of chocolate bars or whatever so that he can get back to earning some money. It is a rather sad and quite convincing little story, especially the first time you hear it, as he is not asking for money. There is a sweet shop near the gym and he tries to talk you into going there with him to buy him some stock.

The only problem is that there are several lads scattered in the square, all telling the same story and this group of scammers appear every few days. The other morning I watched from my treadmill as one lad convinced an elderly lady with a walking stick to go to the sweet shop with him. I felt very annoyed but couldn´t really do anything about it situated as I was. Occasionally the police turn up and nab the lads but a few days later they are back again.

I don´t know if they sell the boxes of sweets back to the shop or somewhere else, but it must be worth their while. They can feel rather menacing at times as they are strapping teenagers, not children. Another scam of theirs is to stand outside supermarkets and ask you to buy them a bag of rice or other staple item as they have no food at home, again they´re not asking for money. There is usually a pal round the corner with a large rucksack stuffed with the groceries they get.

Whenever they approach me I ignore them and keep walking, but it is not a comfortable feeling.